Editing Johnny Sheffield (section)

==Early life==
Sheffield was born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan on April 11, 1931, in [[Pasadena, California]],<ref name="fga">{{cite journal|last1=Collura|first1=Joe|title=Johnny Sheffield: Jungle Boy|journal=Films of the Golden Age|date=Spring 2016|issue=84|pages=24–31}}</ref> the second child of English-American actor [[Reginald Sheffield]] and Louise Van Loon. His older sister was Mary Alice Sheffield Cassan and his younger brother was William Hart Sheffield Cassan (actor Billy Sheffield). His father was himself a former juvenile performer when he came to the United States from his native England.

In 1938, Sheffield became a child star after he was cast in the juvenile lead of a [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] production of the highly successful [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[stage play|play]] ''On Borrowed Time'', which starred [[Dudley Digges (actor)|Dudley Digges]] and featured [[Victor Moore]] as Gramps. Sheffield played the role of Pud.