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Jay Silverheels
Acting
Biography
Jay Silverheels was born on a reservation in Canada to a Mohawk chief. He was a star lacrosse player and a boxer before he entered films as a stuntman in 1938. He worked in a number of films though the 1940s before he gained some notice as the Osceola brother in Humphrey Bogart's film Key Largo (1948). Most of his roles consisted of bit parts as "Indian." In 1949, he would work in a movie called The Cowboy and the Indians (1949) with another "B movie" actor named Clayton Moore. It was later that same year that Jay would be hired to play the faithful Indian companion, Tonto, in the television series "The Lone Ranger" (1949). This role, while still playing the "Indian," would bring Jay th…
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Jay Silverheels was born on a reservation in Canada to a Mohawk chief. He was a star lacrosse player and a boxer before he entered films as a stuntman in 1938. He worked in a number of films though the 1940s before he gained some notice as the Osceola brother in Humphrey Bogart's film Key Largo (1948). Most of his roles consisted of bit parts as "Indian." In 1949, he would work in a movie called The Cowboy and the Indians (1949) with another "B movie" actor named Clayton Moore. It was later that same year that Jay would be hired to play the faithful Indian companion, Tonto, in the television series "The Lone Ranger" (1949). This role, while still playing the "Indian," would bring Jay the fame that his motion picture career never did. As Tonto, on his horse Scout, Jay could show up where the Ranger could not and some of the time he would be shot at or beat up for his trouble. Jay would play Tonto in all the episodes except for those that he missed when he had his heart attack. In those episodes, he was replaced by the Ranger's nephew, Dan. However, Clayton Moore would miss the third season when he was replaced by John Hart. Jay would reprise the role of Tonto in two big-screen color movies with Moore, The Lone Ranger (1956) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958). After the series ended in 1957, Jay could not escape the typecasting of Tonto. He would continue to appear in an occasional film and television show, but he would become a spokesman to improve the portrayal of Indians on TV.
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BODY OF WORK
Jay Silverheels's Filmography
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The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
as Tonto
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
as Tonto
Santee
as John Crow
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
as The Chief
One Little Indian
as Jimmy Wolf
In Pursuit of Treasure
Cat Ballou
as Indian Chief
The Phynx
as Tonto
True Grit
as Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
Smith!
as McDonald Lasheway
The Movie Orgy
as Tonto (archive footage)
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
as Great Bear
Indian Paint
as Chief Hevatanu
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
as Natchez
Alias Jesse James
as Tonto (uncredited)
The Western: A Lost TV Special
as Self
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
as Tonto
Return to Warbow
as Indian Joe
Walk the Proud Land
as Geronimo
The Lone Ranger
as Tonto
The Vanishing American
as Beeteia
Masterson of Kansas
as Yellow Hawk
Four Guns to the Border
as Yaqui
The Black Dakotas
as Black Buffalo
Drums Across the River
as Taos
Saskatchewan
as Cajou
War Arrow
as Satanta
The Nebraskan
as Spotted Bear
Jack McCall, Desperado
as Red Cloud
Last of the Comanches
as Indian (uncredited)
The Pathfinder
as Chingachgook
Yankee Buccaneer
as Lead Warrior
Brave Warrior
as Chief Tecumseh
The Battle at Apache Pass
as Geronimo
The Half-Breed
as Apache (uncredited)
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
as Tonto
The Wild Blue Yonder
as Benders
Red Mountain
as Little Crow
Broken Arrow
as Geronimo (uncredited)
The Cowboy and the Indians
as Lakohna
Sand
as Indian (uncredited)
Trail of the Yukon
as Poleon
Lust for Gold
as Walter
Laramie
as Running Wolf (uncredited)
Tulsa
as Creek Indian (uncredited)
Yellow Sky
as Indian (uncredited)
The Feathered Serpent
as Diego (uncredited)
Family Honeymoon
as Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Singin' Spurs
as Abel
Key Largo
as Tom Osceola (uncredited)
Fury at Furnace Creek
as Little Dog (uncredited)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
as Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
Captain from Castile
as Coatl (uncredited)
The Prairie
as Running Deer
The Last Round-up
Gas House Kids Go West
as Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
Tahiti Nights
as Lua
No Poster
I Am an American
as Indian (uncredited)
Lost in a Harem
as Guard at Execution (uncredited)
Passage to Marseille
as Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck (uncredited)
The Phantom
as Astari Warrior (uncredited)
Northern Pursuit
as Indian (uncredited)
The Girl from Monterrey
as Fighter Tito Flores
Perils of Nyoka
as Tuareg
Valley of the Sun
as Indian (uncredited)
This Woman Is Mine
as Indian Marauder
Western Union
as Indian
Hudson's Bay
as Indian (uncredited)
Too Many Girls
as Indian (uncredited)
Kit Carson
as Indian
The Sea Hawk
as Native Lookout
A Different Drum
as Jim Swift Hands