Jack Elam
Acting
1920-11-13 · Miami, Gila, Arizona, USA
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.
Filmography
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
1997 · Movie
Bonanza: Under Attack
1995 · Movie
Bonanza: The Return
1993 · Movie
Uninvited
1993 · Movie
Shadow Force
1992 · Movie
Lucky Luke
1992 · Series
Suburban Commando
1991 · Movie
Home Improvement
1991 · Series
The Giant of Thunder Mountain
1990 · Movie
Big Bad John
1990 · Movie
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
1988 · Movie
Paradise
1988 · Series
Once Upon a Texas Train
1988 · Movie
I Am Not a Freak
1987 · Movie
J.J. Starbuck
1987 · Series
Hawken's Breed
1987 · Movie
Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills
1986 · Movie
Easy Street
1986 · Series
The Aurora Encounter
1986 · Movie
Detective in the House
1985 · Series
Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas
1984 · Movie
Cannonball Run II
1984 · Movie
Lost
1983 · Movie
Sacred Ground
1983 · Movie
Jinxed!
1982 · Movie
Skyward Christmas
1981 · Movie
Simon & Simon
1981 · Series
Father Murphy
1981 · Series
Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.
1981 · Movie
The Cannonball Run
1981 · Movie
The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite
1981 · Movie
Struck by Lightning
1979 · Series
The Villain
1979 · Movie
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
1979 · Movie
The Sacketts
1979 · Series
$weepstake$
1979 · Series
The Norseman
1978 · Movie
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
1978 · Movie
Lacy and the Mississippi Queen
1978 · Movie
Huckleberry Finn
1978 · Movie
Black Beauty
1978 · Series
Grayeagle
1977 · Movie
Eight Is Enough
1977 · Series
Grizzly Adams
1977 · Series
How the West Was Won
1977 · Series
Pony Express Rider
1976 · Movie
The Winds of Autumn
1976 · Movie
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1976 · Movie
Hawmps!
1976 · Movie
Creature from Black Lake
1976 · Movie
A Knife for the Ladies
1974 · Movie
Sidekicks
1974 · Movie
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
1974 · Movie
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973 · Movie
The Red Pony
1973 · Movie
Kung Fu
1972 · Series
The Brian Keith Show
1972 · Series
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1972 · Movie
The Last Escape of Billy the Kid
1972 · Movie
Hannie Caulder
1971 · Movie
The Last Rebel
1971 · Movie
Nichols
1971 · Series
Cat Ballou
1971 · Movie
Support Your Local Gunfighter
1971 · Movie
Alias Smith and Jones
1971 · Series
The Wild Country
1970 · Movie
Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo
1970 · Movie
Dirty Dingus Magee
1970 · Movie
Rio Lobo
1970 · Movie
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
1970 · Movie
The Over the Hill Gang
1969 · Movie
Support Your Local Sheriff!
1969 · Movie
Ride a Northbound Horse
1969 · Movie
Once Upon a Time in the West
1968 · Movie
Sartana Does Not Forgive
1968 · Movie
Lancer
1968 · Series
The Outcasts
1968 · Series
Never a Dull Moment
1968 · Movie
Firecreek
1968 · Movie
The High Chaparral
1967 · Series
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967 · Series
Hondo
1967 · Series
Cimarron Strip
1967 · Series
The Last Challenge
1967 · Movie
The Way West
1967 · Movie
Tarzan
1966 · Series
The Night of the Grizzly
1966 · Movie
The Rare Breed
1966 · Movie
The Wild Wild West
1965 · Series
F Troop
1965 · Series
The Legend of Jesse James
1965 · Series
Daniel Boone
1964 · Series
4 for Texas
1963 · Movie
Temple Houston
1963 · Series
The Dakotas
1963 · Series
The Virginian
1962 · Series
Pocketful of Miracles
1961 · Movie
The Comancheros
1961 · Movie
Ben Casey
1961 · Series
Target: The Corruptors!
1961 · Series
The Last Sunset
1961 · Movie
Gunslinger
1961 · Series
Stagecoach West
1960 · Series
Outlaws
1960 · Series
National Velvet
1960 · Series
The Girl in Lovers Lane
1960 · Movie
The Slowest Gun in the West
1960 · Movie
Edge of Eternity
1959 · Movie
Mr. Lucky
1959 · Series
The Untouchables
1959 · Series
The Rebel
1959 · Series
The Twilight Zone
1959 · Series
Laramie
1959 · Series
Bonanza
1959 · Series
Tightrope
1959 · Series
Rawhide
1959 · Series
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958 · Series
Lawman
1958 · Series
The Rifleman
1958 · Series
The Texan
1958 · Series
Bronco
1958 · Series
The Gun Runners
1958 · Movie
Baby Face Nelson
1957 · Movie
Zorro
1957 · Series
The Restless Gun
1957 · Series
M Squad
1957 · Series
Sugarfoot
1957 · Series
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957 · Series
Dragoon Wells Massacre
1957 · Movie
Night Passage
1957 · Movie
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957 · Series
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
1957 · Movie
Lure of the Swamp
1957 · Movie
Tales of Wells Fargo
1957 · Series
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · Series
Thunder Over Arizona
1956 · Movie
Pardners
1956 · Movie
Jubal
1956 · Movie
Artists and Models
1955 · Movie
Kismet
1955 · Movie
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955 · Series
Frontier
1955 · Series
Cheyenne
1955 · Series
Gunsmoke
1955 · Series
The Man from Laramie
1955 · Movie
Wichita
1955 · Movie
Moonfleet
1955 · Movie
Kiss Me Deadly
1955 · Movie
Man Without a Star
1955 · Movie
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
1955 · Movie
Vera Cruz
1954 · Movie
Cattle Queen of Montana
1954 · Movie
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · Series
Studio 57
1954 · Series
Princess of the Nile
1954 · Movie
Jubilee Trail
1954 · Movie
The Far Country
1954 · Movie
Ride Clear of Diablo
1954 · Movie
Appointment in Honduras
1953 · Movie
The Moonlighter
1953 · Movie
Gun Belt
1953 · Movie
Ride, Vaquero!
1953 · Movie
Count the Hours!
1953 · Movie
Kansas City Confidential
1952 · Movie
Mr. & Mrs. North
1952 · Series
The Ring
1952 · Movie
Four Star Playhouse
1952 · Series
My Man and I
1952 · Movie
Lure of the Wilderness
1952 · Movie
High Noon
1952 · Movie
Montana Territory
1952 · Movie
The Battle at Apache Pass
1952 · Movie
Rancho Notorious
1952 · Movie
Finders Keepers
1952 · Movie
The Bushwhackers
1951 · Movie
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951 · Series
Rawhide
1951 · Movie
Bird of Paradise
1951 · Movie
American Guerrilla in the Philippines
1950 · Movie
High Lonesome
1950 · Movie
A Ticket to Tomahawk
1950 · Movie
One Way Street
1950 · Movie
The Sundowners
1950 · Movie
Key to the City
1950 · Movie
The Lone Ranger
1949 · Series
Wild Weed
1949 · Movie