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.
Acted in
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
2002
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
2001
as Tonto
Santee
1973
as John Crow
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
1973
as The Chief
One Little Indian
1973
as Jimmy Wolf
In Pursuit of Treasure
1972
Cannon
1971
Cat Ballou
1971
as Indian Chief
The Phynx
1970
as Tonto
The Brady Bunch
1969
True Grit
1969
as Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
Smith!
1969
as McDonald Lasheway
The Movie Orgy
1968
as Tonto (archive footage)
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1967
as Great Bear
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1966
Indian Paint
1965
as Chief Hevatanu
Branded
1965
Daniel Boone
1964
as Sashona
Daniel Boone
1964
as Chenrogan
Daniel Boone
1964
as Latawa
The Virginian
1962
as Den'Gwatzi
The Virginian
1962
as Spotted Hand
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
1960
as Natchez
Alias Jesse James
1959
as Tonto (uncredited)
Rawhide
1959
as Pawnee Joe
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958
as Charley Red Cloud
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
1958
as Tonto
Return to Warbow
1958
as Indian Joe
Walk the Proud Land
1956
as Geronimo
The Lone Ranger
1956
as Tonto
The Vanishing American
1955
as Beeteia
Masterson of Kansas
1954
as Yellow Hawk
Four Guns to the Border
1954
as Yaqui
The Black Dakotas
1954
as Black Buffalo
Drums Across the River
1954
as Taos
Saskatchewan
1954
as Cajou
War Arrow
1953
as Satanta
The Nebraskan
1953
as Spotted Bear
Jack McCall, Desperado
1953
as Red Cloud
Last of the Comanches
1953
as Indian (uncredited)
The Pathfinder
1952
as Chingachgook
Yankee Buccaneer
1952
as Lead Warrior
Brave Warrior
1952
as Chief Tecumseh
The Battle at Apache Pass
1952
as Geronimo
The Half-Breed
1952
as Apache (uncredited)
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
1952
as Tonto
The Wild Blue Yonder
1951
as Benders
Red Mountain
1951
as Little Crow
Broken Arrow
1950
as Geronimo
The Cowboy and the Indians
1949
as Lakohna
Enter the Lone Ranger
1949
as Tonto
The Lone Ranger
1949
as Tonto
Sand
1949
as Indian (uncredited)
Trail of the Yukon
1949
as Poleon
Lust for Gold
1949
as Walter
Laramie
1949
as Running Wolf (uncredited)
Tulsa
1949
as Creek Indian (uncredited)
Yellow Sky
1948
as Indian (uncredited)
The Feathered Serpent
1948
as Diego (uncredited)
Family Honeymoon
1948
as Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Singin' Spurs
1948
as Abel
Key Largo
1948
as Tom Osceola (uncredited)
Fury at Furnace Creek
1948
as Little Dog (uncredited)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948
as Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
Captain from Castile
1947
as Coatl (uncredited)
The Prairie
1947
as Running Deer
Gas House Kids Go West
1947
as Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
Tahiti Nights
1944
as Lua
I Am an American
1944
as Indian (uncredited)
Lost in a Harem
1944
as Guard at Execution (uncredited)
The Phantom
1943
as Astari Warrior (uncredited)
Northern Pursuit
1943
as Indian (uncredited)
The Girl from Monterrey
1943
as Fighter Tito Flores
Perils of Nyoka
1942
as Tuareg
Valley of the Sun
1942
as Indian
This Woman Is Mine
1941
as Indian Marauder
Western Union
1941
as Indian
Too Many Girls
1940
as Indian
Kit Carson
1940
as Indian
The Sea Hawk
1940
as Native Lookout
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
as Tonto