Jack Elam

Born: November 13, 1920, Miami, Arizona
Died: October 20, 2003 (age 82), Ashland, Oregon

Jack Elam (William Scott Elam) was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films.

1. As a Boy Scout, he lost the sight in his left eye after another Scout threw a pencil at him at a troop meeting.

• Fact or Myth?

2. Where did Elam graduate from high school?

• Miami High School
• Phoenix Union High School
• Santa Monica High School

3. What was his first Hollywood job?

• Cameraman
• Director
• Accountant

4. When a sudden spurt of murders occurs in the Big Bend country, suspicion immediately falls on a young drifter who just moved to the area. Elam plays Smiling Man in High Lonesome (1950). Who is the movie’s star?

• Hugh Aiken
• Chill Wills
• John Drew Barrymore

5. Tyrone Power plays Tom Owens in Rawhide (1951). Who does Elam play in this movie?

• Tevis
• Sam Todd (Rawhide stationmaster)
• Lt. Wingate

6. The Battle at Apache Pass (1952) stars John Lund as Maj. Jim Colton and Jeff Chandler as Cochise. Who does Elam play?

• Lt. George Bascom
• Cpl. Hassett
• Mescal Jack

7. Elam is Frank Newberry (Gannon's deputy) in the 1952 Western The Far Country. The movie stars James Stewart. Who is NOT a member of the cast?

• Walter Brennan
• Harry Morgan
• George Montgomery

8. In the Western/Comedy, McCullough (James Garner) is "passing through on my way to Australia" when he takes a job in a gold rush town. After a startling display of marksmanship he immediately arrests the youngest son of the evil landowner (Danby). A battle of hired guns begins as McCullough continues to tame the town and defeat the gunslingers with a combination of skill and wit. Jack Elam plays comic deputy Jake in Support Your Local Sheriff (1969).

• Fact or Myth?

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

• Fact or Myth?

10. In 1963, ABC broadcast a western television series featuring Jack Elam. What was the TV series?

• The Dakotas
• The Arizona Rangers
• Tombstone Territory

11. Elam died in of congestive heart failure.

• Fact or Myth?

12. Where is Jack Elam buried?

• Cremated, location of ashes is unknown
• Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery in Newport, Arizona
• Church Green Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona

Check Your Answer

1. Fact
2. Phoenix Union High School
3. Accountant
4. John Drew Barrymore
5. Tevis
6. Mescal Jack
7. George Montgomery
8. Fact
9. Fact
10. The Dakotas
11. Fact
12. Cremated, location of ashes is unknown