JACK ELAM BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Jack Elam was born November 13th, 1918 in Miami, Arizona with the birth name William Scott 'Jack' Elam to parents Millard Elam and Alice Amelia Kirby. Jack lost his mother when he was only five years old and grew up in Cotton. As a twelve year old boy he got into a fight with another student at school who shoved a pencil in his eye causing him to lose complete vision in his eye and making his eye immobile. He attended High School at Miami High and also Phoenix High School where he graduated from.
After completing High School he moved to Santa Monica, California where he attended college at Santa Monica Junior College and graduated with an accounting degree. He worked as a book keeper for Samuel Goldwyn Studios after World War II. He got involved in the acting industry when he offered to exchange an accounting favor for helping a movie friend finance three films in exchange for a chance to appear in all three films.
His film debut soon followed in, "She Shoulda Said No!" (1949). The majority of his films to follow were mostly westerns. He was one of the meanest-looking and most reliable 'heavies' in the industry. However, it was not often he got the opportunity to play any type of comedic character.
Along with film roles, he was also involved in television throughout his acting career. He worked on an episode of, "The Twilight Zone" (1961) followed by, "The Dakotas" (1963) in which he was able to portray a different type of character from the normal. Instead of a villain type character, he was a 'good guy' Deputy Marshall. Same went for his role on the television series, "Temple Houston" (1963) where he got to show a little of his comedic talent to viewers.
When he got a role on, "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969) more comedic roles were being offered to him and less villain type roles. Elam's most memorable experience that he has reflected in numerous interviews is when he met an eleven year old boy, Mickey Hays while filming, "The Aurora Encounter" (1985). This young boy suffered from a disease called progeria and a documentary titled, "I Am Not A Freak" shows viewers how this young boy meant to Elam.
Later TV series in the Elam manifest included "Detective in the House" (1985) and "Easy Street" (1987). Elam continued to make audiences laugh with his roles in, "Cannonball Run" (1981) and "Cannonball Run II" (1984). Though well established as a comic actor, Elam would never completely abandon the western genre that had sustained him in the 1950's and 1960's.
Jack Elam passed away in Ashland, Oregon, of congestive heart failure on October 20th, 2003. He was married twice throughout his lifetime. First to Jean Elam in 1937 and the couple had two children together before she passed away on Janaury 24th, 1961. His second marriage was to Margaret Jennison on August 23rd, 1961 and they remanied together until his passing.
Jack Elam was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the national Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1994.
Filmography
1995 Bonanza: Under Attack
1994-1995 Lonesome Dove: The Series
1993 Bonanza: The Return
1993 Lucky Luke
1993 Uninvited
1992 Shadow Force
1992 Home Improvement
1991 Lucky Luke
1991 Suburban Commando
1991 The Giant of Thunder Mountain
1990 Big Bad John
1989 Guns of Paradise
1988 Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
1988 J.J. Starbuck
1988 Once Upon a Texas Train
1986-1987 Easy Street
1987 Hawken's Breed
1986 The Aurora Encounter
1986 Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills
1986 Simon & Simon
1985 Webster
1985 Detective in the House
1984 Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas
1984 Cannonball Run II
1983 Sacred Ground
1983 Lost
1983 Sawyer and Finn
1982 Jinxed!
1981 Father Murphy
1981 Skyward Christmas
1978-1981 Fantasy Island
1981 Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.
1981 Here's Boomer
1981 The Cannonball Run
1981 The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite
1978-1980 Eight Is Enough
1977-1979 ABC Weekend Specials
1979 Struck by Lightning
1979 The Villain
1979 The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
1979 The Sacketts
1978 The Norseman
1978 Hot Lead and Cold Feet
1978 Lacy and the Mississippi Queen
1978 The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
1978 Black Beauty
1978 Will Rogers: Champion of the People
1977 Grayeagle
1977 How the West Was Won
1976 Pony Express Rider
1975-1976 Phyllis
1976 The Winds of Autumn
1976 The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1976 Hawmps!
1976 Creature from Black Lake
1974-1975 The Texas Wheelers
1975 Huckleberry Finn
1969-1975 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
1974 A Knife for the Ladies
1974 Sidekicks
1974 The Brian Keith Show
1974 Shootout in a One-Dog Town
1973 Kung Fu
1973 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973 The Red Pony
1959-1972 Gunsmoke
1972 The Daughters of Joshua Cabe
1972 Alias Smith and Jones
1972 Nichols
1971 Hannie Caulder
1971 The Last Rebel
1971 I Cat Ballou
1971 Support Your Local Gunfighter
1961-1970 Bonanza
1970 Rio Lobo
1970 The Wild Country
1970 Dirty Dingus Magee
1970 Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
1970 The Virginian
1969 The Over-the-Hill Gang
1969 Lancer
1969 Support Your Local Sheriff!
1969 The Outcasts
1968 Once Upon a Time in the West
1968 The High Chaparral
1968 Sartana Does Not Forgive
1968 Never a Dull Moment
1968 Cimarron Strip
1968 Firecreek
1967 Hondo
1967 The Wild Wild West
1967 The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967 The Last Challenge
1967 The Way West
1967 Tarzan
1966 The Night of the Grizzly
1966 The Rare Breed
1965 F Troop
1965 The Legend of Jesse James
1965 Daniel Boone
1963-1964 Temple Houston
1963 4 for Texas
1963 The Dakotas
1961-1962 Laramie
1962 Ben Casey
1961-1962 Cheyenne
1960-1962 The Untouchables
1962 Target: The Corruptors
1958-1962 Lawman
1962 Rawhide
1959-1962 Have Gun - Will Travel
1958-1961 Bronco
1961 Pocketful of Miracles
1961 Outlaws
1958-1961 The Rifleman
1961 National Velvet
1961 The Comancheros
1961 The Last Sunset
1961 Twilight Zone
1960-1961 The Rebel
1961 Death Valley Days
1961 The Americans
1961 Gunslinger
1961 Klondike
1957-1961 Zane Grey Theater
1960 Stagecoach West
1960 The Girl in Lovers Lane
1958-1960 The Texan
1960 The Slowest Gun in the West
1960 Mr. Lucky
1960 Tightrope
1958-1959 Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957-1959 Sugarfoot
1959 Edge of Eternity
1959 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1959 Hotel de Paree
1959 Tombstone Territory
1959 Mackenzie's Raiders
1958 The Gun Runners
1958 M Squad
1958 Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre
1957-1958 The Restless Gun
1958 Zorro
1957 Baby Face Nelson
1957 Wagon Train
1957 Night Passage
1957 Tales of Wells Fargo
1957 Lure of the Swamp
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
1957 Dragoon Wells Massacre
1956 Thunder Over Arizona
1956 Pardners
1956 Jubal
1955 Screen Directors Playhouse
1955 Frontier
1955 Artists and Models
1955 Kismet
1955 The Man from Laramie
1954-1955 The Lone Ranger
1955 Wichita
1955 Moonfleet
1955 Kiss Me Deadly
1955 Man Without a Star
1953-1955 Schlitz Playhouse
1955 Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
1954 Vera Cruz
1954 Cattle Queen of Montana
1954 Waterfront
1954 The Far Country
1954 Stories of the Century
1954 Princess of the Nile
1954 Mr. & Mrs. North
1954 Ride Clear of Diablo
1954 Jubilee Trail
1953 Four Star Playhouse
1953 Appointment in Honduras
1953 The Moonlighter
1953 Gun Belt
1953 Ride, Vaquero!
1953 Count the Hours
1952 Kansas City Confidential
1952 The Ring
1952 My Man and I
1952 Lure of the Wilderness
1952 High Noon
1952 Montana Territory
1952 The Battle at Apache Pass
1952 Rancho Notorious
1952 Finders Keepers
1951 The Bushwhackers
1951 Rawhide
1951 Bird of Paradise
1950 The Texan Meets Calamity Jane
1950 American Guerrilla in the Philippines
1950 High Lonesome
1950 Love That Brute
1950 A Ticket to Tomahawk
1950 One Way Street
1950 Quicksand
1950 The Sundowners
1950 Key to the City
1949 Wild Weed
1947 Mystery Range
1944 Trailin' West
