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