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Jay Silverheels

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.

  • Known ForActing
  • Born26 May 1912 (age 113)
  • Place of BirthSix Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Jay Silverheels

Photos
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.

  • Known ForActing
  • Born26 May 1912 (age 113)
  • Place of BirthSix Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
KNOWN FOR
PHOTOS
CREDITS
Poster
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
star
-
2002
Poster
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
star
-
2001
Poster
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
star
5.8
1973
Poster
One Little Indian
star
6.283
1973
Poster
Santee
star
5.3
1973
Poster
In Pursuit of Treasure
star
-
1972
Poster
Cat Ballou
star
-
1971
Poster
The Phynx
star
3.5
1970
Poster
True Grit
star
7.331
1969
Poster
Smith!
star
5.542
1969
Poster
The Movie Orgy
star
6.5
1968
Poster
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
star
-
1967
Poster
Indian Paint
star
5.3
1965
Poster
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
star
-
1960
Poster
Alias Jesse James
star
5.9
1959
Poster
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
star
6.5
1958
Poster
Return to Warbow
star
5.8
1958
Poster
The Lone Ranger
star
6.2
1956
Poster
Walk the Proud Land
star
6.1
1956
Poster
The Vanishing American
star
4.0
1955
Poster
Drums Across the River
star
5.619
1954
Poster
The Black Dakotas
star
5.1
1954
Poster
Saskatchewan
star
5.886
1954
Poster
Masterson of Kansas
star
5.8
1954
Poster
Four Guns to the Border
star
4.571
1954
Poster
Jack McCall, Desperado
star
5.3
1953
Poster
The Nebraskan
star
3.0
1953
Poster
War Arrow
star
5.6
1953
Poster
Last of the Comanches
star
6.4
1953
Poster
Yankee Buccaneer
star
5.8
1952
Poster
The Half-Breed
star
5.0
1952
Poster
The Pathfinder
star
4.0
1952
Poster
Brave Warrior
star
4.0
1952
Poster
The Battle at Apache Pass
star
6.3
1952
Poster
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
star
6.0
1952
Poster
Red Mountain
star
6.4
1951
Poster
The Wild Blue Yonder
star
6.0
1951
Poster
Broken Arrow
star
6.704
1950
Poster
Tulsa
star
6.114
1949
Poster
The Cowboy and the Indians
star
6.8
1949
Poster
Sand
star
4.5
1949
Poster
Lust for Gold
star
5.9
1949
Poster
Laramie
star
6.5
1949
Poster
Trail of the Yukon
star
6.0
1949
Poster
The Feathered Serpent
star
5.8
1948
Poster
Fury at Furnace Creek
star
6.0
1948
Poster
Family Honeymoon
star
5.7
1948
Poster
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
star
7.955
1948
Poster
Key Largo
star
7.474
1948
Poster
Singin' Spurs
star
-
1948
Poster
Yellow Sky
star
6.9
1948
Poster
Captain from Castile
star
7.1
1947
Poster
Gas House Kids Go West
star
6.0
1947
Poster
The Prairie
star
6.0
1947
Poster
Tahiti Nights
star
-
1944
Poster
Lost in a Harem
star
5.433
1944
Poster
I Am an American
star
5.3
1944
Poster
Northern Pursuit
star
5.9
1943
Poster
The Phantom
star
6.2
1943
Poster
The Girl from Monterrey
star
-
1943
Poster
Perils of Nyoka
star
-
1942
Poster
Valley of the Sun
star
5.8
1942
Poster
This Woman Is Mine
star
3.667
1941
Poster
Western Union
star
6.0
1941
Poster
Kit Carson
star
6.1
1940
Poster
The Sea Hawk
star
7.099
1940
Poster
Too Many Girls
star
5.7
1940