Jay Silverheels
Acting
Born: May 26, 1912 · Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Died: March 5, 1980 (aged 67)
Highest Rated
Biography
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 Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948
True Grit
1969
Key Largo
1948
Broken Arrow
1950
The Brady Bunch
1969
The Sea Hawk
1940
Yellow Sky
1948
Western Union
1941
Rawhide
1959
Cannon
1971
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958
The Lone Ranger
1949
Photos (2)
Movies (70)
True Grit
Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
Broken Arrow
Geronimo (uncredited)
Key Largo
Tom Osceola (uncredited)
Saskatchewan
Cajou
The Sea Hawk
Native Lookout
Passage to Marseille
Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck (uncredited)
The Lone Ranger
Tonto
Lust for Gold
Walter
Yellow Sky
Indian (uncredited)
Alias Jesse James
Tonto (uncredited)
The Movie Orgy
Tonto (archive footage)
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
The Chief
Western Union
Indian
One Little Indian
Jimmy Wolf
Last of the Comanches
Indian (uncredited)
The Feathered Serpent
Diego (uncredited)
Tulsa
Creek Indian (uncredited)
Smith!
McDonald Lasheway
The Half-Breed
Apache (uncredited)
Family Honeymoon
Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Lost in a Harem
Guard at Execution (uncredited)
Four Guns to the Border
Yaqui
Northern Pursuit
Indian (uncredited)
Red Mountain
Little Crow
Drums Across the River
Taos
The Battle at Apache Pass
Geronimo
The Phynx
Tonto
Yankee Buccaneer
Lead Warrior
Kit Carson
Indian
Captain from Castile
Coatl (uncredited)
Brave Warrior
Chief Tecumseh
War Arrow
Satanta
Too Many Girls
Indian (uncredited)
Santee
John Crow
Walk the Proud Land
Geronimo
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
2002
Valley of the Sun
Indian (uncredited)
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
Tonto
Indian Paint
Chief Hevatanu
Hudson's Bay
Indian (uncredited)
The Cowboy and the Indians
Lakohna
Fury at Furnace Creek
Little Dog (uncredited)
Masterson of Kansas
Yellow Hawk
Laramie
Running Wolf (uncredited)
The Pathfinder
Chingachgook
The Vanishing American
Beeteia
The Last Round-up
1947
In Pursuit of Treasure
1972
The Girl from Monterrey
Fighter Tito Flores
Jack McCall, Desperado
Red Cloud
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
Great Bear
The Wild Blue Yonder
Benders
The Nebraskan
Spotted Bear
The Phantom
Astari Warrior (uncredited)
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
Natchez
The Black Dakotas
Black Buffalo
This Woman Is Mine
Indian Marauder
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
Tonto
Tahiti Nights
Lua
Perils of Nyoka
Tuareg
Return to Warbow
Indian Joe
The Prairie
Running Deer
Sand
Indian (uncredited)
Cat Ballou
Indian Chief
Trail of the Yukon
Poleon
Singin' Spurs
Abel
Gas House Kids Go West
Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
Tonto
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
Tonto
TV Shows (14)
The Virginian
Den'Gwatzi · 1 eps
The Virginian
Spotted Hand · 1 eps
Rawhide
Pawnee Joe · 1 eps
Daniel Boone
Sashona · 1 eps
Daniel Boone
Chenrogan · 1 eps
Daniel Boone
Latawa · 1 eps
Cannon
1 eps
The Lone Ranger
Tonto · 221 eps
The Brady Bunch
Chief Eagle Cloud · 1 eps
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Charley Red Cloud · 1 eps
Branded
1 eps
Gunslinger
Hopi Indian · 1 eps
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1 eps
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
Great Bear · 1 eps
