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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
November 13, 1920
Died
October 20, 2003
Place of Birth
Miami, Gila, Arizona, USA
Also Known As
- William Scott Elam
- William Scott "Jack" Elam
- جک ایلام
Jack Elam
1.3 Popularity
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
5.0
Self
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
1997
6.5
Buckshot
Bonanza: Under Attack
1995
6.5
Buckshot
Bonanza: The Return
1993
4.0
Grady
Uninvited
1993
0.0
Tommy
Shadow Force
1992
5.7
Axel Ericson
Lucky Luke
1992
4.7
Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell
Suburban Commando
1991
7.4
Hick Peterson
Home Improvement
1991
6.0
Hezekiah Crow
The Giant of Thunder Mountain
1990
4.0
Jake Calhoun
Big Bad John
1990
Credits
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
as Self
1997
5.0
Bonanza: Under Attack
as Buckshot
1995
6.5
Bonanza: The Return
as Buckshot
1993
6.5
Uninvited
as Grady
1993
4.0
Shadow Force
as Tommy
1992
0.0
Lucky Luke
as Axel Ericson
1992
5.7
Suburban Commando
as Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell
1991
4.7
Home Improvement
as Hick Peterson
1991
7.4
The Giant of Thunder Mountain
as Hezekiah Crow
1990
6.0
Big Bad John
as Jake Calhoun
1990
4.0
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
as Boone
1988
3.8
Paradise
as Skragg
1988
5.4
Once Upon a Texas Train
as Jason Fitch
1988
5.1
I Am Not a Freak
as Self
1987
5.0
J.J. Starbuck
1987
5.0
Hawken's Breed
as Tackett
1987
3.7
Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills
as Squires
1986
5.8
Easy Street
1986
5.7
The Aurora Encounter
as Charlie
1986
4.3
🎬
Detective in the House
1985
5.0
Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas
as Scrooge
1984
6.0
Cannonball Run II
as Doc
1984
5.4
Lost
as Mr. Newsom
1983
4.8
Sacred Ground
as Lum Witcher
1983
6.0
Jinxed!
as Otto
1982
4.5
Skyward Christmas
as Clay Haller
1981
0.0
Simon & Simon
1981
6.7
Father Murphy
1981
8.0
Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.
as Troscliar Boudreaux
1981
4.5
The Cannonball Run
as Doctor
1981
6.2
The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite
as Seth Beaumont
1981
2.3
Struck by Lightning
as Frank
1979
5.0
The Villain
as Avery Simpson
1979
5.7
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
as Big Mac
1979
6.5
The Sacketts
as Ira Bigelow
1979
7.5
🎬
$weepstake$
1979
0.0
The Norseman
as Death Dreamer
1978
3.3
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
as Rattlesnake
1978
5.8
Lacy and the Mississippi Queen
as Willie Red Fire
1978
1.5
Huckleberry Finn
as King
1978
6.0
Black Beauty
as Jonas McBride
1978
7.0
Grayeagle
as Trapper Willis
1977
5.6
Eight Is Enough
1977
6.1
Grizzly Adams
as Gus
1977
7.1
How the West Was Won
as Cully Madigan
1977
6.9
Pony Express Rider
as Crazy Charlie
1976
5.0
The Winds of Autumn
as J. Pete Hankins
1976
5.8
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
as Bitterroot
1976
0.0
Hawmps!
as Bad Jack Cutter
1976
4.3
Creature from Black Lake
as Joe Canton
1976
5.1
A Knife for the Ladies
as Jarrod (Sheriff)
1974
4.9
Sidekicks
as Boss
1974
6.0
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
as Handy
1974
0.0
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
as Alamosa Bill Kermit
1973
7.2
The Red Pony
as Granddad
1973
0.0
Kung Fu
as Marcus Taylor
1972
7.7
The Brian Keith Show
1972
5.0
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe
as Bitterroot
1972
4.9
The Last Escape of Billy the Kid
as Pat Garrett
1972
0.0
Hannie Caulder
as Frank Clemens
1971
6.2
The Last Rebel
as Matt
1971
2.0
Nichols
as Marcus A.F. Baxter
1971
5.0
Cat Ballou
as Kid Sheleen
1971
0.0
Support Your Local Gunfighter
as Jug May
1971
6.6
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
7.0
The Wild Country
as Thompson
1970
6.0
Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo
as Self
1970
0.0
Dirty Dingus Magee
as John Wesley Hardin
1970
4.3
Rio Lobo
as Phillips
1970
6.5
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
as Kittrick
1970
6.2
The Over the Hill Gang
as Sheriff Clyde Barnes
1969
5.6
Support Your Local Sheriff!
as Jake
1969
7.0
Ride a Northbound Horse
as Sheriff
1969
0.0
Once Upon a Time in the West
as Frank's Gunman
1968
8.3
Sartana Does Not Forgive
as Slim Kovacs
1968
6.1
Lancer
1968
4.7
The Outcasts
1968
5.3
Never a Dull Moment
as Ace Williams
1968
6.1
Firecreek
as Norman
1968
6.3
The Last Challenge
as Ernest Scarnes
1967
6.3
The High Chaparral
as Macklin
1967
6.6
The Guns of Will Sonnett
as Sam - Sheriff
1967
6.2
Hondo
1967
6.5
Cimarron Strip
1967
5.5
The Way West
as Preacher Weatherby
1967
6.1
Tarzan
1966
6.7
The Night of the Grizzly
as Hank
1966
5.8
The Rare Breed
as Deke Simons
1966
6.1
The Wild Wild West
as Zack Slade
1965
7.6
F Troop
1965
6.2
The Legend of Jesse James
as Deacon Smith
1965
4.8
Daniel Boone
as Petch
1964
7.0
4 for Texas
as Dobie
1963
5.1
Temple Houston
as George Taggart
1963
5.7
The Dakotas
as Deputy J.D. Smith
1963
5.7
The Virginian
as Harve Yost
1962
6.4
Pocketful of Miracles
as Cheesecake
1961
7.3
The Comancheros
as Horseface (Comanchero)
1961
6.7
Ben Casey
1961
5.6
Target: The Corruptors!
1961
3.5
The Last Sunset
as Ed Hobbs
1961
6.8
Gunslinger
as Clint Gannet
1961
6.0
Stagecoach West
as Clell
1960
6.0
Outlaws
1960
6.2
National Velvet
as Black Barr
1960
7.5
The Girl in Lovers Lane
as Jesse
1960
2.7
The Slowest Gun in the West
as Ike Dalton
1960
2.0
Edge of Eternity
as Bill Ward
1959
6.6
Mr. Lucky
as Phil Bricker
1959
6.4
The Untouchables
as Jug Alverson
1959
7.8
The Untouchables
as Nick Bravo
1959
7.8
The Rebel
as Uncle Luce
1959
4.7
The Twilight Zone
as Avery
1959
8.5
Laramie
as Parson Hawks
1959
6.6
Bonanza
as Dodie Hoad
1959
7.5
Bonanza
as Honest John
1959
7.5
Bonanza
as Buford Buckalew
1959
7.5
Tightrope
1959
5.5
Rawhide
as Turkey Creek Jack Johnson
1959
7.2
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
5.8
Lawman
1958
5.6
Lawman
as Herm Forrest
1958
5.6
Lawman
as Paul Henry
1958
5.6
The Rifleman
1958
7.1
The Rifleman
as Russell
1958
7.1
The Texan
1958
5.5
The Texan
as Luke Watson
1958
5.5
Bronco
1958
5.9
The Gun Runners
as Arnold
1958
6.0
Baby Face Nelson
as Fatso Nagel
1957
5.6
Zorro
as Gomez (uncredited)
1957
7.5
The Restless Gun
as Tony Molinor
1957
3.0
The Restless Gun
as Link Jerrod
1957
3.0
M Squad
as Luke Morgan
1957
5.2
Sugarfoot
as Toothy Thompson
1957
4.8
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
7.3
Have Gun, Will Travel
as Arnold Shaffner
1957
7.3
Dragoon Wells Massacre
as Tioga
1957
6.9
Night Passage
as Shotgun
1957
6.4
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
as Danny Boy
1957
6.2
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
as Perk Butler
1957
6.2
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
as Tom McLowery
1957
7.0
Lure of the Swamp
as Henry Bliss
1957
6.5
Tales of Wells Fargo
as Chris
1957
6.9
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Hock Ellis
1956
6.0
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Little Jimmy Lehigh
1956
6.0
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Stage Driver Cass
1956
6.0
Thunder Over Arizona
as Slats Callahan
1956
6.0
Pardners
as Pete
1956
6.7
Jubal
as McCoy
1956
6.8
Artists and Models
as Ivan
1955
6.6
Kismet
as Hasan-Ben
1955
5.3
Screen Director's Playhouse
as Shanks
1955
6.5
Frontier
as Ness Fowler
1955
5.0
Cheyenne
1955
6.0
Cheyenne
as Calhoun Durango
1955
6.0
Gunsmoke
as Dolph Quince
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Clint Dodie
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Steed
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Ben
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Hector
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Specter
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Del Ordman
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Sam Band
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Jim Barrett
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as William Prange
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Lucas Murdoch
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Titus Spangler
1955
6.6
Gunsmoke
as Pierre Audubon
1955
6.6
The Man from Laramie
as Chris Boldt
1955
7.2
Wichita
as Al
1955
6.4
Moonfleet
as Damen
1955
6.5
Kiss Me Deadly
as Charlie Max
1955
7.2
Man Without a Star
as Knife Murderer (uncredited)
1955
6.4
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
as Burger
1955
4.9
Vera Cruz
as Tex
1954
6.6
Cattle Queen of Montana
as Yost
1954
5.6
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Sheriff
1954
7.8
Princess of the Nile
as Basra
1954
7.1
Jubilee Trail
as Whitey
1954
4.8
The Far Country
as Frank Newberry
1954
6.9
Ride Clear of Diablo
as Tim Lowerie
1954
5.8
Appointment in Honduras
as Castro
1953
5.7
The Moonlighter
as Slim
1953
5.7
Gun Belt
as Rusty Kolloway
1953
6.3
Ride, Vaquero!
as Barton
1953
5.9
Count the Hours!
as Max Verne
1953
5.2
Kansas City Confidential
as Pete Harris
1952
7.1
Mr. & Mrs. North
1952
4.3
The Ring
as Harry Jackson
1952
4.7
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Vic
1952
6.7
My Man and I
as Celestino Garcia
1952
6.8
Lure of the Wilderness
as Dave Longden
1952
6.0
High Noon
as Charlie - Drunk in Jail (uncredited)
1952
7.7
Montana Territory
as Gimp
1952
0.0
The Battle at Apache Pass
as Mescal Jack
1952
6.4
Rancho Notorious
as Mort Geary
1952
6.5
Finders Keepers
as Eddie
1952
0.0
The Bushwhackers
as Cree
1951
5.1
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Lee Dineen
1951
7.2
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Halleck
1951
7.2
Rawhide
as Tevis
1951
6.7
Bird of Paradise
as The Trader
1951
5.7
American Guerrilla in the Philippines
as The Speaker
1950
5.4
High Lonesome
as Smiling Man
1950
5.1
A Ticket to Tomahawk
as Fargo
1950
5.8
One Way Street
as Arnie (uncredited)
1950
5.2
Key to the City
as Councilman (uncredited)
1950
6.2
The Sundowners
as Earl Boyce
1950
5.0
The Lone Ranger
as Reno Lawrence
1949
6.8
Wild Weed
as Raymond - Henchman
1949
4.5