Jack Elam

Jack Elam (born November 13, 1918 in Miami, Arizona; died October 20, 2003 in Ashland, Oregon) was an American film actor who appeared mostly in westerns.

Related Topics:
November 13 - 1918 - Miami, Arizona - October 20 - 2003 - Ashland, Oregon - American - Westerns

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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. His face is memorable in part because of an out-of-kilter blind left eye. In interviews, Elam admitted that he got the slow eye after a fellow Boy Scout stabbed him in the left eye with a pencil during a scrape at a troop meeting. He appeared mostly in westerns and gangster films playing "heavies", and in later years played comedic roles. Elam was given his first comedic role in Support Your Local Sheriff, after which he found his villainous assignments dwindling and his comic jobs increasing. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1994.

Related Topics:
Santa Monica - California - Los Angeles - Gangster - Support Your Local Sheriff - Hall of Great Western Performers

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Elam died of heart failure on October 20, 2003.

Related Topics:
October 20 - 2003

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