Father of Jay Silverheels Jr.
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1993.
Of the near 200 joint ventures Silverheels made with Clayton Moore, the actors co-starred in just 4 features where they did NOT play Tonto and The Lone Ranger: Perils of Nyoka (1942), The Cowboy and the Indians (1949), Cyclone Fury (1951) and The Black Dakotas (1954).
On "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962), Silverheels told Johnny Carson that he had married his Italian wife to "get back at Christopher Columbus". They called their children "Indalions".
Resided in Canoga Park, Ca and used to take walks around his neighborhood. Daughter attended and graduated from Canoga Park High School.
U.S. government records give Silverheels' birthdate as 26 June 1912, though virtually all cinema reference works disagree, giving instead the 1919 date listed here.
Was a full-blooded Mohawk Indian, the son of a chief.
Was an avid horse-racer when not acting. When asked if he ever thought about running Silver or Scout (who portrayed the steeds of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, respectively) in a race, Silverheels laughed: "Heck, *I* can beat Scout."