Jay Silverheels
Biography
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
Diego (uncredited)
The Feathered Serpent
Tonto (archive footage)
The Movie Orgy
Natchez
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
Lua
Tahiti Nights
The Chief
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
Tonto
The Phynx
Jimmy Wolf
One Little Indian
Lead Warrior
Yankee Buccaneer
John Crow
Santee
Coatl (uncredited)
Captain from Castile
Indian (uncredited)
Northern Pursuit
Astari Warrior (uncredited)
The Phantom
Apache (uncredited)
The Half-Breed
Great Bear
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
Tonto
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
Tonto
The Lone Ranger
Taos
Drums Across the River
Creek Indian (uncredited)
Tulsa
Black Buffalo
The Black Dakotas
Little Dog (uncredited)
Fury at Furnace Creek
Little Crow
Red Mountain
Cajou
Saskatchewan
Fighter Tito Flores
The Girl from Monterrey
Chief Hevatanu
Indian Paint
Benders
The Wild Blue Yonder
Red Cloud
Jack McCall, Desperado
Indian Joe
Return to Warbow
Beeteia
The Vanishing American
Yellow Hawk
Masterson of Kansas
Spotted Bear
The Nebraskan
In Pursuit of Treasure
Chingachgook
The Pathfinder
Lakohna
The Cowboy and the Indians
Yaqui
Four Guns to the Border
Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Family Honeymoon
Geronimo (uncredited)
Broken Arrow
Chief Tecumseh
Brave Warrior
Satanta
War Arrow
Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Indian (uncredited)
Sand
Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
True Grit
Geronimo
The Battle at Apache Pass
Geronimo
Walk the Proud Land
Tonto
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
Walter
Lust for Gold
Tom Osceola (uncredited)
Key Largo
Tuareg
Perils of Nyoka
Indian
Kit Carson
Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
Gas House Kids Go West
Running Wolf (uncredited)
Laramie
Indian (uncredited)
Last of the Comanches
Native Lookout
The Sea Hawk
Indian
Too Many Girls
Poleon
Trail of the Yukon
Running Deer
The Prairie
Indian Marauder
This Woman Is Mine
Indian
Western Union
Abel
Singin' Spurs
Indian (uncredited)
Valley of the Sun
McDonald Lasheway
Smith!
Indian (uncredited)
Yellow Sky
Guard at Execution (uncredited)
Lost in a Harem
Indian (uncredited)
I Am an American
Tonto
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
Tonto (uncredited)
Alias Jesse James
Indian Chief
Cat Ballou
Tonto
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
Self
The Western: A Lost TV Special
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
69
Gender
Male
Birthday
1912-05-26
Place of Birth
Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Also Known As
Harold J. Smith