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.

Filmography

• 2013The Lone Ranger: Who Was That Masked Man — Tonto
• 2002The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson - The Best of the 60s and 70s
• 2001Lone Ranger: Lost Episodes — Tonto
• 1973One Little Indian — Jimmy Wolf
• 1973Santee — John Crow
• 1973The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing — The Chief
• 1972In Pursuit of Treasure
• Cannon
• 1971Cat Ballou — Indian Chief
• 1970The Phynx — Tonto
• 1969Smith! — McDonald Lasheway
• The Brady Bunch — Chief Eagle Cloud
• 1969True Grit — Condemned Man at Hanging (uncredited)
• 1968The Movie Orgy — Tonto (archive footage)
• 1967Pistols 'n' Petticoats — Great Bear
• Pistols 'n' Petticoats — Great Bear
• Branded
• 1965Indian Paint — Chief Hevatanu
• Daniel Boone — Sashona, Chenrogan, Latawa
• The Virginian — Den'Gwatzi, Spotted Hand
• Gunslinger — Hopi Indian
• 1960Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge — Natchez
• 1959Alias Jesse James — Tonto (uncredited)
• Rawhide — Pawnee Joe
• 1958Return to Warbow — Indian Joe
• 1958The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold — Tonto
• Wanted: Dead or Alive — Charley Red Cloud
• 1956The Lone Ranger — Tonto
• 1956Walk the Proud Land — Geronimo
• 1955The Vanishing American — Beeteia
• 1954Drums Across the River — Taos
• 1954Four Guns to the Border — Yaqui
• 1954Masterson of Kansas — Yellow Hawk
• 1954Saskatchewan — Cajou
• 1954The Black Dakotas — Black Buffalo
• 1953Jack McCall, Desperado — Red Cloud
• 1953Last of the Comanches — Indian (uncredited)
• 1953The Nebraskan — Spotted Bear
• 1953War Arrow — Satanta
• 1952Brave Warrior — Chief Tecumseh
• 1952The Battle at Apache Pass — Geronimo
• 1952The Half-Breed — Apache (uncredited)
• 1952The Legend Of The Lone Ranger — Tonto
• 1952The Pathfinder — Chingachgook
• 1952Yankee Buccaneer — Lead Warrior
• 1951Red Mountain — Little Crow
• 1951The Wild Blue Yonder — Benders
• 1950Broken Arrow — Geronimo (uncredited)
• 1949Laramie — Running Wolf (uncredited)
• 1949Lust for Gold — Walter
• 1949Sand — Indian (uncredited)
• 1949The Cowboy and the Indians — Lakohna
• The Lone Ranger — Tonto
• 1949Trail of the Yukon — Poleon
• 1949Tulsa — Creek Indian (uncredited)
• 1948Family Honeymoon — Elevator Boy (uncredited)
• 1948Fury at Furnace Creek — Little Dog (uncredited)
• 1948Key Largo — Tom Osceola (uncredited)
• 1948Singin' Spurs — Abel
• 1948The Feathered Serpent — Diego (uncredited)
• 1948The Treasure of the Sierra Madre — Indian Guide at Pier (uncredited)
• 1948Yellow Sky — Indian (uncredited)
• 1947Captain from Castile — Coatl (uncredited)
• 1947Gas House Kids Go West — Kingsley's Henchman (uncredited)
• 1947The Last Round-up
• 1947The Prairie — Running Deer
• 1944I Am an American — Indian (uncredited)
• 1944Lost in a Harem — Guard at Execution (uncredited)
• 1944Passage to Marseille — Sailor Crewman on Boat Deck (uncredited)
• 1944Tahiti Nights — Lua
• 1943Northern Pursuit — Indian (uncredited)
• 1943The Girl from Monterrey — Fighter Tito Flores
• 1943The Phantom — Astari Warrior (uncredited)
• 1942Perils of Nyoka — Tuareg
• 1942Valley of the Sun — Indian (uncredited)
• 1941This Woman Is Mine — Indian Marauder
• 1941Western Union — Indian
• 1940Hudson's Bay — Indian (uncredited)
• 1940Kit Carson — Indian
• 1940The Sea Hawk — Native Lookout
• 1940Too Many Girls — Indian (uncredited)
• A Different Drum — Jim Swift Hands

Appearances as themselves (1)

• 1958The Western: A Lost TV Special — Self