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Jay Silverheels
Actor
Born May 26, 1912Died 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.
Movies & Shows on Plex
Jay Silverheels Filmography
| 2004 | Hit Celebrity TV Commercials · as Tonto - For Jeno's Pizza Rolls |
| 1999 | Television: The First Fifty Years · as Tonto |
| 1993 | TV's Western Heroes · as Tonto |
| 1990 | The Visionary · as Medicine Man |
| 1989 | Action Heroes of Movies & T.V. · as Tonto |
| 1973 | The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing · as The Chief |
| 1973 | Dusty's Trail (TV Series) · as Indian Chief |
| 1973 | |
| 1973 | One Little Indian · as Jimmy Wolf |
| 1971 | Cade's County (TV Series) · as Chief Wild Horse |
| 1971 | Cannon (TV Series) |
| 1970 | The Psychiatrist (TV Series) · as Larrabee - Medicine Man |
| 1970 | The Phynx · as Tonto |
| 1969 | Love, American Style (TV Series) · as (segment: Love And The Test Of Manhood) |
| 1969 | The Brady Bunch (TV Series) |
| 1969 | True Grit · as Condemned Man At Hanging (uncredited) |
| 1969 | Smith! · as Mcdonald Lasheway |
| 1968 | The Movie Orgy · as Tonto (archive Footage) |
| 1967 | Gentle Ben (TV Series) · as Willie Sam Gopher |
| 1967 | The Far Out West · as Great Bear |
| 1966 | Pistols 'n' Petticoats (TV Series) |
| 1965 | Indian Paint · as Chief Hevatanu |
| 1965 | Branded (TV Series) |
| 1964 | Daniel Boone (TV Series) · as Latawa |
| 1962 | The Virginian (TV Series) · as Spotted Hand |
| 1961 | Frontier Circus (TV Series) · as Chief Red Cloud |
| 1961 | Gunslinger (TV Series) · as Hopi Indian |
| 1960 | Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge · as Natchez |
| 1959 | Laramie (TV Series) · as Toma |
| 1959 | Alias Jesse James · as Tonto (uncredited) |
| 1959 | Rawhide (TV Series) · as Pawnee Joe |
| 1958 | Rescue 8 (TV Series) · as Charlie |
| 1958 | Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV Series) · as Charley Red Cloud |
| 1958 | |
| 1958 | Return to Warbow · as Indian Joe |
| 1957 | Wagon Train (TV Series) · as The Serpent |
| 1956 | Walk the Proud Land · as Geronimo |
| 1956 | The Lone Ranger · as Tonto |
| 1955 | The Vanishing American · as Beeteia |
| 1955 | The Lone Ranger Story · as Tonto |
| 1954 | Four Guns to the Border · as Yaqui |
| 1954 | Masterson of Kansas · as Yellow Hawk |
| 1954 | Disneyland (TV Series) · as Natchez |
| 1954 | The Black Dakotas · as Black Buffalo |
| 1954 | Drums Across the River · as Taos |
| 1954 | Saskatchewan · as Cajou |
| 1953 | War Arrow · as Satanta |
| 1953 | The Nebraskan · as Spotted Bear |
| 1953 | Jack McCall, Desperado · as Red Cloud |
| 1953 | Last of the Comanches · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1952 | The Pathfinder · as Chingachgook |
| 1952 | Yankee Buccaneer · as Lead Warrior |
| 1952 | The Story of Will Rogers · as Joe Arrow |
| 1952 | Brave Warrior · as Chief Tecumseh |
| 1952 | The Battle at Apache Pass · as Geronimo |
| 1952 | The Half-Breed · as Apache (uncredited) |
| 1952 | The Legend of the Lone Ranger · as Tonto |
| 1951 | The Wild Blue Yonder · as Benders |
| 1951 | Red Mountain · as Little Crow |
| 1951 | Cyclone Fury · as Indian |
| 1950 | Broken Arrow · as Geronimo (uncredited) |
| 1949 | The Cowboy and the Indians · as Lakohna |
| 1949 | The Lone Ranger (TV Series) · as Tonto |
| 1949 | Sand · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1949 | Trail of the Yukon · as Poleon |
| 1949 | Lust for Gold · as Walter |
| 1949 | |
| 1949 | Laramie · as Running Wolf (uncredited) |
| 1949 | Song of India · as Villager |
| 1948 | Yellow Sky · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1948 | The Feathered Serpent · as Diego (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Family Honeymoon · as Elevator Boy (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Fury at Furnace Creek · as Little Dog (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Key Largo · as Tom Osceola (uncredited) |
| 1948 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre · as Indian Guide At Pier (uncredited) |
| 1947 | Captain from Castile · as Coatl (uncredited) |
| 1947 | The Last Round-up · as Sam Luther |
| 1947 | Unconquered · as Indian |
| 1947 | Northwest Outpost · as Indian Scout |
| 1947 | Gas House Kids Go West · as Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited) |
| 1946 | Romance of the West · as Young Bear |
| 1945 | Song of the Sarong · as Spearman |
| 1944 | Lost in a Harem · as Guard At Execution (uncredited) |
| 1944 | Haunted Harbor · as Native [chs. 11-12] |
| 1944 | Call of the Jungle · as Native |
| 1944 | The Tiger Woman · as Native At Shack Shoot-Out [ch. 7] |
| 1944 | Passage to Marseille · as Sailor Crewman On Boat Deck |
| 1944 | Raiders of the Border · as Indian At Trading Post |
| 1943 | The Phantom · as Astari Warrior (uncredited) |
| 1943 | Northern Pursuit · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1943 | The Girl from Monterrey · as Fighter Tito Flores |
| 1943 | Daredevils of the West · as Kiaga |
| 1942 | Perils of Nyoka · as Tuareg |
| 1942 | Valley of the Sun · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1941 | This Woman Is Mine · as Indian Marauder |
| 1941 | Jungle Girl · as Lion Man Guard |
| 1941 | Western Union · as Indian |
| 1940 | Hudson's Bay · as Indian (uncredited) |
| 1940 | Too Many Girls · as Indian |
| 1940 | The Sea Hawk · as Native Lookout |
| 1940 | Kit Carson · as Indian |
| 1937 | Make a Wish · as Indian Guide |
| 1962 | The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1962 | The Merv Griffin Show (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1961 | The Mike Douglas Show (TV Series) · as Self |