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