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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
May 26, 1912
Died
March 5, 1980
Place of Birth
Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Also Known As
- Harold J. Smith
- Harry Silversmith
- Harry Smith
Jay Silverheels
0.6 Popularity
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
0.0
Tonto
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
2013
0.0
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
2002
0.0
Tonto
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
2001
5.4
John Crow
Santee
1973
5.7
The Chief
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
1973
6.3
Jimmy Wolf
One Little Indian
1973
0.0
In Pursuit of Treasure
1972
6.6
Cannon
1971
0.0
Indian Chief
Cat Ballou
1971
3.2
Tonto
The Phynx
1970
Credits
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
as Tonto
2013
0.0
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
2002
0.0
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
as Tonto
2001
0.0
Santee
as John Crow
1973
5.4
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
as The Chief
1973
5.7
One Little Indian
as Jimmy Wolf
1973
6.3
In Pursuit of Treasure
1972
0.0
Cannon
1971
6.6
Cat Ballou
as Indian Chief
1971
0.0
The Phynx
as Tonto
1970
3.2
The Brady Bunch
1969
6.7
True Grit
as Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
1969
7.3
Smith!
as McDonald Lasheway
1969
5.5
The Movie Orgy
as Tonto (archive footage)
1968
6.3
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
as Great Bear
1967
0.0
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1966
7.5
Indian Paint
as Chief Hevatanu
1965
5.3
Branded
1965
6.6
Daniel Boone
as Sashona
1964
7.0
Daniel Boone
as Latawa
1964
7.0
Daniel Boone
as Chenrogan
1964
7.0
The Virginian
as Den'Gwatzi
1962
6.4
The Virginian
as Spotted Hand
1962
6.4
Gunslinger
as Hopi Indian
1961
6.0
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
as Natchez
1960
0.0
Alias Jesse James
as Tonto (uncredited)
1959
5.8
Rawhide
as Pawnee Joe
1959
7.2
Wanted: Dead or Alive
as Charley Red Cloud
1958
6.8
The Western: A Lost TV Special
as Self
1958
0.0
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
as Tonto
1958
6.5
Return to Warbow
as Indian Joe
1958
5.8
Walk the Proud Land
as Geronimo
1956
6.1
The Lone Ranger
as Tonto
1956
6.1
The Vanishing American
as Beeteia
1955
4.0
Masterson of Kansas
as Yellow Hawk
1954
5.8
Four Guns to the Border
as Yaqui
1954
4.9
The Black Dakotas
as Black Buffalo
1954
5.1
Drums Across the River
as Taos
1954
5.6
Saskatchewan
as Cajou
1954
5.9
War Arrow
as Satanta
1953
5.6
The Nebraskan
as Spotted Bear
1953
2.7
Jack McCall, Desperado
as Red Cloud
1953
5.7
Last of the Comanches
as Indian (uncredited)
1953
6.4
The Pathfinder
as Chingachgook
1952
4.0
Yankee Buccaneer
as Lead Warrior
1952
5.8
Brave Warrior
as Chief Tecumseh
1952
3.6
The Battle at Apache Pass
as Geronimo
1952
6.4
The Half-Breed
as Apache (uncredited)
1952
5.0
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
as Tonto
1952
6.2
The Wild Blue Yonder
as Benders
1951
6.0
Red Mountain
as Little Crow
1951
6.4
Broken Arrow
as Geronimo (uncredited)
1950
6.7
The Lone Ranger
as Tonto
1949
6.8
The Cowboy and the Indians
as Lakohna
1949
7.0
Sand
as Indian (uncredited)
1949
4.5
Trail of the Yukon
as Poleon
1949
6.0
Lust for Gold
as Walter
1949
5.9
Laramie
as Running Wolf (uncredited)
1949
6.5
Tulsa
as Creek Indian (uncredited)
1949
6.3
Yellow Sky
as Indian (uncredited)
1948
6.9
The Feathered Serpent
as Diego (uncredited)
1948
5.8
Family Honeymoon
as Elevator Boy (uncredited)
1948
5.7
Singin' Spurs
as Abel
1948
0.0
Key Largo
as Tom Osceola (uncredited)
1948
7.4
Fury at Furnace Creek
as Little Dog (uncredited)
1948
6.0
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
as Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
1948
8.0
Captain from Castile
as Coatl (uncredited)
1947
7.2
The Prairie
as Running Deer
1947
6.0
Gas House Kids Go West
as Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
1947
6.0
Tahiti Nights
as Lua
1944
0.0
🎬
I Am an American
as Indian (uncredited)
1944
5.3
Lost in a Harem
as Guard at Execution (uncredited)
1944
5.4
The Phantom
as Astari Warrior (uncredited)
1943
6.2
Northern Pursuit
as Indian (uncredited)
1943
6.0
The Girl from Monterrey
as Fighter Tito Flores
1943
0.0
Perils of Nyoka
as Tuareg
1942
0.0
Valley of the Sun
as Indian (uncredited)
1942
5.8
This Woman Is Mine
as Indian Marauder
1941
4.0
Western Union
as Indian
1941
6.0
Hudson's Bay
as Indian (uncredited)
1940
5.8
Too Many Girls
as Indian
1940
5.6
Kit Carson
as Indian
1940
6.1
The Sea Hawk
as Native Lookout
1940
7.2