JS
Jay Silverheels
Actor
Died March 5, 1980 (67 years)
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.
Filmography
| 2004 | Hit Celebrity TV Commercials · as Tonto - for Jeno's Pizza Rolls |
| 1999 | Television: The First Fifty Years · as Tonto |
| 1973 | The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing · as The Chief |
| 1973 | One Little Indian · as Jimmy Wolf |
| 1973 | Santee · as John Crow |
| 1973 | Dusty's Trail (TV Series) · as Indian Chief |
| 1971 | Cannon (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1970 | The Phynx · as Tonto |
| 1969 | Smith! · as McDonald Lasheway |
| 1969 | Love, American Style (TV Series) · as (segment "Love and the Test of Manhood") |
| 1969 | The Brady Bunch (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1969 | True Grit · as Condemned Man at Hanging |
| 1967 | Gentle Ben (TV Series) · as Willie Sam Gopher |
| 1966 | Pistols 'n' Petticoats (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | Indian Paint · as Chief Hevatanu |
| 1965 | Branded (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1964 | Daniel Boone (TV Series) · as Chenrogan |
| 1962 | The Virginian (TV Series) · as Den'Gwatzi |
| 1960 | Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge · as Natchez |
| 1959 | Alias Jesse James · as Tonto (uncredited) |
| 1959 | Rawhide (TV Series) · as Pawnee Joe |
| 1959 | Laramie (TV Series) · as Toma |
| 1958 | The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold · as Tonto |
| 1958 | Rescue 8 (TV Series) · as Charlie |
| 1958 | Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV Series) · as Charley Red Cloud |
| 1957 | Wagon Train (TV Series) · as The Serpent |
| 1956 | The Lone Ranger · as Tonto |
| 1956 | Walk the Proud Land · as Geronimo |
| 1955 | The Lone Ranger Story · as Tonto |
| 1954 | Drums Across the River · as Taos |
| 1954 | The Black Dakotas · as Black Buffalo |
| 1954 | Masterson of Kansas · as Yellow Hawk |
| 1954 | Four Guns to the Border · as Yaqui |
| 1954 | Disneyland (TV Series) · as Natchez |
| 1953 | Last of the Comanches · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1953 | War Arrow · as Satanta |
| 1952 | The Battle at Apache Pass · as Geronimo |
| 1952 | Yankee Buccaneer · as Lead Warrior |
| 1952 | The Story of Will Rogers · as Joe Arrow |
| 1952 | Brave Warrior · as Chief Tecumseh |
| 1952 | The Legend of the Lone Ranger · as Tonto |
| 1951 | Red Mountain · as Little Crow |
| 1950 | Broken Arrow · as Geronimo |
| 1949 | Lust for Gold · as Walter |
| 1949 | |
| 1949 | Enter the Lone Ranger · as Tonto |
| 1949 | The Cowboy and the Indians · as Lakohna |
| 1949 | Song of India · as Villager |
| 1949 | The Lone Ranger (TV Series) · as Tonto |
| 1948 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre · as Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Key Largo · as Tom Osceola (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Yellow Sky · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Fury at Furnace Creek · as Little Dog (uncredited) |
| 1947 | Captain from Castile · as Coatl |
| 1947 | Unconquered · as Indian |
| 1947 | The Last Round-up · as Sam Luther |
| 1946 | Romance of the West · as Young Bear |
| 1944 | Passage to Marseille · as Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck |
| 1944 | Lost in a Harem · as Guard at Execution (uncredited) |
| 1944 | Raiders of the Border · as Indian at Trading Post |
| 1943 | Northern Pursuit · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1943 | The Girl from Monterrey · as Fighter Tito Flores |
| 1943 | Daredevils of the West · as Kiaga [Ch. 8-9] |
| 1942 | Valley of the Sun · as Indian |
| 1941 | Western Union · as Indian |
| 1940 | The Sea Hawk · as Native Lookout |
| 1940 | Too Many Girls · as Indian |
| 1940 | Kit Carson · as Indian |
| 1937 | Make a Wish · as Indian Guide |