[ Silverheels began working in motion pictures as an extra and stunt performer]
He adopted his screen name from the nickname he had as a lacrosse player.
Television
Jay Silverheels achieved his greatest fame as Tonto on The Lone Ranger TV series (1949–1957). Silverheels appeared in the film sequels: The Lone Ranger (1956) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958).
When The Lone Ranger television series ended, Silverheels continued to be typecast as a Native American. On January 6, 1960, he portrayed a Native American firefighter trying to extinguish a forest fire in the episode "Leap of Life" in the syndicated series, Rescue 8, starring Jim Davis and fellow Canadian Lang Jeffries.
Silverheels appeared in an episode of the TV series Love, American Style. The segment, "Love and the Test of Manhood", first aired on February 11, 1972.
Eventually, he went to work as a salesman to supplement his acting income.
Despite the typecasting, Silverheels in later years often poked fun at his character. In 1969, he appeared as Tonto without the Lone Ranger in a comedy sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[Archived at Ghostarchive and the : ] The sketch was featured on the 1974 record album . "My name is Tonto. I hail from Toronto and I speak Esperanto." In 1970, he appeared in a commercial for Chevrolet as a Native American chief who rescues two lost hunters, who had ignored his advice, in that year's Chevy Blazer. The William Tell Overture is heard in the background.
Silverheels spoofed his Tonto character, opposite Clayton Moore, in a Stan Freberg Jeno's Pizza Rolls TV commercial, which was set to the music of the William Tell Overture, and in The Phynx opposite John Hart, who also played the Lone Ranger in the original television series.
He appeared in three 1964/5 episodes of NBC's Daniel Boone, starring Fess Parker in the title role.
His later appearances included an episode of ABC's The Brady Bunch, as a Native American who befriends the Bradys in the Grand Canyon, and in an episode of the short-lived Dusty's Trail, starring Bob Denver of Gilligan's Island.
In the early 1960s, Silverheels supported the Indian Actors Workshop,
Personal life
Silverheels raised, bred, and raced Standardbred horses in his spare time. Once, when asked about possibly running Tonto's paint horse Scout in a race, Jay laughed off the idea: "Heck, I can outrun Scout!"
Married twice, Silverheels had two sons (Steve, with his first wife; Jay Anthony Jr., who followed his father into acting) and four daughters (Marilyn, Gail, Pamela, and Karen).
Death
Silverheels suffered a stroke in 1976,[ and the following year, Clayton Moorehis co-star on The Lone Rangerrode an American Paint Horse in Silverheels's honor in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.][ at age 67, in Calabasas, California.][ His cenotaph sits at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) in Glendale, California.
]
Legacy
In 1993, Silverheels was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was named to the Western New York Entertainment Hall of Fame, and his portrait hangs in Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6538 Hollywood Boulevard, awarded on July 17, 1979. First Americans in the Arts honored Silverheels with their Life Achievement Award.
In 1997, Silverheels was inducted, under the name Harry "Tonto" Smith, into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in the Veteran Player category in recognition of his lacrosse career during the 1930s.
A fictionalized version of Silverheels appears in the Thrilling Adventure Hour serialized segment "Tales from the Black Lagoon".
His friend Milan Smith, a trainer and racehorse owner, promised that he would name a horse after Silverheels.[ ] He named a pacer "Hi Ho Silverheels".
Selected filmography
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Make a Wish (1937) – Indian Guide (uncredited)
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The Sea Hawk (1940) – Native Lookout (uncredited)
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Kit Carson (1940) – Indian (uncredited)
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Too Many Girls (1940) – Indian (uncredited)
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Hudson's Bay (1941) – Indian (uncredited)
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Western Union (1941) – Indian (uncredited)
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Jungle Girl (1941, Serial) – Lion Man Guard Chs. (uncredited)
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This Woman Is Mine (1941) – Indian Marauder (uncredited)
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Valley of the Sun (1942) – Indian (uncredited)
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Perils of Nyoka (1942, Serial) – Tuareg (uncredited)
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Good Morning, Judge (1943) – Indian (uncredited)
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Daredevils of the West (1943, Serial) – Kiaga Ch. (uncredited)
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The Girl from Monterrey (1943) – Fighter Tito Flores
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Northern Pursuit (1943) – Indian (uncredited)
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The Phantom (1943, Serial) – Astari Warrior (uncredited)
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Passage to Marseille (1944) – Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck (uncredited)
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The Tiger Woman (1944, Serial) – Native at Shack Shoot-Out Ch. (uncredited)
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Call of the Jungle (1944) – Native (uncredited)
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Haunted Harbor (1944, Serial) – Native Chs. (uncredited)
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Lost in a Harem (1944) – Guard at Execution (uncredited)
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Tahiti Nights (1944) – Lua (uncredited)
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Song of the Sarong (1945) – Spearman (uncredited)
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Romance of the West (1946) – Young Bear (uncredited)
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Singin' in the Corn (1946) – Indian Brave
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Gas House Kids Go West (1947) – Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
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Northwest Outpost (1947) – Indian Scout (uncredited)
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Unconquered (1947) – Indian (uncredited)
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The Last Round-up (1947) – Sam Luther (uncredited)
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The Prairie (1947) – Running Deer
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Captain from Castile (1947) – Coatl (uncredited)
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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
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Fury at Furnace Creek (1948) – Little Dog (uncredited)
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Key Largo (1948) – Tom Osceola (uncredited)
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Singin' Spurs (1948) – Abel
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Family Honeymoon (1948) – Elevator Boy (uncredited)
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The Feathered Serpent (1948) – Diego (uncredited)
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Yellow Sky (1948) – Indian (uncredited)
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Song of India (1949) – Villager (uncredited)
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Tulsa (1949) – Creek Indian (uncredited)
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Laramie (1949) – Running Wolf (uncredited)
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Lust for Gold (1949) – Deputy Walter (uncredited)
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Trail of the Yukon (1949) – Poleon
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Sand (1949) – Indian (uncredited)
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The Cowboy and the Indians (1949) – Lakoma
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Broken Arrow (1950) – Geronimo (uncredited)
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The Wild Blue Yonder (1951) – Benders
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Red Mountain (1951) – Little Crow
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The Battle at Apache Pass (1952) – Geronimo
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The Half-Breed (1952) – Apache (uncredited)
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Brave Warrior (1952) – Tecumseh
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The Story of Will Rogers (1952) – Joe Arrow (uncredited)
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Yankee Buccaneer (1952) – Lead Warrior
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The Pathfinder (1952) – Chingachgook
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The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1952) – Tonto
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Last of the Comanches (1953) – Indian (uncredited)
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Jack McCall, Desperado (1953) – Red Cloud
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The Nebraskan (1953) – Spotted Bear
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War Arrow (1953) – Satanta
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Saskatchewan (1954) (with Alan Ladd) – Cajou
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Drums Across The River (1954) (with Audie Murphy) – Taos
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The Black Dakotas (1954) – Black Buffalo
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Four Guns to the Border (1954) – Yaqui
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Masterson of Kansas (1954) – Yellow Hawk
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The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1955, TV Movie) – Tonto
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The Lone Ranger Story (1955) – Tonto
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The Vanishing American (1955) – Beeteia
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The Lone Ranger (1956) – Tonto
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Walk the Proud Land (1956) – Geronimo
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Return to Warbow (1958) – Indian Joe
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The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958) – Tonto
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Alias Jesse James (1959) – Tonto (uncredited)
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Indian Paint (1965) – Chief Hevatanu
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Smith! (1969) – McDonald Lasheway
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True Grit (1969) – Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
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The Phynx (1970) – Tonto
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In Pursuit of Treasure (1972)
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One Little Indian (1973) – Jimmy Wolf
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The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973) – The Chief
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Santee (1973) – John Crow
Television
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The Lone Ranger – 217 episodes – Tonto (1949–1957)
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Wide Wide World – episode – The Western – Himself (1958)
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Wanted Dead or Alive – S2 E14 – Man on Horseback – Charley Red Cloud (1959)
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Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color – episode – Texas John Slaughter: Apache Friendship & Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge – Natchez (1960)
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Gunslinger – episode – The Recruit – Hopi Indian (1961)
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Wagon Train – episode – Path of the Serpent – The Serpent (1961)
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Rawhide – episode – The Gentleman's Gentleman – Pawnee Joe (1961)
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Laramie – episode – The Day of the Savage – Toma (1962)
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Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) – Chenrogan – S1/E11 "Mountain of the Dead" (1964)
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Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) – Latawa – S1/E20 "The Quietists" (1965)
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Branded – episode – The Test – Wild Horse (1965)
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Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) – Sashona – S2/E14 "The Christmas Story" (1965)
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Gentle Ben – episode – Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher – Willie Sam Gopher (1967)
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The Virginian – episode – The Heritage – Den'Gwatzi (1968)
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The Brady Bunch – episode – The Brady Braves – Chief Eagle Cloud (1971)
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The Virginian – episode – The Animal – Spotted Hand (1971)
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Cannon – episode – Valley of the Damned – Jimmy One Eye (1973)
See also
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Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood
Informational notes
Citations
Further reading
External links
