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Jack Elam

Known for: Acting

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.

Filmography 76

The Way West 1967Movie Amazon Prime Video as Preacher Weatherby
Suburban Commando 1991Movie as Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell
The Far Country 1954Movie as Frank Newberry
The Comancheros 1961Movie as Horseface (Comanchero)
Grayeagle 1977Movie as Trapper Willis
The Villain 1979Movie as Avery Simpson
Man Without a Star 1955Movie as Knife Murderer (uncredited)
Kismet 1955Movie as Hasan-Ben
Dirty Dingus Magee 1970Movie as John Wesley Hardin
Key to the City 1950Movie as Councilman (uncredited)
Gun Belt 1953Movie as Rusty Kolloway
The Over the Hill Gang 1969Movie Artiflix as Sheriff Clyde Barnes
The Ring 1952Movie as Harry Jackson
The Norseman 1978Movie as Death Dreamer