Jack Elam (born November 13, 1920), was an American film and television actor.
Birth Name: William Scott Elam
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'
Nickname: "Jack"
Quote: "The heavy today is usually not my kind of guy."
Elam was best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainous image). His most distinguishing physical quality was his lazy left eye which was the result of a boyhood accident when he was stabbed with a pencil at a Boy Scout meeting.
Elam made his debut in in 1949 She Shoulda Said No!, an exploitation film where a chorus girl's marijuana smoking ruins her career and drives her brother to suicide. He appeared mostly in westerns and gangster films playing villains. Elam made multiple guest star appearances in many popular Western television series in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Gunsmoke", "The Rifleman", "Lawman", "Bonanza", "Cheyenne", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Zorro", "The Lone Ranger", "The Rebel", "F Troop" and "Rawhide". In 1961, Elam played a slightly crazed character in an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?." In April 1966 Jack Elam co-starred with Clint Walker in the western The Night of The Grizzly.
In 1968, Elam had an amusing cameo in Sergio Leone's celebrated spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West, where he was one of a trio of gunslingers sent to kill Charles Bronson's character. Elam spent a good part of the scene trying to trap an annoying fly in his gun barrel. In 1969, he was given his first comedic role in Support Your Local Sheriff!, which was followed two years later by Support Your Local Gunfighter; both were opposite James Garner, after which he found his villainous parts dwindling and his comic roles increasing. (Both films were also directed by Burt Kennedy, who saw Elam's potential as a comedian and would direct him a total of 15 times in features and television.) In between those two films, he also played a comically cranky old coot opposite John Wayne in Howard Hawks's Rio Lobo (1970).
Elam played in 73 movies, and made an appearance in 41 television series. His best known works consist of Once Upon A Time In The West, High Noon and the television program, The Twilight Zone.
Jack Elam died on October 20, 2003 of congestive heart failure at the age of 82.
Birth Name: William Scott ElamHair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'
Nickname: "Jack"
Quote: "The heavy today is usually not my kind of guy."
Elam was best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainous image). His most distinguishing physical quality was his lazy left eye which was the result of a boyhood accident when he was stabbed with a pencil at a Boy Scout meeting.
Elam made his debut in in 1949 She Shoulda Said No!, an exploitation film where a chorus girl's marijuana smoking ruins her career and drives her brother to suicide. He appeared mostly in westerns and gangster films playing villains. Elam made multiple guest star appearances in many popular Western television series in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Gunsmoke", "The Rifleman", "Lawman", "Bonanza", "Cheyenne", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Zorro", "The Lone Ranger", "The Rebel", "F Troop" and "Rawhide". In 1961, Elam played a slightly crazed character in an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?." In April 1966 Jack Elam co-starred with Clint Walker in the western The Night of The Grizzly.
In 1968, Elam had an amusing cameo in Sergio Leone's celebrated spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West, where he was one of a trio of gunslingers sent to kill Charles Bronson's character. Elam spent a good part of the scene trying to trap an annoying fly in his gun barrel. In 1969, he was given his first comedic role in Support Your Local Sheriff!, which was followed two years later by Support Your Local Gunfighter; both were opposite James Garner, after which he found his villainous parts dwindling and his comic roles increasing. (Both films were also directed by Burt Kennedy, who saw Elam's potential as a comedian and would direct him a total of 15 times in features and television.) In between those two films, he also played a comically cranky old coot opposite John Wayne in Howard Hawks's Rio Lobo (1970).
Elam played in 73 movies, and made an appearance in 41 television series. His best known works consist of Once Upon A Time In The West, High Noon and the television program, The Twilight Zone.
Jack Elam died on October 20, 2003 of congestive heart failure at the age of 82.
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