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