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