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