Jack Elam

Infobox Actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Jack Elam


imagesize = 200px
caption = Elam in "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968)
birthdate = birth date|1920|11|13|df=y
location = Miami, Arizona, U.S.
height = 6' 0"
deathdate = death date and age|2003|10|20|1920|11|13|df=y
birthname = William Scott Elam
othername = Jack Elam
homepage =
notable role =

Jack Elam (November 13 1920 — October 20 2003) was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films.

Early life

William Scott Elam was born in Miami, Arizona, to Millard Elam and Alice Amelia Kerby. The year of his birth is often given as 1916. According to his "New York Times" obituary, Elam was born in 1918 and "lied about his age to get work as a youngster".cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801E2DD1731F930A15753C1A9659C8B63&st=cse&sq=jack+elam&scp=2 |title=Jack Elam, Lazy-Eyed Movie Villain, Is Dead |author=Douglas Martin |publisher="New York Times" |date=October 23 2003] However, his birth, death, and census records indicate Elam was born in 1920.

Alice died in 1924, when young Jack was not quite four years of age. Afterwards, he was reared by relatives in unhappy circumstances. By 1930, he was once again living with his father, older sister, Mildred, and their stepmother, Flossie.

He grew up picking cotton. As a Boy Scout, he lost the sight in his left eye after another Scout threw a pencil at him at a troop meeting. He was a student of both Miami High School in Gila County and Phoenix Union High School in Maricopa County and graduated from the latter in the late 1930s.

He attended Santa Monica Junior College in California and subsequently became an accountant in Hollywood; one of his clients was movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn. [cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jack-elam-548963.html |title=Jack Elam Archetypal villain in film and TV westerns |author=Paul Wadey |publisher="The Independent" |date=October 23 2003 |accessdate=2008-06-26 ] At one time, he was the manager of the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles.

Acting career

In 1949, Elam made his debut in ""She Shoulda Said 'No'!"", an exploitation film where a chorus girl's smoking marijuana ruins her career and drives her brother to suicide. He then appeared mostly in westerns and gangster films playing villains. In 1961, Elam played a slightly crazed character in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" titled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up".

In 1963, he got a rare chance to play the good guy when he played the part of Deputy Marshall J.T. Smith in "The Dakotas", a TV western which ran for only nineteen episodes. Elam was given his first comedic role in "Support Your Local Sheriff!", after which he found his villainous assignments dwindling and his comic roles increasing.

In 1994, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Elam classified the stages of a moderately successful actor's life, as defined by the way a film director refers to the actor suggested for a part.Fact|date=February 2007

Stage 1: "Who is Jack Elam?"

Stage 2: "Get me Jack Elam."

Stage 3: "I want a Jack Elam type."

Stage 4: "I want a younger Jack Elam."

Stage 5: "Who is Jack Elam?"

Elam died in Ashland, Oregon of congestive heart failure at the age of eighty-two. He was married twice and had a daughter and two sons.

Partial filmography

*""She Shoulda Said 'No'!"", also known as "Wild Weed" and "The Devil's Weed" (1949)
*"A Ticket to Tomahawk" (1950)
*"American Guerrilla in the Philippines" (1950)
*"High Lonesome" (1950)
*"The Gunfighter" (1950)
*"Bird of Paradise" (1951)
*"Rawhide" (1951)
*"High Noon with Gary Cooper", as drunken Charlie in jail (uncredited) (1952)
*"Kansas City Confidential" (1952)
*"Rancho Notorious" (1952)
*"Ride Vaquero!" with Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner and Howard Keel (1953)
*"Vera Cruz" with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, as Tex (1954)
*"Cattle Queen of Montana" with Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan, as Yost (1954)
*"Kiss Me Deadly", as Charlie Max (1955)
*"Man Without a Star" (1955)
*"Wichita" with Joel McCrea and Vera Miles, as Al Mann (1955)
*"The Man From Laramie" with James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, as Chris Boldt the town liar (1955)
*"Kismet" (1955)
*"Jubal" (1956) with Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine
*"Gunfight at the OK Corral" (1957)
*"Night Passage" (1957)
*"The Girl in Lovers Lane" (1959)
*"A Pocketful of Miracles" (1961)
*"The Comancheros" (1961)
*"The Last Sunset" (1961)
*"4 for Texas" (1963)
*"The Night of the Grizzly" (1966)
*"The Rare Breed" (1966)
*"The Way West" (1967)
*"Firecreek" (1968)
*"Never a Dull Moment" (1968)
*"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968)
*"Support Your Local Sheriff!" with James Garner, as Deputy Jake (1968)
*"The Over-the-Hill Gang" (1969)
*"Support Your Local Gunfighter!" with James Garner, as Jug May (1970)
*"Dirty Dingus Magee" as John Wesley Hardin (1970)
*"Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County" with Dan Blocker and Nanette Fabray (1970)
*"Rio Lobo" as a rancher (1970)
*"Hannie Caulder" (1971)
*"Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" (1973)
*"The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" (1975)
*"Hawmps!" (1976)
*"Grayeagle" (1977)
*"Hot Lead and Cold Feet", as Rattlesnake (1978)
*"The Villain" (1979)
*"The Cannonball Run", as Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing (1981)
*"Jinxed!" (1982)
*"Sacred Ground" (1983)
*"Cannonball Run II" (1984)
*"Aurora Encounter", as Charlie (1991)
*"Shadow Force" (1993)
*"Uninvited" (1993)

TV series

*"Sugarfoot" (1957-1961)
*"The Dakotas" (1963)
*"Temple Houston" (1963-1964)
*"The Texas Wheelers" (1974-1975), sit-com with costar Gary Busey
*"Struck by Lightning" (1979). [imdb title|0078695|"Struck by Lightning" TV series (1979)] [ [http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/Synopsis/160214/Struck+By+Lightning.html?dataSet=1 Struck by Lightning TV series] , Variety.com] Elam starred as Frankenstein's monster. In an interview, Elam recalled that when he was approached to take the part, he was told he would not need makeup; his appearance was already perfect for the part! This statement convinced him to accept the role. Fact|date=July 2008 The program only lasted about three weeks before it was cancelled, either due to low ratings or because its use of dark humor made it inappropriate for American audiences at the time.Easy street [1986]

References

*Mahar, Ted. (Oct. 4, 1998) The Oregonian. "A Sampling of Elams Movies." Page L10.
*1920 November 13; Arizona Certificate of Live Birth for William Scott Elam
*1920 United States Census, Arizona, Gila County, Miami
*1924 September 7; Arizona Original Certificate of Death for Alice Amelia Kerby Elam
*1930 United States Census, Arizona, Gila County, Miami
*2003 October 20; Oregon Certificate of Death for Jack Elam

Footnotes

External links

*imdb name|id=0001181|name=Jack Elam