Jay Silverheels
- Recitazione
- 26 maggio 1912 · Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
- 5 marzo 1980
Biografia
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.
Noto per
Filmografia
- The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man · Tonto
- The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
- Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes · Tonto
- Vivo quanto basta per ammazzarti · John Crow
- L'uomo che amò Gatta Danzante · The Chief
- Un piccolo indiano · Jimmy Wolf
- In Pursuit of Treasure
- Cannon
- Cat Ballou · Indian Chief
- The Phynx · Tonto
- La famiglia Brady · Chief Eagle Cloud
- Il Grinta · Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
- Smith! Un cowboy per gli indiani · McDonald Lasheway
- The Movie Orgy · Tonto (archive footage)
- Pistols 'n' Petticoats · Great Bear
- Pistols 'n' Petticoats · Great Bear
- Indian Paint · Chief Hevatanu
- Branded
- Daniel Boone · Sashona, Chenrogan
- Il virginiano · Den'Gwatzi, Spotted Hand
- Gunslinger · Hopi Indian
- Texas John contro Geronimo · Natchez
- Arriva Jesse James · Tonto (uncredited)
- Gli uomini della prateria · Pawnee Joe
- Ricercato vivo o morto · Charley Red Cloud
- The Western: A Lost TV Special · In persona
- Il cavaliere azzurro della città ell'oro · Tonto
- Return to Warbow · Indian Joe
- La terra degli Apaches · Geronimo
- Il cavaliere senza volto · Tonto
- The Vanishing American · Beeteia
- I giustizieri del Kansas · Yellow Hawk
- I desperados della frontiera · Yaqui
- Gli sterminatori della prateria · Black Buffalo
- Al di là del fiume · Taos
- Le giubbe rosse del Saskatchewan · Cajou
- Il maggiore Brady · Satanta
- The Nebraskan · Spotted Bear
- Jack McCall, Desperado · Red Cloud
- Nuvola nera · Indian (uncredited)
- La spia delle giubbe rosse · Chingachgook
- Il pirata yankee · Lead Warrior
- Brave Warrior · Chief Tecumseh
- Kociss l'eroe indiano · Geronimo
- La carica degli apaches · Apache (uncredited)
- The Legend Of The Lone Ranger · Tonto
- Nagasaki · Benders
- La montagna dei sette falchi · Little Crow
- L'amante indiana · Geronimo (uncredited)
- The Cowboy and the Indians · Lakohna
- Il cavaliere solitario · Tonto
- Sand · Indian (uncredited)
- Trail of the Yukon · Poleon
- La sete dell'oro · Walter
- Laramie · Running Wolf (uncredited)
- Tulsa · Creek Indian (uncredited)
- Cielo giallo · Indian (uncredited)
- Il serpente piumato · Diego (uncredited)
- Abbandonata in viaggio di nozze · Elevator Boy (uncredited)
- Singin' Spurs · Abel
- L'isola di corallo · Tom Osceola (uncredited)
- L'assalto · Little Dog (uncredited)
- Il tesoro della Sierra Madre · Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
- Il capitano di Castiglia · Coatl (uncredited)
- The Prairie · Running Deer
- The Last Round-up
- Gas House Kids Go West · Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
- Tahiti Nights · Lua
- I Am an American · Indian (uncredited)
- Sperduti nell'harem · Guard at Execution (uncredited)
- Il giuramento dei forzati · Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck (uncredited)
- The Phantom · Astari Warrior (uncredited)
- L'ostaggio · Indian (uncredited)
- The Girl from Monterrey · Fighter Tito Flores
- Perils of Nyoka · Tuareg
- Valley of the Sun · Indian (uncredited)
- This Woman Is Mine · Indian Marauder
- Fred il ribelle · Indian
- Hudson's Bay · Indian (uncredited)
- Too Many Girls · Indian (uncredited)