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American actor (1920–2003)

William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainous image). His most distinguishing physical quality was his misaligned eye. Before his career in acting, he took several jobs in finance and served two years in the U. S. Navy during World War II. Elam performed in 73 movies and in at least 41 television series.

Born in 1920 in Miami, Arizonaa small mining town located 85 miles east of PhoenixJack was one of two children of Millard Elam (1887 1965) and Alice Amelia, née Kerby (1884 1924) Jack's father supported the family by working assorted jobs over the years, including stints as a carpenter, "millman", and accountant. The Elams by 1924 had moved from Miami to the nearby community of Globe, Arizona, where in September that year Alice died at the age of 40, succumbing to what state medical records cite as a three year struggle with "general paralysis". After their mother's death, young Jack and his older sister Mildred went to live with various family members until Millard married again in April 1928 to Kansas native Flossie Varney. Federal census records show that two years later the children, their father, stepmother, and Flossie's own mother were residing together in Globe, where Millard had a new job as an investigator for a loan company. Flossie was employed as well at the time as a public school teacher, while Jack also contributed to the family's income by periodically working on nearby farms gleaning cotton.

In 1931 Elam suffered a severe injury to his left eye during an altercation with another boy, an injury that ultimately blinded him in that eye and permanently damaged the muscles surrounding it. As Jack grew older, the impaired muscles caused his eye increasingly to "drift" within its socket and not track in unison with his right eye, often giving him a cockeyed appearance. Percy Shain, a veteran film and television critic for The Boston Globe, interviewed Elam in 1974 and quoted the actor's comments about the injury:
Zanuck's remarks about Elam's eye proved to be wise career advice, for despite any lifelong disadvantages that his "lazy eye" created for him personally, it proved to be an asset professionally, at least as a performer. His eye's distinctive appearance, combined with Elam's natural acting abilities, drew the attention of many casting directors of films and television series throughout the 1950s and 1960s. and Santa Monica junior colleges. as an accountant for the Standard Oil Company, a bookkeeper at the Bank of America, and a manager at the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles. For a few years after his discharge from the navy, Elam continued to apply his business training as an accountant for Hopalong Cassidy Productions and as an independent auditor for Samuel Goldwyn and other moguls and companies associated with the film industry. That work required Jack to spend long hours each day reading and examining in detail large quantities of financial records, a routine that put too much strain on his right eye, his "good eye". "'I only see out of one eye'", he explained in an interview published in The Baltimore Sun in 1974, "'and that eye kept going shut.'" While Elam was widely recognized in Hollywood as "a leading independent auditor in motion pictures", by 1947 he found it necessary to quit that successful occupation entirely. On television in the 1950s and 1960s, he made multiple guest star appearances on many popular Western series, including The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Lawman, Bonanza, Cheyenne, Have Gun – Will Travel, Zorro, The Rebel, F Troop, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Texan, and Rawhide. In 1961, he played a slightly crazed bus passenger on The Twilight Zone episode "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?". That same year, he also portrayed the Mexican historical figure Juan Cortina in "The General Without a Cause", an episode of the anthology series Death Valley Days. In 1962, Elam appeared as Paul Henry on Lawman in the episode titled "Clootey Hutter". Elam in 1963 received a rare opportunity to portray the good guy, appearing as a reformed gunfighter, Deputy U. S. Marshal J. D. Smith, in the ABC/Warner Bros. series The Dakotas, a Western intended as the successor of Cheyenne. The Dakotas ran for 19 episodes. In 1966 Jack Elam was cast in his first comedic role by Paramount Pictures, playing Hank in the Western film The Night of the Grizzly starring Clint Walker. The next year, for the Harold Hecht production The Way West, he was chosen for another light hearted role, playing Preacher Weatherby and providing support to costars Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, and Kirk Douglas in a story about a wagon train traveling the Oregon Trail. Then, in 1968, Elam performed in the opening scenes of Sergio Leone's celebrated "spaghetti Western" Once Upon a Time in the West. In that film he portrays one of a trio of gunslingers sent to a train station to kill Charles Bronson's character. Elam in one sequence spends a good portion of his screen time simply trying to rid himself of an annoying fly, finally capturing the elusive insect inside the barrel of his pistol. In 1969, he played another comedic role in Support Your Local Sheriff!, which was followed two years later by Support Your Local Gunfighter, both opposite James Garner. After his performances in those two films, Elam found his villainous parts dwindling and his comic roles increasing. (Both films were also directed by Burt Kennedy, who had seen Elam's potential as a comedian and directed him a total of 15 times in features and television.) Between those two films, he also played a comically cranky old coot opposite John Wayne in Howard Hawks's Rio Lobo (1970). In 1974–1975, he was cast as Zack Wheeler in The Texas Wheelers, a short lived comedy series in which he portrayed a long lost father returning home to raise his four children after their mother dies. Also on television, in 1979, he performed as Frankenstein's monster on the CBS sitcom Struck by Lightning, but the show was cancelled after only three episodes (the remaining eight were unaired (and remain so) in the U. S., though all 11 were aired in the UK in 1980). He then appeared in the role of Hick Peterson in a first season episode of Home Improvement alongside Ernest Borgnine (season one, episode 20, "Birds of a Feather Flock to Tim"). Elam portrayed Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing, a "crazed proctologist", in the 1981 action comedy film The Cannonball Run; and three years later, he reprised the role for the production's sequel, Cannonball Run II. Elam then played the character Charlie Hankins, a town drunk, in the 1986 "Weird Western" picture The Aurora Encounter. During production, Elam developed what would become a lifelong relationship with an 11 year old boy in Texas named Mickey Hays, who suffered from progeria. The 1987 documentary I Am Not a Freak portrays the close friendship between Elam and Hays. Elam, in what may be an apocryphal quote, said, "You know I've met a lot of people, but I've never met anybody that got next to me like Mickey." In 1986, Elam also co starred on the short lived comedy series Easy Street as Alvin "Bully" Stevenson, the down on his luck uncle of Loni Anderson's character, L. K. McGuire. In 1988, Elam co starred with Willie Nelson in the made for television movie Where The Hell's That Gold? In 1994, Elam was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.

Elam was married twice, first to Jean Louise Hodgert from 1937 until her death from colon cancer on January 24, 1961. Seven months later, in August 1961, Elam married again, then to Margaret M. Jennison. The couple remained together for 42 years, until 2003, when Jack died of congestive heart failure at their home in Ashland, Oregon.

+List of performances in films Title Year Roles Notes Mystery Range1947Burvel Lambert Wild Weed1949Raymond – Henchman The Sundowners1950Earl Boyce Key to the City1950CouncilmanUncredited Quicksand1950Man at BarUncredited One Way Street1950ArnieUncredited A Ticket to Tomahawk1950FargoUncredited Love That Brute1950Henchman #2 in Cigar StoreUncredited High Lonesome1950Smiling Man American Guerrilla in the Philippines1951The Speaker The Texan Meets Calamity Jane1951HenchmanUncredited Bird of Paradise1951The Trader Rawhide1951Tevis The Bushwackers1951Cree Finders Keepers1952Eddie Rancho Notorious1952Mort Geary The Battle at Apache Pass1952Mescal Jack High Noon1952Charlie – Drunk in JailUncredited Montana Territory1952Gimp Lure of the Wilderness1952Dave Longden My Man and I1952Celestino Garcia The Ring1952Harry Jackson Kansas City Confidential1952Pete Harris Count the Hours1953Max Verne Ride, Vaquero!1953Barton Gun Belt1953Rusty Kolloway The Moonlighter1953Slim Appointment in Honduras1953Castro Jubilee Trail1954Whitey Ride Clear of Diablo1954Tim Lowerie Princess of the Nile1954Basra The Far Country1954Frank Newberry Cattle Queen of Montana1954Yost Vera Cruz1954Tex Tarzan's Hidden Jungle1955Burger The Man from Laramie1955Chris Boldt Man Without a Star1955Knife MurdererUncredited Kiss Me Deadly1955Charlie Max Moonfleet1955Damen Wichita1955Al Artists and Models1955Ivan Kismet1955Hasan Ben Jubal1956McCoy – Bar 8 Rider Pardners1956Pete Thunder Over Arizona1956Deputy Slats Callahan Dragoon Wells Massacre1957Tioga Gunfight at the O. K. Corral1957Tom McLowery Lure of the Swamp1957Henry Bliss Night Passage1957Shotgun Baby Face Nelson1957Fatso Nagel The Gun Runners1958Arnold Edge of Eternity1959Bill Ward The Girl in Lovers Lane1960Jesse The Last Sunset1961Ed Hobbs The Comancheros1961Horseface (Comanchero) Valley of the Dragons1961(uncredited) head caveman Pocketful of Miracles1961Cheesecake 4 for Texas1963Dobie The Rare Breed1966Simons The Night of the Grizzly1966Hank The Way West1967Preacher Weatherby The Last Challenge1967Ernest Scarnes Firecreek1968Norman Never a Dull Moment1968Ace Williams Sonora1968Slim Kovacs Once Upon a Time in the West1968Snaky – Member of Frank's Gang Support Your Local Sheriff!1969Jake The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County1970Kittrick Dirty Dingus Magee1970John Wesley Hardin The Wild Country1970Thompson Rio Lobo1970Mr Phillips Support Your Local Gunfighter1971Jug May The Last Rebel1971Matt Hannie Caulder1971Frank Clemens Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid1973Alamosa Bill Knife for the Ladies1974Jarrod (Sheriff) Creature from Black Lake1976Joe Canton Hawmps!1976Bad Jack Cutter The Winds of Autumn 1976J. Pete Hankins Pony Express Rider1976Crazy Charlie Grayeagle1977Trapper Willis Hot Lead and Cold Feet1978Rattlesnake The Norseman1978Death Dreamer The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again1979Big Mac The Sacketts1979Ira Bigelow The Villain1979Avery Simpson The Cannonball Run1981Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing Soggy Bottom, U. S. A.1981Troscliar Boudreaux Jinxed!1982Otto Sacred Ground1983Lum Witcher Lost1983Mr. Newsome Cannonball Run II1984Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing The Aurora Encounter1986Charlie Hankins Hawken's Breed1987Tackett Once Upon a Texas Train1988Jason Fitch Big Bad John1990Jake Calhoun The Giant of Thunder Mountain1991Hezekiah Crow Suburban Commando1991Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell Shadow Force1992Tommy Uninvited1993Grady

+List of performances in television Title Year Role Episode The Restless Gun1957Link Jared"Trail to Sunset" Lawman1958Flynn Hawks"The Deputy" The Restless Gun1958Tony Molenauer"Hornitas Town" Have Gun – Will Travel1958Joe Gage"The Man Who Lost" (Written by Ida Lupino) The Texan1958Tug Swann"The Eastener" The Rifleman1958Sim Groder"Duel of Honor" Gunsmoke1959Dolph Quince"Jayhawkers" Gunsmoke1959Steed"Saludos" The Texan1959Luke Watson"South of the Border" The Texan1959Dud Parsons"Lady Tenderfoot" The Rifleman1959Gavin Martin"Tension" Tombstone Territory1959Wally Jobe"Day of the Amnesty" Gunsmoke1960Clint Dodie"Where'd They Go" The Twilight Zone1961Crazy Man"Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" Bonanza1961Dodie Hoad"The Spitfire" Cheyenne1961Count Nicholas Potosi"Massacre at Gunsight Pass" Gunsmoke1961Ben"Love Thy Neighbor" The Untouchables1962Jug Alverson"Pressure" Cheyenne1962Deputy J. D. Smith"A Man Called Ragan" Cheyenne1962Calhoun Durango"The Durango Brothers" Have Gun – Will Travel1962Arnold Shaffner"One, Two, Three" Gunsmoke1964Hector"Homecoming" Gunsmoke1964Specter"Help Me, Kitty" Daniel Boone1965PetchS1/E18 "The Sound of Fear" Gunsmoke1965Sam Band"Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood" Gunsmoke1965Del Ormand"Malachi" Gunsmoke1966Jim Barrett"My Father, My Son" Bonanza1967Buford Buckalew"A Bride for Buford" The Wild Wild West1967Zack Slade"The Night of Montezuma's Hordes" Gunsmoke1968William Prange"The First People" Gunsmoke1969Pack LandersThe Sisters Bonanza1970Honest John"Honest John" The Virginian1970Harve Yost"Rich Man, Poor Man" Gunsmoke1971Lucas Murdoch"Murdoch" Gunsmoke1971Titus Spangler"P. S. Murry Christmas" Gunsmoke1972Pierre Audubon"The River Parts 1 & 2" The Texas Wheelers1974–1975Zack WheelerMain role; 8 episodes Phyllis1975 1976Van HornA lovable wino, 3 episodes How the West Was Won1976Cully Madigan 2 episodes Eight is Enough1978,1980Joe Simons2 episodes Sweepstakes1979FrankEpisode: "Billy, Wally and Ludmilla, and Theodore" Easy Street1986Alvin "Bully" Stevenson22 episodes Home Improvement1992Hick Peterson"Birds of a Feather Flock to Taylor" Bonanza: The Return 1993BuckshotTelevision movie Bonanza: Under Attack1995BuckshotTelevision movie