Jack Elam

Biography

Colorful American character actor equally adept at vicious killers or grizzled sidekicks. As a child he worked in the cotton fields. He attended Santa Monica Junior College in California and subsequently became an accountant and, at one time, manager of the Bel Air Hotel. Elam got his first movie job by trading his accounting services for a role. In short time he became one of the most memorable supporting players in Hollywood, thanks not only to his near-demented screen persona but also to an out-of-kilter left eye, sightless from a childhood fight. He appeared with great aplomb in Westerns and gangster films alike, and in later years played to wonderful effect in comedic roles.

Known For

Cheesecake

Pocketful of Miracles

Charlie - Drunk in Jail (uncredited)

High Noon

Norman

Firecreek

Hank

The Night of the Grizzly

Eddie

Finders Keepers

Pete Harris

Kansas City Confidential

Horseface (Comanchero)

The Comancheros

Doctor

The Cannonball Run

Tom McLowery

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Jake

Support Your Local Sheriff!

Big Mac

The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

Pete

Pardners

Bad Jack Cutter

Hawmps!

Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell

Suburban Commando

Frank Clemens

Hannie Caulder

Doc

Cannonball Run II

Shotgun

Night Passage

Ace Williams

Never a Dull Moment

Phillips

Rio Lobo

Max Verne

Count the Hours!

Rattlesnake

Hot Lead & Cold Feet

Mort Geary

Rancho Notorious

Fatso Nagel

Baby Face Nelson

Damen

Moonfleet

Preacher Weatherby

The Way West

Ivan

Artists and Models

Tevis

Rawhide

Earl Boyce

The Sundowners

Joe Canton

Creature from Black Lake

Deke Simons

The Rare Breed

Barton

Ride, Vaquero!

Harry Jackson

The Ring

Ed Hobbs

The Last Sunset

Death Dreamer

The Norseman

Dobie

4 for Texas

Charlie Max

Kiss Me Deadly

John Wesley Hardin

Dirty Dingus Magee

Frank Newberry

The Far Country

Chris Boldt

The Man from Laramie

Jug May

Support Your Local Gunfighter

Self

Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western

Tioga

Dragoon Wells Massacre

Arnold

The Gun Runners

The Trader

Bird of Paradise

Tackett

Hawken's Breed

Sheriff Clyde Barnes

The Over the Hill Gang

The Speaker

American Guerrilla in the Philippines

Boss

Sidekicks

Burger

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle

Slats Callahan

Thunder Over Arizona

Henry Bliss

Lure of the Swamp

Bill Ward

Edge of Eternity

Otto

Jinxed!

Troscliar Boudreaux

Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.

Smiling Man

High Lonesome

Jesse

The Girl in Lovers Lane

Ernest Scarnes

The Last Challenge

Bitterroot

The Daughters of Joshua Cabe

Matt

The Last Rebel

Boone

Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?

Rusty Kolloway

Gun Belt

Slim Kovacs

Sonora

Al

Wichita

Jason Fitch

Once Upon a Texas Train

Kittrick

The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County

Hezekiah Crow

The Giant of Thunder Mountain

Arnie (uncredited)

One Way Street

Avery Simpson

The Villain

Basra

Princess of the Nile

Knife Murderer (uncredited)

Man Without a Star

Lum Witcher

Sacred Ground

Tommy

Shadow Force

Castro

Appointment in Honduras

Jake Calhoun

Big Bad John

J. Pete Hankins

The Winds of Autumn

Jarrod (Sheriff)

A Knife for the Ladies

Dave Longden

Lure of the Wilderness

Ike Dalton

The Slowest Gun in the West

Pat Garrett

The Last Escape of Billy the Kid

Councilman (uncredited)

Key to the City

Squires

Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills

Charlie

The Aurora Encounter

Granddad

The Red Pony

Celestino Garcia

My Man and I

Willie Red Fire

Lacy and the Mississippi Queen

Clay Haller

Skyward Christmas

Grady

Uninvited

Mescal Jack

The Battle at Apache Pass

Sheriff

Ride a Northbound Horse

McCoy

Jubal

Alamosa Bill Kermit

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

Slim

The Moonlighter

Shanks

The Silent Partner

Cree

The Bushwhackers

Trapper Willis

Grayeagle

Whitey

Jubilee Trail

Tex

Vera Cruz

(archive footage)

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade

Self

I Am Not a Freak

Gimp

Montana Territory

Yost

Cattle Queen of Montana

Tim Lowerie

Ride Clear of Diablo

Mr. Newsom

Lost

Buckshot

Bonanza: The Return

Buckshot

Bonanza: Under Attack

Handy

Shootout in a One-Dog Town

Scrooge

Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas

Thompson

The Wild Country

Crazy Charlie

Pony Express Rider

Fargo

A Ticket to Tomahawk

Raymond - Henchman

Wild Weed

King

Huckleberry Finn

Frank's Gunman

C'era una volta il West

Hasan-Ben

Kismet

Seth Beaumont

The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite

Kid Sheleen

Cat Ballou

Bitterroot

The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe

Self

Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo

Miss Jenny

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

119

Gender

Male

Birthday

1920-11-13

Place of Birth

Miami, Gila, Arizona, USA

Also Known As

William Scott Elam