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.
Movie | Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes | Tonto | 2001-05-29 |
Movie | The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing | The Chief | 1973-06-28 |
Movie | One Little Indian | Jimmy Wolf | 1973-06-20 |
Movie | Santee | John Crow | 1973-09-01 |
Series | Cannon | Unknown | 1971-09-14 |
Movie | The Phynx | Tonto | 1970-03-06 |
Movie | True Grit | Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited) | 1969-06-11 |
Movie | Smith! | McDonald Lasheway | 1969-03-21 |
Series | The Brady Bunch | Unknown | 1969-09-26 |
Movie | The Movie Orgy | Tonto (archive footage) | 1968-01-01 |
Series | Pistols 'n' Petticoats | Unknown | 1966-09-17 |
Series | Branded | Unknown | 1965-01-24 |
Movie | Indian Paint | Chief Hevatanu | 1965-04-08 |
Series | Daniel Boone | Sashona | 1964-09-24 |
Series | Rawhide | Unknown | 1959-01-09 |
Movie | Alias Jesse James | Tonto (uncredited) | 1959-03-20 |
Movie | Return to Warbow | Indian Joe | 1958-01-15 |
Series | Wanted: Dead or Alive | Unknown | 1958-09-06 |
Movie | The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold | Tonto | 1958-06-04 |
Movie | The Lone Ranger | Tonto | 1956-02-25 |
Movie | Walk the Proud Land | Geronimo | 1956-09-01 |
Movie | The Vanishing American | Beeteia | 1955-11-17 |
Movie | The Black Dakotas | Black Buffalo | 1954-09-02 |
Movie | Saskatchewan | Cajou | 1954-03-30 |
Movie | Drums Across the River | Taos | 1954-06-01 |
Movie | Four Guns to the Border | Yaqui | 1954-11-05 |
Movie | Masterson of Kansas | Yellow Hawk | 1954-12-01 |
Movie | Jack McCall, Desperado | Red Cloud | 1953-04-01 |
Movie | Last of the Comanches | Indian (uncredited) | 1953-02-01 |
Movie | The Nebraskan | Spotted Bear | 1953-12-02 |
Movie | War Arrow | Satanta | 1953-12-26 |
Movie | The Battle at Apache Pass | Geronimo | 1952-05-09 |
Movie | The Legend Of The Lone Ranger | Tonto | 1952-01-01 |
Movie | The Half-Breed | Apache (uncredited) | 1952-05-03 |
Movie | The Pathfinder | Chingachgook | 1952-12-09 |
Movie | Yankee Buccaneer | Lead Warrior | 1952-09-16 |
Movie | Brave Warrior | Chief Tecumseh | 1952-05-31 |
Movie | Red Mountain | Little Crow | 1951-11-01 |
Movie | The Wild Blue Yonder | Benders | 1951-12-05 |
Movie | Broken Arrow | Geronimo | 1950-08-01 |
Movie | Lust for Gold | Walter | 1949-06-10 |
Movie | Laramie | Running Wolf (uncredited) | 1949-05-19 |
Movie | Tulsa | Creek Indian (uncredited) | 1949-04-13 |
Movie | Trail of the Yukon | Poleon | 1949-07-31 |
Movie | The Cowboy and the Indians | Lakohna | 1949-09-15 |
Series | The Lone Ranger | Tonto | 1949-09-15 |
Movie | Sand | Indian (uncredited) | 1949-08-03 |
Movie | Enter the Lone Ranger | Tonto | 1949-09-15 |
Movie | Singin' Spurs | Abel | 1948-09-22 |
Movie | Fury at Furnace Creek | Little Dog (uncredited) | 1948-04-30 |
Movie | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited) | 1948-01-15 |
Movie | Key Largo | Tom Osceola (uncredited) | 1948-07-16 |
Movie | Family Honeymoon | Elevator Boy (uncredited) | 1948-12-06 |
Movie | Yellow Sky | Indian (uncredited) | 1948-12-24 |
Movie | The Feathered Serpent | Diego (uncredited) | 1948-12-19 |
Movie | Gas House Kids Go West | Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited) | 1947-06-12 |
Movie | The Prairie | Running Deer | 1947-11-27 |
Movie | Captain from Castile | Coatl (uncredited) | 1947-12-25 |
Movie | Lost in a Harem | Guard at Execution (uncredited) | 1944-12-01 |
Movie | I Am an American | Indian (uncredited) | 1944-12-23 |
Movie | Tahiti Nights | Lua | 1944-12-28 |
Movie | The Girl from Monterrey | Fighter Tito Flores | 1943-10-04 |
Movie | The Phantom | Astari Warrior (uncredited) | 1943-12-24 |
Movie | Northern Pursuit | Indian (uncredited) | 1943-11-07 |
Movie | Valley of the Sun | Indian | 1942-02-06 |
Movie | Perils of Nyoka | Tuareg | 1942-06-27 |
Movie | Western Union | Indian | 1941-02-21 |
Movie | This Woman Is Mine | Indian Marauder | 1941-08-22 |
Movie | The Sea Hawk | Native Lookout | 1940-08-10 |
Movie | Kit Carson | Indian | 1940-08-30 |
Movie | Too Many Girls | Indian | 1940-10-08 |