Jay Silverheels appears in the Thrilling Adventure Hour serialized segment "Tales from the Black Lagoon". Notes Bibliography Jay Silverheels Jay Silverheels (born Harold Preston Smith, May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was a Mohawk Canadian actor and He was well known for his role as Tonto, the faithful Indian companion of the Lone Ranger in the long-running American western television series "The Lone Ranger". Silverheels was born Harold Preston Smith in Canada, on the Six Nations of the Grand River, near Hagersville, Ontario. He was a grandson of Mohawk Chief A.G. Smith and Mary Wedge, and one of the 11 children
Jay Silverheels was the father of three girls (Marilyn, Pamela and Karen) and a boy Jay Anthony Silverheels, who later became an actor. Silverheels suffered a stroke in 1976, and the following year, Clayton Moore rode a paint horse in Silverheels' honor in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. Silverheels died on March 5, 1980, from complications of a at age sixty-seven, in Calabasas, Los Angeles County, California. He was cremated at Chapel of the Pines Crematory, and his ashes were returned to the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. In 1993, Jay Silverheels was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers