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.
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
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