Known For
Acting
Born
Nov 13, 1920
Died
Oct 20, 2003
Place of Birth
Miami, Gila, Arizona, USA
Credits
186 titles
Jack Elam
Biography
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
Filmography
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
Self
Bonanza: Under Attack
Buckshot
Bonanza: The Return
Buckshot
Uninvited
Grady
Shadow Force
Tommy
Lucky Luke
Axel Ericson
Suburban Commando
Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell
Home Improvement
Hick Peterson
The Giant of Thunder Mountain
Hezekiah Crow
Big Bad John
Jake Calhoun
Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
Boone
Paradise
Skragg
Once Upon a Texas Train
Jason Fitch
I Am Not a Freak
Self
J.J. Starbuck
Hawken's Breed
Tackett
Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills
Squires
Easy Street
The Aurora Encounter
Charlie
Detective in the House
Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas
Scrooge
Cannonball Run II
Doc
Lost
Mr. Newsom
Sacred Ground
Lum Witcher
Jinxed!
Otto
Skyward Christmas
Clay Haller
Simon & Simon
Father Murphy
Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.
Troscliar Boudreaux
The Cannonball Run
Doctor
The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite
Seth Beaumont
Struck by Lightning
Frank
The Villain
Avery Simpson
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
Big Mac
The Sacketts
Ira Bigelow
$weepstake$
The Norseman
Death Dreamer
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
Rattlesnake
Lacy and the Mississippi Queen
Willie Red Fire
Huckleberry Finn
King
Black Beauty
Jonas McBride
Grayeagle
Trapper Willis
Eight Is Enough
Grizzly Adams
Gus
How the West Was Won
Cully Madigan
Pony Express Rider
Crazy Charlie
The Winds of Autumn
J. Pete Hankins
The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe
Bitterroot
Hawmps!
Bad Jack Cutter
Creature from Black Lake
Joe Canton