Jack Elam

Colorful American character actor equally adept at vicious killers or grizzled sidekicks. As a child he worked in the cotton fields. He attended Santa Monica Junior College in California and subsequently became an accountant and, at one time, manager of the Bel Air Hotel. Elam got his first movie job by trading his accounting services for a role. In short time he became one of the most memorable supporting players in Hollywood, thanks not only to his near-demented screen persona but also to an out-of-kilter left eye, sightless from a childhood fight. He appeared with great aplomb in Westerns and gangster films alike, and in later years played to wonderful effect in comedic roles.

Known For: Acting

Born: Miami, Gila, Arizona, USA, 1920-11-13

Died: 2003-10-20

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1949	Wild Weed	Raymond - Henchman	48
2	1950	The Sundowners	Earl Boyce	54
3	1950	Key to the City	Councilman (uncredited)	61
4	1950	One Way Street	Arnie (uncredited)	51
5	1950	A Ticket to Tomahawk	Fargo	58
6	1950	High Lonesome	Smiling Man	51
7	1950	American Guerrilla in the Philippines	The Speaker	54
8	1951	Bird of Paradise	The Trader	57
9	1951	Rawhide	Tevis	67
10	1951	The Bushwhackers	Cree	51
11	1952	Finders Keepers	Eddie	0
12	1952	Rancho Notorious	Mort Geary	65
13	1952	The Battle at Apache Pass	Mescal Jack	63
14	1952	Montana Territory	Gimp	0
15	1952	High Noon	Charlie - Drunk in Jail (uncredited)	77
16	1952	Lure of the Wilderness	Dave Longden	60
17	1952	My Man and I	Celestino Garcia	68
18	1952	The Ring	Harry Jackson	47
19	1952	Kansas City Confidential	Pete Harris	71
20	1953	Count the Hours!	Max Verne	55
21	1953	Ride, Vaquero!	Barton	59
22	1953	Gun Belt	Rusty Kolloway	63
23	1953	The Moonlighter	Slim	57
24	1953	Appointment in Honduras	Castro	57
25	1954	Ride Clear of Diablo	Tim Lowerie	58
26	1954	The Far Country	Frank Newberry	69
27	1954	Jubilee Trail	Whitey	46
28	1954	Princess of the Nile	Basra	71
29	1954	Cattle Queen of Montana	Yost	56
30	1954	Vera Cruz	Tex	66
31	1955	Tarzan's Hidden Jungle	Burger	49
32	1955	Man Without a Star	Knife Murderer (uncredited)	65
33	1955	Kiss Me Deadly	Charlie Max	72
34	1955	Moonfleet	Damen	64
35	1955	Wichita	Al	63
36	1955	The Man from Laramie	Chris Boldt	72
37	1955	Kismet	Hasan-Ben	50
38	1955	Artists and Models	Ivan	67
39	1955	The Silent Partner	Shanks	60
40	1956	Jubal	McCoy	68
41	1956	Pardners	Pete	67
42	1956	Thunder Over Arizona	Slats Callahan	60
43	1957	Lure of the Swamp	Henry Bliss	65
44	1957	Gunfight at the O.K. Corral	Tom McLowery	70
45	1957	Night Passage	Shotgun	63
46	1957	Dragoon Wells Massacre	Tioga	68
47	1957	Baby Face Nelson	Fatso Nagel	58
48	1958	The Gun Runners	Arnold	60
49	1959	Edge of Eternity	Bill Ward	65
50	1960	Miss Jenny		0
51	1960	The Slowest Gun in the West	Ike Dalton	20
52	1960	The Girl in Lovers Lane	Jesse	28
53	1961	The Last Sunset	Ed Hobbs	68
54	1961	The Comancheros	Horseface (Comanchero)	67
55	1961	Pocketful of Miracles	Cheesecake	73
56	1963	4 for Texas	Dobie	51
57	1966	The Rare Breed	Deke Simons	60
58	1966	The Night of the Grizzly	Hank	56
59	1967	The Way West	Preacher Weatherby	60
60	1967	The Last Challenge	Ernest Scarnes	63
61	1968	Firecreek	Norman	64
62	1968	Never a Dull Moment	Ace Williams	62
63	1968	Sartana Does Not Forgive	Slim Kovacs	61
64	1968	Once Upon a Time in the West	Frank's Gunman	83
65	1969	Ride a Northbound Horse	Sheriff	0
66	1969	Support Your Local Sheriff!	Jake	70
67	1969	The Over the Hill Gang	Sheriff Clyde Barnes	56
68	1970	Rio Lobo	Phillips	64
69	1970	The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County	Kittrick	63
70	1970	Dirty Dingus Magee	John Wesley Hardin	47
71	1970	Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo	Self	0
72	1970	The Wild Country	Thompson	60
73	1971	Support Your Local Gunfighter	Jug May	65
74	1971	Cat Ballou	Kid Sheleen	0
75	1971	The Last Rebel	Matt	0
76	1971	Hannie Caulder	Frank Clemens	62
77	1972	The Last Escape of Billy the Kid	Pat Garrett	0
78	1972	The Daughters of Joshua Cabe	Bitterroot	52
79	1973	The Red Pony	Granddad	0
80	1973	Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid	Alamosa Bill Kermit	72
81	1974	Shootout in a One-Dog Town	Handy	0
82	1974	Sidekicks	Boss	60
83	1974	A Knife for the Ladies	Jarrod (Sheriff)	49
84	1975	Huckleberry Finn	King	60
85	1976	Creature from Black Lake	Joe Canton	51
86	1976	Hawmps!	Bad Jack Cutter	43
87	1976	The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe	Bitterroot	0
88	1976	The Winds of Autumn	J. Pete Hankins	58
89	1976	Pony Express Rider	Crazy Charlie	50
90	1977	Grayeagle	Trapper Willis	56
91	1978	Lacy and the Mississippi Queen	Willie Red Fire	0
92	1978	Hot Lead & Cold Feet	Rattlesnake	59
93	1978	The Norseman	Death Dreamer	31
94	1979	The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again	Big Mac	64
95	1979	The Villain	Avery Simpson	58
96	1981	The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite	Seth Beaumont	30
97	1981	The Cannonball Run	Doctor	61
98	1981	Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.	Troscliar Boudreaux	45
99	1981	Skyward Christmas	Clay Haller	0
100	1982	Jinxed!	Otto	46
101	1983	Sacred Ground	Lum Witcher	60
102	1983	Lost	Mr. Newsom	48
103	1984	Cannonball Run II	Doc	54
104	1984	Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas	Scrooge	60
105	1986	The Aurora Encounter	Charlie	43
106	1986	Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills	Squires	68
107	1987	Hawken's Breed	Tackett	35
108	1987	I Am Not a Freak	Self	50
109	1988	Once Upon a Texas Train	Jason Fitch	54
110	1988	Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?	Boone	30
111	1990	Big Bad John	Jake Calhoun	40
112	1990	The Giant of Thunder Mountain	Hezekiah Crow	52
113	1991	Suburban Commando	Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell	46
114	1992	Shadow Force	Tommy	0
115	1993	Uninvited	Grady	46
116	1993	Bonanza: The Return	Buckshot	65
117	1995	Bonanza: Under Attack	Buckshot	67
118	1997	Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western	Self	0
119	2004	Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade	(archive footage)	73

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1949	The Lone Ranger	Reno Lawrence	68
2	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Lee Dineen	70
3	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Halleck	70
4	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Vic	61
5	1952	Mr. & Mrs. North		48
6	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	Sheriff	76
7	1955	Gunsmoke	Dolph Quince	66
8	1955	Gunsmoke	Steed	66
9	1955	Gunsmoke	Clint Dodie	66
10	1955	Gunsmoke	Ben	66
11	1955	Gunsmoke	Hector	66
12	1955	Gunsmoke	Specter	66
13	1955	Gunsmoke	Del Ordman	66
14	1955	Gunsmoke	Sam Band	66
15	1955	Gunsmoke	Jim Barrett	66
16	1955	Gunsmoke	William Prange	66
17	1955	Gunsmoke	Lucas Murdoch	66
18	1955	Gunsmoke	Titus Spangler	66
19	1955	Gunsmoke	Pierre Audubon	66
20	1955	Cheyenne		58
21	1955	Cheyenne	Calhoun Durango	58
22	1955	Frontier		50
23	1955	Screen Director's Playhouse	Shanks	65
24	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Hock Ellis	55
25	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Little Jimmy Lehigh	55
26	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Stage Driver Cass	55
27	1957	Tales of Wells Fargo	Chris	68
28	1957	Richard Diamond, Private Detective	Danny Boy	62
29	1957	Richard Diamond, Private Detective	Perk Butler	62
30	1957	Have Gun, Will Travel		74
31	1957	Have Gun, Will Travel	Arnold Shaffner	74
32	1957	Sugarfoot	Toothy Thompson	48
33	1957	M Squad	Luke Morgan	52
34	1957	The Restless Gun	Tony Molinor	37
35	1957	Zorro	Gomez (uncredited)	76
36	1958	Bronco		48
37	1958	The Texan		55
38	1958	The Texan	Luke Watson	55
39	1958	The Rifleman		71
40	1958	Lawman		54
41	1958	Lawman	Herm Forrest	54
42	1958	Lawman	Paul Henry	54
43	1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse		53
44	1959	Rawhide	Turkey Creek Jack Johnson	72
45	1959	Tightrope		55
46	1959	Bonanza	Dodie Hoad	75
47	1959	Bonanza	Honest John	75
48	1959	Bonanza	Buford Buckalew	75
49	1959	The Twilight Zone	Avery	84
50	1959	The Rebel	Uncle Luce	53
51	1959	The Untouchables	Jug Alverson	79
52	1959	The Untouchables	Nick Bravo	79
53	1959	Mr. Lucky	Phil Bricker	70
54	1960	National Velvet	Black Barr	75
55	1960	Outlaws		62
56	1961	Target: The Corruptors!		35
57	1961	Ben Casey		57
58	1962	The Virginian	Harve Yost	64
59	1963	The Dakotas	Deputy J.D. Smith	57
60	1963	Temple Houston	George Taggart	57
61	1964	Daniel Boone	Petch	69
62	1965	The Legend of Jesse James	Deacon Smith	48
63	1965	F Troop		61
64	1966	Tarzan		67
65	1967	Cimarron Strip		50
66	1967	Hondo		65
67	1967	The Guns of Will Sonnett	Sam - Sheriff	63
68	1967	The High Chaparral	Macklin	65
69	1968	The Outcasts		53
70	1968	Lancer		47
71	1971	Alias Smith and Jones		69
72	1971	Nichols	Marcus A.F. Baxter	50
73	1972	The Brian Keith Show		50
74	1972	Kung Fu	Marcus Taylor	76
75	1977	How the West Was Won	Cully Madigan	69
76	1977	Grizzly Adams		70
77	1977	Eight Is Enough		61
78	1978	Black Beauty	Jonas McBride	70
79	1979	The Sacketts	Ira Bigelow	77
80	1979	Struck by Lightning	Frank	50
81	1981	Father Murphy		80
82	1981	Simon & Simon		67
83	1985	Detective in the House		50
84	1986	Easy Street		57
85	1987	J.J. Starbuck		50
86	1988	Paradise	Skragg	54
87	1991	Home Improvement	Hick Peterson	74
88	1992	Lucky Luke	Axel Ericson	56