Jay Silverheels
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 26, 1912
- Died
- Mar 5, 1980 (aged 67)
- Place of birth
- Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
- Credits
- 83
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 for
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948Movie
Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
True Grit
1969Movie
Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
Key Largo
1948Movie
Tom Osceola (uncredited)
Broken Arrow
1950Movie
Geronimo (uncredited)
The Brady Bunch
1969TV
Chief Eagle Cloud
The Sea Hawk
1940Movie
Native Lookout
Filmography
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
2013Movie
Tonto
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
2002Movie
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
2001Movie
Tonto
Santee
1973Movie
John Crow
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
1973Movie
The Chief
One Little Indian
1973Movie
Jimmy Wolf
In Pursuit of Treasure
1972Movie
Cannon
1971TV
Cat Ballou
1971Movie
Indian Chief
The Phynx
1970Movie
Tonto
The Brady Bunch
1969TV
Chief Eagle Cloud
True Grit
1969Movie
Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
Smith!
1969Movie
McDonald Lasheway
The Movie Orgy
1968Movie
Tonto (archive footage)
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1967Movie
Great Bear
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1966TV
Great Bear
Indian Paint
1965Movie
Chief Hevatanu
Branded
1965TV
Daniel Boone
1964TV
Sashona, Chenrogan, Latawa
The Virginian
1962TV
Den'Gwatzi, Spotted Hand
Gunslinger
1961TV
Hopi Indian
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
1960Movie
Natchez
Alias Jesse James
1959Movie
Tonto (uncredited)
Rawhide
1959TV
Pawnee Joe
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958TV
Charley Red Cloud
The Western: A Lost TV Special
1958Movie
Self
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
1958Movie
Tonto
Return to Warbow
1958Movie
Indian Joe
Walk the Proud Land
1956Movie
Geronimo
The Lone Ranger
1956Movie
Tonto
The Vanishing American
1955Movie
Beeteia
Masterson of Kansas
1954Movie
Yellow Hawk
Four Guns to the Border
1954Movie
Yaqui
The Black Dakotas
1954Movie
Black Buffalo
Drums Across the River
1954Movie
Taos
Saskatchewan
1954Movie
Cajou
War Arrow
1953Movie
Satanta
The Nebraskan
1953Movie
Spotted Bear
Jack McCall, Desperado
1953Movie
Red Cloud
Last of the Comanches
1953Movie
Indian (uncredited)
The Pathfinder
1952Movie
Chingachgook
Yankee Buccaneer
1952Movie
Lead Warrior
Brave Warrior
1952Movie
Chief Tecumseh
The Battle at Apache Pass
1952Movie
Geronimo
The Half-Breed
1952Movie
Apache (uncredited)
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
1952Movie
Tonto
The Wild Blue Yonder
1951Movie
Benders
Red Mountain
1951Movie
Little Crow
Broken Arrow
1950Movie
Geronimo (uncredited)
The Cowboy and the Indians
1949Movie
Lakohna
The Lone Ranger
1949TV
Tonto
Sand
1949Movie
Indian (uncredited)
Trail of the Yukon
1949Movie
Poleon
Lust for Gold
1949Movie
Walter
Laramie
1949Movie
Running Wolf (uncredited)
Tulsa
1949Movie
Creek Indian (uncredited)
Yellow Sky
1948Movie
Indian (uncredited)
The Feathered Serpent
1948Movie
Diego (uncredited)
Family Honeymoon
1948Movie
Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Singin' Spurs
1948Movie
Abel
Key Largo
1948Movie
Tom Osceola (uncredited)
Fury at Furnace Creek
1948Movie
Little Dog (uncredited)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948Movie
Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
Captain from Castile
1947Movie
Coatl (uncredited)
The Prairie
1947Movie
Running Deer
The Last Round-up
1947Movie
Gas House Kids Go West
1947Movie
Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
Tahiti Nights
1944Movie
Lua
I Am an American
1944Movie
Indian (uncredited)
Lost in a Harem
1944Movie
Guard at Execution (uncredited)
Passage to Marseille
1944Movie
Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck (uncredited)
The Phantom
1943Movie
Astari Warrior (uncredited)
Northern Pursuit
1943Movie
Indian (uncredited)
The Girl from Monterrey
1943Movie
Fighter Tito Flores
Perils of Nyoka
1942Movie
Tuareg
Valley of the Sun
1942Movie
Indian (uncredited)
This Woman Is Mine
1941Movie
Indian Marauder
Western Union
1941Movie
Indian
Hudson's Bay
1940Movie
Indian (uncredited)
Too Many Girls
1940Movie
Indian (uncredited)
Kit Carson
1940Movie
Indian
The Sea Hawk
1940Movie
Native Lookout
A Different Drum
Movie
Jim Swift Hands