Line #34 Creator/JackElam


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jackelam.jpg]]
2	->''"As an actor, Jack Elam never showed off. In fact, he didn't just 'show' you anything. Instead, he'd let you discover his character yourself. Whether he was playing the good bad guy or the bad good guy, he had the ability to take you along with him for the ride."''
3	-->-- Actor '''Will Hutchins''', who worked with Elam on ''Sugarfoot'' from 1959-1961
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5	William Scott "Jack" Elam (13 November 1920 – 20 October 2003) was an American actor best known for his long career (seventy-three films and forty-one different television series) in [[TheWestern westerns]]. He [[LeslieNielsenSyndrome started playing a lot of villains, but later in his life took on mostly comedic roles]], many of which spoofed his earlier appearances as the bad guy. He had a dry way of delivering a sardonic line, but his true strength was [[FacialDialogue his ability to deliver entire pages of dialogue silently, using nothing more than his facial expressions]], a skill of which he was one of the great masters.
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7	Elam was born in Miami, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}. He earned a degree in Accountancy, and worked as a bookkeeper for Standard Oil before joining the Navy during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (he was a supply officer). After the war, he became an independent accountant in Hollywood, California, where one of his clients was studio mogul [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer Samuel Goldwyn]]. It was Goldwyn who suggested Elam try acting, telling Elam that "you've got the perfect face to play a tough guy." He made his film debut in 1949's ''She Shoulda Said No!'', a now forgotten low-budget exploitation film about marijuana addicts, playing a drug dealer. He'd go on to appear in nearly all of the popular western and crime dramas of the 50s and 60s, including ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'', ''Series/TheRifleman'', ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'', ''Series/{{Rawhide}}'', ''Series/{{Zorro\|1957}}'', ''Series/TheLoneRanger'', and ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel'', always as the bad guy. His first chance to play a straight-up, non-comedic good guy was his turn as Deputy U.S. Marshal J.D. Smith in ''Series/TheDakotas'', a short-lived western series on Creator/{{ABC}}.
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9	While he appeared in a relatively light-hearted cameo in ''Film/HighNoon'', his was given his first real comedic role in 1969's ''Film/SupportYourLocalSheriff'', and the rest, as they say, was history. [[LeslieNielsenSyndrome After his masterful comedic performance in that movie, dramatic and villainous parts were pretty much never offered to him ever again]].
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11	According to Creator/RicardoMontalban, Jack Elam was the perfect example of the various stages of a successful actor's career. As the saying goes, Stage One of the actor's career can be described as "Who the hell is Jack Elam?" The next stage is "Get me Jack Elam!". Then "I want a Jack Elam type!" "I want a younger Jack Elam!" And finally, the actor returns to "Who the hell is Jack Elam?"
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13	Jack Elam was married twice, first to Jean Elam from 1937 to her death in 1961 and then to Margaret Jennison from 1961 until his death in 2003. Elam had two daughters, Jeri Elam and Jacqueline Elam, and a son, Scott Elam. He died of congestive heart failure in 2003, a month before he would turn 83 years old. The epitaph on his headstone reads "I drank scotch and played poker."
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15	Elam's most memorable physical feature, his "lazy" left eye, occurred at age 12 when he was accidentally stabbed in the eye-socket with a pencil by one of his best friends at a Boy Scout meeting in 1928.
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18	!!Films and television series featuring Jack Elam which have their own pages on this wiki include:
19	* ''[[Series/{{Bonanza}} Bonanza: The Return]]'', ''[[Series/{{Bonanza}} Bonanza: Under Attack]]'' (1995) as Buckshot
20	* ''[[Series/LonesomeDove Lonesome Dove: The Series]]'' (1994-1995) as Curtis
21	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lucky Luke\|1983}}'' (1992) as Axel Ericson (Voice)
22	* ''Series/HomeImprovement'' (1992) as Hick Peterson
23	* ''Film/SuburbanCommando'' (1991) as Colonel [=McHowell=]
24	* ''Film/OnceUponATexasTrain'' (1988) as Jason Fitch
25	* ''Series/SimonAndSimon'' (1986) as Bud Krelman
26	* ''Series/{{Webster}}'' (1985) as Dusty
27	* ''Film/CannonballRun'' and ''[[Film/CannonballRun Cannonball Run II]]'' as Dr. Nikolas von Helsing
28	* ''Series/FantasyIsland'' (1981) as Kid Corey/Hollis Buford Jr.
29	* ''Film/TheVillain'' (1979) as Avery Simpson
30	* ''Series/EightIsEnough'' (1978) as Joe Simons
31	* ''Film/HotLeadAndColdFeet'' (1978) as Rattlesnake
32	* ''Series/TheLifeAndTimesOfGrizzlyAdams'' (1978) as Jonas
33	* ''Film/HowTheWestWasWon'' (1977) as Cully Madigan
34	* ''Film/KnifeForTheLadies'' (1974) as Sheriff Jarrod
35	* ''Series/{{Kung Fu\|1972}}'' (1973) as Marcus Taylor
36	* ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' (1959-1972) as multiple characters over 15 different episodes
37	* ''[[Film/SupportYourLocalSheriff Support Your Local Gunfighter]]'' (1971) as Jug May
38	* ''Film/HannieCaulder'' (1973) as Frank Clemens
39	* ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'' (1970) as Buckshot
40	* ''Series/TheVirginian'' (1970) as Harve Yost
41	* ''Film/RioLobo'' (1970) as Old Man Phillips
42	* ''Film/SupportYourLocalSheriff'' (1969) as Jake
43	* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' (1968) as Snakey
44	* ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' (1967) as Jack Slade
45	* ''Film/TheNightOfTheGrizzly'' (1966) as Hank
46	* ''Series/FTroop'' (1965) as Sam Urp
47	* ''Series/TheDakotas'' (1962-1963) as Deputy J.D. Smith
48	* ''Film/TheLastSunset'' (1961)
49	* ''Series/TheUntouchables'' (1960-1962) as multiple characters over 8 different episodes
50	* ''Film/TheGirlInLoversLane'' (1959) as Jesse
51	* ''Series/{{Lawman}}'' (1958-1962) as multiple characters over 5 different episodes
52	* ''Series/{{Rawhide}}'' (1958) as Turkey Creek Jack Johnson
53	* ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel'' (1958 and 1962) as Shaffner and Joe Gage
54	* ''Series/TheRifleman'' (1958-1961) as Russell the Pool Shark
55	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' (1961) as Avery
56	* ''Series/{{Zorro\|1957}}'' (1958) as Gomez the Coachman
57	* ''Film/KissMeDeadly'' (1955) as Charlie Max
58	* ''Film/VeraCruz'' (1954) as Tex
59	* ''Series/TheLoneRanger'' (1954) as Reno Lawrence
60	* ''Film/RanchoNotorious'' (1952) as Mort Geary
61	* ''Film/HighNoon'' (1952) as Charlie (the drunk in jail)
62	* ''Film/{{The Ring\|1952}}'' (1952) as Harry Jackson
63	* ''Film/ATicketToTomahawk'' (1950) as Fargo
64	* ''Film/{{Quicksand}}'' (1950) as Man at Bar (uncredited)
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66	----
67	!!Tropes associated with his work include:
68	* EyeScream: His left eye was accidentally blinded by a pencil in his childhood, and many of his roles take advantage of its eerie immobility.
69	* LeslieNielsenSyndrome: As a young man, he played mostly serious roles. Later in life he was almost exclusively cast in comedies.
70	* PlayingAgainstType: [[invoked]] Whereas he was mostly typecast in his younger days as gangsters and gunslingers, in ''Film/HighNoon'' he played an amiable alcoholic.

Context Creator / JackElam