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