
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

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

The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
2002

Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
2001

The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
1973

One Little Indian
1973

Santee
1973

In Pursuit of Treasure
1972

Cat Ballou
1971

The Phynx
1970

True Grit
1969

Smith!
1969

The Movie Orgy
1968

Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1967

Indian Paint
1965

Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
1960

Alias Jesse James
1959

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
1958

Return to Warbow
1958

The Lone Ranger
1956

Walk the Proud Land
1956

The Vanishing American
1955

Drums Across the River
1954

The Black Dakotas
1954

Saskatchewan
1954

Masterson of Kansas
1954

Four Guns to the Border
1954

Jack McCall, Desperado
1953

The Nebraskan
1953

War Arrow
1953

Last of the Comanches
1953

Yankee Buccaneer
1952

The Half-Breed
1952

The Pathfinder
1952

Brave Warrior
1952

The Battle at Apache Pass
1952

The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
1952

Red Mountain
1951

The Wild Blue Yonder
1951

Broken Arrow
1950

Tulsa
1949

The Cowboy and the Indians
1949

Sand
1949

Lust for Gold
1949

Laramie
1949

Trail of the Yukon
1949

The Feathered Serpent
1948

Fury at Furnace Creek
1948

Family Honeymoon
1948

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948

Key Largo
1948

Singin' Spurs
1948

Yellow Sky
1948

Captain from Castile
1947

Gas House Kids Go West
1947

The Prairie
1947

Tahiti Nights
1944

Lost in a Harem
1944
I Am an American
1944

Northern Pursuit
1943

The Phantom
1943

The Girl from Monterrey
1943

Perils of Nyoka
1942

Valley of the Sun
1942

This Woman Is Mine
1941

Western Union
1941

Kit Carson
1940

The Sea Hawk
1940
