Jack Elam
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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
Credits
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
as Frank's Gunman
The Cannonball Run (1981)
as Doctor
High Noon (1952)
as Charlie - Drunk in Jail (uncredited)
Cannonball Run II (1984)
as Doc
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
as Tom McLowery
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
as Alamosa Bill Kermit
Rio Lobo (1970)
as Phillips
The Comancheros (1961)
as Horseface (Comanchero)
Jubal (1956)
as McCoy
The Man from Laramie (1955)
as Chris Boldt
Hannie Caulder (1971)
as Frank Clemens
The Rare Breed (1966)
as Deke Simons
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
as Jake
The Villain (1979)
as Avery Simpson
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
as Cheesecake
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
as Charlie Max
Vera Cruz (1954)
as Tex
Rancho Notorious (1952)
as Mort Geary
Artists and Models (1955)
as Ivan
The Way West (1967)
as Preacher Weatherby
The Last Sunset (1961)
as Ed Hobbs
Kansas City Confidential (1952)
as Pete Harris
Firecreek (1968)
as Norman
Suburban Commando (1991)
as Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell
The Far Country (1954)
as Frank Newberry
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979)
as Big Mac
Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)
as Jug May
The Night of the Grizzly (1966)
as Hank
Princess of the Nile (1954)
as Basra
Wichita (1955)
as Al
Man Without a Star (1955)
as Knife Murderer (uncredited)
Night Passage (1957)
as Shotgun
4 for Texas (1963)
as Dobie
Hot Lead & Cold Feet (1978)
as Rattlesnake
The Last Challenge (1967)
as Ernest Scarnes
Baby Face Nelson (1957)
as Fatso Nagel
Rawhide (1951)
as Tevis
Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957)
as Tioga
Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills (1986)
as Squires
Count the Hours! (1953)
as Max Verne
The Sundowners (1950)
as Earl Boyce
Edge of Eternity (1959)
as Bill Ward
Pardners (1956)
as Pete
Moonfleet (1955)
as Damen
The Battle at Apache Pass (1952)
as Mescal Jack
Bonanza: Under Attack (1995)
as Buckshot
Cattle Queen of Montana (1954)
as Yost
Key to the City (1950)
as Councilman (uncredited)
Ride, Vaquero! (1953)
as Barton
The Gun Runners (1958)
as Arnold
Sidekicks (1974)
as Boss
The Norseman (1978)
as Death Dreamer
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997)
as Self
The Wild Country (1970)
as Thompson
Kismet (1955)
as Hasan-Ben
Once Upon a Texas Train (1988)
as Jason Fitch
Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
as Dave Longden
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1976)
as Bitterroot
Ride Clear of Diablo (1954)
as Tim Lowerie
The Red Pony (1973)
as Granddad
American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)
as The Speaker
One Way Street (1950)
as Arnie (uncredited)
Grayeagle (1977)
as Trapper Willis
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)
as Burger
The Over the Hill Gang (1969)
as Sheriff Clyde Barnes
Never a Dull Moment (1968)
as Ace Williams
Huckleberry Finn (1978)
as King
Appointment in Honduras (1953)
as Castro
The Moonlighter (1953)
as Slim
Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)
as John Wesley Hardin
Bird of Paradise (1951)
as The Trader
Hawken's Breed (1987)
as Tackett
Gun Belt (1953)
as Rusty Kolloway
A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
as Fargo
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
as Joe Canton
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!? (1988)
as Boone
My Man and I (1952)
as Celestino Garcia
Jubilee Trail (1954)
as Whitey
Sacred Ground (1983)
as Lum Witcher
Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981)
as Troscliar Boudreaux
Lacy and the Mississippi Queen (1978)
as Willie Red Fire
Ride a Northbound Horse (1969)
as Sheriff
Pony Express Rider (1976)
as Crazy Charlie
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1972)
as Bitterroot
Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas (1984)
as Scrooge
Bonanza: The Return (1993)
as Buckshot
Thunder Over Arizona (1956)
as Slats Callahan
The Giant of Thunder Mountain (1990)
as Hezekiah Crow
Jinxed! (1982)
as Otto
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County (1970)
as Kittrick
The Bushwhackers (1951)
as Cree
High Lonesome (1950)
as Smiling Man
Shootout in a One-Dog Town (1974)
as Handy
The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite (1981)
as Seth Beaumont
The Slowest Gun in the West (1960)
as Ike Dalton
The Aurora Encounter (1986)
as Charlie
Sartana Does Not Forgive (1968)
as Slim Kovacs
Big Bad John (1990)
as Jake Calhoun
Wild Weed (1949)
as Raymond - Henchman
The Winds of Autumn (1976)
as J. Pete Hankins
Cat Ballou (1971)
as Kid Sheleen
A Knife for the Ladies (1974)
as Jarrod (Sheriff)
Hawmps! (1976)
as Bad Jack Cutter
Finders Keepers (1952)
as Eddie
The Last Rebel (1971)
as Matt
The Ring (1952)
as Harry Jackson
Shadow Force (1992)
as Tommy
Lost (1983)
as Mr. Newsom
The Last Escape of Billy the Kid (1972)
as Pat Garrett
Lure of the Swamp (1957)
as Henry Bliss
Skyward Christmas (1981)
as Clay Haller
Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo (1970)
as Self
Montana Territory (1952)
as Gimp
Uninvited (1993)
as Grady
I Am Not a Freak (1987)
as Self
The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960)
as Jesse