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 | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 8.267 |
Birthday | 1912-05-26 |
Place of Birth | Six Nations Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada |
Also Known As | Harold J. Smith, Harry Silversmith, Harry Smith, |
1973
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
5.8/25
On the run from her violent husband, Catherine Crocker witnesses a train robbery and is taken prisoner by a frontier outlaw gang, led by a bandit who’...
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The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
1973
One Little Indian
6.3/20
An Army deserter (James Garner) flees by camel across the desert with a white boy (Clay O'Brien) raised by Indians.
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One Little Indian
1952
Yankee Buccaneer
5.8/6
A United States Navy ship in the first half of the 19th century, under the command of Captain David Porter, is expecting to put ashore after a year on...
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Yankee Buccaneer
1973
Santee
5.3/10
Jody Deakes joins up with his father after many years, just to discover that his dad is part of an outlaw gang on the run from a relentless bounty hun...
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Santee
1954
Drums Across the River
5.4/20
When whites hunger after the gold on Ute Indian land, a bigoted young man finds himself forced into a peacekeeping role.
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Drums Across the River
1956
The Lone Ranger
6.1/20
The territorial governor asks the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on settlers by Indians who ride with saddles. Wealthy rancher Reese Kilg...
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The Lone Ranger
1958
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
6.5/17
Three Indians were brutally murdered by a gang of hooded outlaws. Each one possessed a silver medallion, which were sections cut off from a large silv...
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The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
1954
The Black Dakotas
5.1/8
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln sends an emissary with a peace treaty to the Sioux Indians. He also sends a gift of $130,000 in gold....
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The Black Dakotas
1948
Fury at Furnace Creek
6/12
The Arizona wilderness, 1880. Gen. Fletcher Blackwell sends a message telling Capt. Walsh, who is escorting a wagon-train through Apache territory, he...
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Fury at Furnace Creek
1951
Red Mountain
6.1/13
Towards the end of the American Civil War, a rebel captain flees to Colorado to join a band of Southern mercenaries. He drags an innocent gold prospec...
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Red Mountain
1954
Saskatchewan
5.921/19
Story of blood brothers whose bonds are tested when marauding Sioux Indians cross the border to enlist the peaceful Cree in a battle against the Great...
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Saskatchewan
1943
The Girl from Monterrey
0/0
Mexican club singer Lita Valdez is amazed to find that her younger brother Alberto is a talented boxer and is even more thrilled by his consistent suc...
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The Girl from Monterrey
1965
Indian Paint
5.2/5
Nishko is a chief's son in the Great Plains, before Europeans arrive. During his rite of passage, he's determined to tame a painted pony. He approache...
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Indian Paint
1951
The Wild Blue Yonder
6/1
Wendell Corey and Forrest Tucker star as a pair of World War II Army Air Corps officers. In between their battles over the affections of a beautiful n...
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The Wild Blue Yonder
1953
Jack McCall, Desperado
5.3/6
During the Civil War, a Southerner joins the Union Army and is accused of leaking information to the Confederates.
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Jack McCall, Desperado
1958
Return to Warbow
5.75/18
Three escaped prisoners return to the site of a robbery to find the stolen money that was never recovered. Western.
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Return to Warbow
1955
The Vanishing American
4/2
A woman arrives in New Mexico to claim property she's inherited and receives an education in the greedy exploitation of the local Navajo.
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The Vanishing American
1954
Masterson of Kansas
5.7/10
Western lawman Bat Masterson sets out to prove a man standing trial for murder is innocent.
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Masterson of Kansas
1953
The Nebraskan
3/2
War looms on the horizon when an Army officer's American Indian aide is accused of murdering a tribal elder.
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The Nebraskan
1952
The Pathfinder
4/3
Pathfinder, a white man raised by the Mohican Indians, joins forces with the British army to avenge himself on the Mingo warriors and the French, who...
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The Pathfinder
1949
The Cowboy and the Indians
6.8/4
Finding Indians stealing from his ranch, Gene learns they are suffering from malnutrition. Store owner Martin is cheating them and now he is after the...
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The Cowboy and the Indians
1954
Four Guns to the Border
4.5/13
A group of outlaws plan and execute a robbery in a small town. However, things go awry as the team attempt a getaway, when a couple of the locals atte...
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Four Guns to the Border
1948
Family Honeymoon
5.7/3
Grant Jordan, bachelor botany professor, marries Katie, a widow with three kids, despite the machinations of Grant's former girlfriend Minna. But on t...
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Family Honeymoon
1950
Broken Arrow
6.657/188
Indian scout Tom Jeffords is sent out to stem the war between the Whites and Apaches in the late 1870s. He learns that the Indians kill only to protec...
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Broken Arrow
1952
Brave Warrior
4/4
In Indiana of the early 1800s, conflict once again arises between the United States and Great Britain over territory and boundaries. Each side endeavo...
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Brave Warrior
1949
Sand
4.5/4
Novelist Will James, a specialist in horse stories, wrote the yarn upon which 20th Century-Fox's Sand was based. Mark Stevens plays horse breeder Jeff...
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Sand
1948
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
7.981/1149
Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join w...
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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1956
Walk the Proud Land
6.1/13
Indian Agent sent to try new approach to peace with Apaches based on respect for automomy rather than submission to Army. Wins over reservation chiefs...
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Walk the Proud Land
1952
The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
6/5
A group of Texas Rangers chasing the Butch Cavendish gang is massacred in an ambush. One of the Rangers survives and becomes a vigilante, a masked Lon...
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The Legend Of The Lone Ranger
1949
Enter the Lone Ranger
3.5/2
The sole surviving Texas Ranger of a murderous ambush - John Reid, becomes the great masked hero. He fights for justice with his companion, Tonto.
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Enter the Lone Ranger
1948
Key Largo
7.485/513
A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and...
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Key Largo
1949
Lust for Gold
5.9/29
A man determined to track down the fabled Arizona gold mine known as The Lost Dutchman has an affair with a married treasure hunter, whose pursuit of...
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Lust for Gold
1942
Perils of Nyoka
0/0
Professor Campbell's expedition into the hills of Libya obtains a papyrus which might reveal the hiding place of the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates, co...
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Perils of Nyoka
1940
Kit Carson
5.9/10
Frontiersman Kit Carson fights off Indian attacks on the trail to California.
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Kit Carson
1947
Gas House Kids Go West
6/1
The second of three "Bowery Boys" rip-offs produced by bargain-basement Producers Releasing Corporation.
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Gas House Kids Go West
1949
Laramie
6.5/2
A major Indian uprising is expected and Wyoming military posts are alerted. Colonel Dennison is meeting with Chief Eagle and his son Running Wolf when...
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Laramie
1953
Last of the Comanches
6.4/19
It's 1876 and all the Indians are at peace except the Comanches lead by Black Cloud. When Black Cloud wipes out a town, only six soldiers are left and...
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Last of the Comanches
1940
The Sea Hawk
7.143/122
Dashing pirate Geoffrey Thorpe plunders Spanish ships for Queen Elizabeth I and falls in love with Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal he captures.
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The Sea Hawk
1940
Too Many Girls
5.7/11
Mr. Casey's daughter, Connie, wants to go to Pottawatomie College and without her knowledge, he sends four football players as her bodyguards. The col...
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Too Many Girls
1949
Trail of the Yukon
6/1
When the local Banker jumps the Blaine's claim, they have men rob the bank to retrieve their money. When the men try to double-cross the Blains, a gun...
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Trail of the Yukon
1947
The Prairie
6/1
The Prairie is set at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Hoping to find their destiny in the new territory, the Bush Family heads southward in a cove...
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The Prairie
1941
This Woman Is Mine
3.2/5
Three seafaring fur traders fall in love with a female stowaway they discover aboard their ship. Many adventures follow.
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This Woman Is Mine
1941
Western Union
6/72
When Edward Creighton leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West, he hires a Western reformed outlaw and a tenderfoot Eastern...
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Western Union
1948
Singin' Spurs
0/0
In order to help neighboring Indians irrigate their farms, the Hotshots plan to put on a fair for tourists. But first they need $2000 for an advertisi...
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Singin' Spurs
1942
Valley of the Sun
5.8/4
An Arizona frontiersman steals an Indian agent's girlfriend, followed by trouble.
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Valley of the Sun
1969
Smith!
5.5/10
When the Indian Jimmyboy is accused of murder of a white man, he flees onto the ranch of Smith, who's well known for his tolerance for Indians, since...
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Smith!
1944
Lost in a Harem
5.5/12
Two bumbling magicians help a Middle Eastern prince regain his rightful throne from his despotic uncle.
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Lost in a Harem
1948
Yellow Sky
6.91/110
In 1867, a gang led by James "Stretch" Dawson robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws come upon a ghost town called Yellow Sk...
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Yellow Sky
1944
I Am an American
5.3/3
The history of a Polish family and its contributions to the war effort throughout American history.
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I Am an American
2001
Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
0/0
Along with two complete episodes of the classic television series with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels (shown with original commercials and network...
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Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes
1959
Alias Jesse James
5.9/24
Insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth sells a man a life policy only to discover that the man in question is the outlaw Jesse James. Milford is sent t...
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Alias Jesse James
1971
Cat Ballou
0/0
A pretty ranch owner hires an alcoholic gunfighter to protect her ranch and her adopted boy from an outlaw gang's depredations.
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Cat Ballou
The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
0/0
Disguised behind his mask, The Lone Ranger led the fight for law and order in the early West. Relive the journey of the resourceful rider in The Maske...
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The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man
1948
The Feathered Serpent
5.9/11
In order to learn the location of a fabled Aztec treasure, a professor kidnaps his colleague, the only man able to read the ancient Aztec script that...
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The Feathered Serpent
1968
The Movie Orgy
6.222/9
Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and gov...
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The Movie Orgy
1960
Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
0/0
Texas John Slaughter is a peace-loving family man and successful rancher who values his friendship with the Apaches. But when a vengeful Geronimo init...
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Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
1970
The Phynx
3.5/8
A rock band is invented by the government as a cover to find hostages in a remote castle in Albania held by communist enemies of the USA.
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The Phynx
1943
Northern Pursuit
5.9/17
Canadian Mountie Steve Wagner captures a German Luftwaffe officer on a spy mission, who later escapes from the prison camp. To catch the spy ring, the...
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Northern Pursuit
1953
War Arrow
5.6/20
A thrilling Cavalry-versus-Indians adventure starring Jeff Chandler as an Army official recruiting Seminole allies, against his superior's wishes, to...
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War Arrow
1952
The Battle at Apache Pass
6.3/15
Major Jim Colton is a sympathetic leader who has a working relationship with Apache leader Cochise. Colton is undermined by corrupt and politically am...
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The Battle at Apache Pass
1969
True Grit
7.4/748
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marsha...
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True Grit
1944
Tahiti Nights
0/0
Islanders make arrangements for an American bandleader to marry a princess.
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Tahiti Nights
1947
Captain from Castile
7.2/27
Spain, 1518: young caballero Pedro De Vargas offends his sadistic neighbor De Silva, who just happens to be an officer of the Inquisition. Forced to f...
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Captain from Castile
1952
The Half-Breed
5/1
An Apache of mixed blood tries to make peace between Indians and whites.
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The Half-Breed
1943
The Phantom
6.222/9
Two expeditions are trying to reach the Lost City of Zoloz -- one headed by Professor Davidson, a scientist who wants to establish an archaeological s...
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The Phantom
1967
Pistols 'n' Petticoats
0/0
Compilation of several episodes of the TV series Pistols 'n' Petticoats.
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Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1949
Tulsa
6.184/19
It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee pla...
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Tulsa
1972
In Pursuit of Treasure
0/0
In Pursuit of Treasure was shot over 11 weeks in 1970 with Panavision cameras in Kanab, Utah, with union waivers, a $220,000 budget and even logistica...
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In Pursuit of Treasure
2002
The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
0/0
From those early days of black and white with Ed Ames' memorable Tomahawk toss, to Tiny Tim's Technicolor wedding, to Letterman and Leno's stand-up de...
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