Jack Elam
Acting
- Born:
- 1920-11-13
- Died:
- 2003-10-20
- Place of birth:
- Miami, Gila, Arizona, USA
Biography
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
Filmography
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
Bonanza: Under Attack
Bonanza: The Return
Uninvited
Shadow Force
Lucky Luke
Suburban Commando
Home Improvement
The Giant of Thunder Mountain
Big Bad John
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
Paradise
Once Upon a Texas Train
I Am Not a Freak
J.J. Starbuck
Hawken's Breed
Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills
Easy Street
The Aurora Encounter
Detective in the House
Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas
Cannonball Run II
Lost
Sacred Ground
Jinxed!
Skyward Christmas
Simon & Simon
Father Murphy
Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.
The Cannonball Run
The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite
Struck by Lightning
The Villain
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
The Sacketts
$weepstake$
The Norseman
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
Lacy and the Mississippi Queen
Huckleberry Finn
Black Beauty
Grayeagle
Eight Is Enough
Grizzly Adams
How the West Was Won
Pony Express Rider
The Winds of Autumn
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
Hawmps!
Creature from Black Lake
A Knife for the Ladies
Sidekicks
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
The Red Pony
Kung Fu
The Brian Keith Show
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe
The Last Escape of Billy the Kid
Hannie Caulder
The Last Rebel
Nichols
Cat Ballou
Support Your Local Gunfighter
Alias Smith and Jones
The Wild Country
Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo
Dirty Dingus Magee
Rio Lobo
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
The Over the Hill Gang
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Ride a Northbound Horse
Once Upon a Time in the West
Sartana Does Not Forgive
Lancer
The Outcasts
Never a Dull Moment
Firecreek
The High Chaparral
Hondo
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Cimarron Strip
The Last Challenge
The Way West
Tarzan
The Night of the Grizzly
The Rare Breed
The Wild Wild West
F Troop
The Legend of Jesse James
Daniel Boone
4 for Texas
Temple Houston
The Dakotas
The Virginian
Pocketful of Miracles
The Comancheros
Ben Casey
Target: The Corruptors!
The Last Sunset
Gunslinger
Stagecoach West
Outlaws
National Velvet
The Girl in Lovers Lane
The Slowest Gun in the West
Edge of Eternity
Mr. Lucky
The Untouchables
The Rebel
The Twilight Zone
Laramie
Bonanza
Tightrope
Rawhide
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Lawman
The Rifleman
The Texan
Bronco
The Gun Runners
Baby Face Nelson
Zorro
The Restless Gun
M Squad
Sugarfoot
Have Gun, Will Travel
Dragoon Wells Massacre
Night Passage
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Lure of the Swamp
Tales of Wells Fargo
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Thunder Over Arizona
Pardners
Jubal
Artists and Models
Kismet
Screen Director's Playhouse
Frontier
Cheyenne
Gunsmoke
The Man from Laramie
Wichita
Moonfleet
Kiss Me Deadly
Man Without a Star
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
Vera Cruz
Cattle Queen of Montana
The Wonderful World of Disney
Studio 57
Princess of the Nile
Jubilee Trail
The Far Country
Ride Clear of Diablo
Appointment in Honduras
The Moonlighter
Gun Belt
Ride, Vaquero!
Count the Hours!
Kansas City Confidential
Mr. & Mrs. North
The Ring
Four Star Playhouse
My Man and I
Lure of the Wilderness
High Noon
Montana Territory
The Battle at Apache Pass
Rancho Notorious
Finders Keepers
The Bushwhackers
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Rawhide
Bird of Paradise
American Guerrilla in the Philippines
High Lonesome
A Ticket to Tomahawk
One Way Street
The Sundowners
Key to the City
The Lone Ranger
Wild Weed