Jay Silverheels

Jay Silverheels

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: Acting
Birthday: 1912-05-26
Place of Birth: Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Also Known As: Harold J. Smith, Harry Silversmith, Harry Smith

Movies List of Jay Silverheels

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The Feathered Serpent

1948 Movie
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The Movie Orgy

1968 Movie
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Tahiti Nights

1944 Movie
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The Phynx

1970 Movie
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One Little Indian

1973 Movie
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Yankee Buccaneer

1952 Movie
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Santee

1973 Movie
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Captain from Castile

1947 Movie
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Northern Pursuit

1943 Movie
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The Phantom

1943 Movie
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The Half-Breed

1952 Movie
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The Lone Ranger

1956 Movie
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Tulsa

1949 Movie
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The Black Dakotas

1954 Movie
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Fury at Furnace Creek

1948 Movie
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Red Mountain

1951 Movie
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Saskatchewan

1954 Movie
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Indian Paint

1965 Movie
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The Wild Blue Yonder

1951 Movie
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Return to Warbow

1958 Movie
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Masterson of Kansas

1954 Movie
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The Nebraskan

1953 Movie
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The Pathfinder

1952 Movie
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Family Honeymoon

1948 Movie
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Broken Arrow

1950 Movie
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Brave Warrior

1952 Movie
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War Arrow

1953 Movie
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Sand

1949 Movie
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True Grit

1969 Movie
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Walk the Proud Land

1956 Movie
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Enter the Lone Ranger

1949 Movie
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Lust for Gold

1949 Movie
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Key Largo

1948 Movie
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Perils of Nyoka

1942 Movie
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Kit Carson

1940 Movie
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Laramie

1949 Movie
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Last of the Comanches

1953 Movie
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The Sea Hawk

1940 Movie
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Too Many Girls

1940 Movie
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Trail of the Yukon

1949 Movie
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The Prairie

1947 Movie
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This Woman Is Mine

1941 Movie
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Western Union

1941 Movie
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Singin' Spurs

1948 Movie
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Valley of the Sun

1942 Movie
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Smith!

1969 Movie
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Yellow Sky

1948 Movie
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Lost in a Harem

1944 Movie
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I Am an American

1944 Movie
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Alias Jesse James

1959 Movie
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Cat Ballou

1971 Movie