Harold Jay Smith

𝐉𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 (born Harold Jay Smith; May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was an Indigenous Canadian actor and athlete. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger in the American Western television series The Lone Ranger.

Jay Silverheels was born on Canada's Six Nation's Reserve and was one of 10 children. He was a star lacrosse player and a boxer before he entered films as a stuntman in 1938. He worked in a number of films through the 1940s before gaining notice as the Osceola brother in a Humphrey Bogart film Key Largo (1948). Most of Silverheels' roles consisted of bit parts as an Indian character. In 1949, he worked in the movie The Cowboy and the Indians (1949) with another "B movie" actor Clayton Moore. Later that year, Silverheels was hired to play the faithful Indian companion, Tonto, in the TV series The Lone Ranger (1949) series, which brought him the fame that his motion picture career never did.

Silverheels recreated the role of Tonto in two big-screen color movies with Moore,The Lone Ranger (1956) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958). After the TV series ended in 1957, Silverheels could not escape the typecasting of Tonto. He would continue to appear in an occasional film and television show but became a spokesperson to improve the portrayal of Indians in the media.

Familiar Canadian Indian actor who shot to fame as Tonto, the faithful Indian companion of the masked man on the US television series The Lone Ranger (1949). A member of the Mohawk tribe of Canada's Six Nations Reserve, Silverheels excelled at wrestling, horse racing, football, boxing, and hockey, and became a renowned lacrosse player.

With the help of actor Joe E. Brown,Silverheels obtained work as a stuntman and extra in Hollywood films. Following military service in World War II, Silverheels returned to film and landed small, often stereotypical roles as Indian warriors in Westerns. John Huston cast him as one of the fugitive Osceola brothers in Key Largo (1948), and Silverheels followed with the two roles that would define his career, Tonto and the Apache leader Geronimo, whom he would play several times beginning with the Western classic Broken Arrow (1950). Silverheels' enormous fame as Tonto overshadowed everything else, although it did not prevent him from playing other prominent roles. Even after completing The Lone Ranger (1949)series, Silverheels continued to reprise Tonto for commercials, comic guest spots, and spoofs.

Silverheels became an outspoken activist for Indian rights and a respected teacher within the Indian acting community. He appeared on talk and variety shows performing his own poetry. In later years, he began a second career as a harness racer. His health failed in the 1970s, and he died of a stroke in 1980, a beloved figure to the Baby Boom generation America. His son, Jay Silverheels Jr. has acted in television as well.