Jack Elam

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Jack Elam

Elam in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Born William Scott Elam
13 November 1920(1920-11-13)
Miami, Arizona, U.S.
Died 20 October 2003 (aged 82)
Other name(s) Jack Elam

Jack Elam (November 13, 1920 — October 20, 2003) was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Westerns.

William Scott Elam was born in Miami, Arizona, to Millard Elam and Alice Amelia Kerby. 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, and as a Boy Scout, he lost the sight in his left eye after another Scout threw a pencil at him at a troop meeting.[citation needed] 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 and, at one time, manager of the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles. 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, on an episode of the Twilight Zone titled Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up, Jack played an interesting but slightly crazy character named Avery.

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.[citation needed]

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?"

The year of his birth is often given as 1916. According to his The New York Times obituary, Elam was born in 1918 and "lied about his age to get work as a youngster".[1] His birth, death, and census records help to resolve the mystery of his year of birth. Jack Elam was born in 1920 and died in Ashland, Oregon, of congestive heart failure at the age of eighty-two.


Contents

[edit] Partial filmography

[edit] TV series

During 1979, Jack Elam starred in a comedy titled: "Struck By Lightning" in which he played Frankenstein's Monster. To paraphrase an interview: At first, Jack was reluctant to play the part, because he did not wish to spend long hours in make-up; however, the person who wanted to cast him informed him that he would not need any make-up, because his appearance was already perfect for the part! According to the article, this statement convinced him to accept the role. The program only lasted about three weeks before it was cancelled, either for low ratings or because its use of dark humor made it inappropriate for American audiences.

A Synopsis of the sit-com is listed in Variety: Reference: http://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/Synopsis/160214/Struck+By+Lightning.html?dataSet=1

[edit] 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

[edit] External links