JAY SILVERHEELS

'Jay Silverheels' (June 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was a Canadian Mohawk Indian actor.

Contents

Early history

Film career

TV career

Personal life

Legacy

See also

References

External links

Early history

Born 'Harold J. Smith' on the Six Nations Indian Reserve, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Silverheels excelled in athletics and lacrosse as a boy before leaving home to travel around North America, appearing in boxing and wrestling tournaments. In 1938 Silverheels placed second in the middleweight section of the Golden Gloves tournament.

Film career

Silverheels began working in motion pictures in 1937. During the early years of his screen career, he was billed variously as Harold Smith or Harry Smith, and appeared in low-budget features, westerns, and serials. From the late 1940s he played in more prestigious pictures, including ''Captain from Castille'' starring Tyrone Power, ''Key Largo'' with Humphrey Bogart, (1948), ''Broken Arrow'' (1950) with James Stewart, ''War Arrow'' (1953) with Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler and Noah Beery, Jr., ''Walk the Proud Land'' (1956) with Audie Murphy and Anne Bancroft, ''Alias Jesse James'' (1959) with Bob Hope, and ''Indian Paint'' (1964) with Johnny Crawford.

TV career

Silverheels was best known for his appearances as the Lone Ranger's friend Tonto. In addition to starring in the Lone Ranger television series from 1949 to 1957, Silverheels appeared in the films ''The Lone Ranger'' (1956) and ''The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold'' (1958).
Following the end of the Lone Ranger television series, Silverheels found himself typecast as Tonto and had trouble finding further acting work. Silverheels was also hindered by a changing attitude, as some felt that the Tonto character was equivalent to a Native American Uncle Tom. Subsequently, Silverheels was forced to work as a salesman to supplement his acting income. He also began to concentrate on writing poetry influenced by his youth on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and appeared on television reciting his poetry.
In the early 1960s he helped to establish the Indian Actors Workshop in Echo Park, California as a place where Native American actors could develop their acting skills. It is still active.

Personal life

Silverheels was also quite fond of raising, breeding and racing horses in his spare time. Once, when asked about possibly running Tonto's famous Pinto horse Scout in a race, Jay laughed off the idea: "Heck, ''I'' can outrun Scout!"
Married in 1945, Silverheels was the father of two boys and a girl. He died of stroke in Woodland Hills, California and was cremated. His ashes were returned home and scattered in Canada. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6538 Hollywood Boulevard.

Legacy

In 1993, Silverheels was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

See also

★ Other Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood.

References

★ Lamparski, R. (1970) ''Whatever Became Of...? Vol. 3'', Ace Books, New York.

External links

★ Jay Silverheels tribute site

★ IMDB page on Jay Silverheels