Jay Silverheels began to publish poetry inspired by his youth on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and recited his work on television. In 1966, he guest-starred as John Tallgrass in the short-lived ABC comedy/western series "The Rounders", with Ron Hayes, Patrick Wayne, and Chill Wills. Despite the typecasting, Silverheels in later years often poked fun at his character. In 1969, he appeared as Tonto without The Lone Ranger in a comedy sketch on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". The sketch was featured on the 1973 record album "Here's Johnny: Magic Moments From The Tonight Show". "My name is Tonto. I hail
Jay Silverheels player. From the late 1940s, he played in major films, including "Captain from Castile" starring Tyrone Power, "I Am an American" (1944), "Key Largo" with Humphrey Bogart (1948), "Lust for Gold" with Glenn Ford (1949), "Broken Arrow" (1950) with James Stewart, "War Arrow" (1953) with Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler and Noah Beery Jr., "The Black Dakotas" (1954) as Black Buffalo, "Drums Across the River" (1954), "Walk the Proud Land" (1956) with Audie Murphy and Anne Bancroft, "Alias Jesse James" (1959) with Bob Hope, and "Indian Paint" (1964) with Johnny Crawford. He made a brief appearance in "True Grit" (1969) as