In his autobiography, he made several false claims about Jay Silverheels's career and origins, potentially out of spite or to support his own narrative, including that he had a glass eye and was an illiterate gambler.
Jay was a champion lacrosse player and a very good boxer till he got one of his eyes bopped out. Had himself fitted with a glass eye and some vague notion of becoming a professional gambler, he packed...
— Episode: 241 - The Two Indigenous Actors (Live w/...
Episode: 241 - The Two Indigenous Actors (Live w/ Bert Krei...
In his autobiography, he made several false claims about Jay Silverheels's career and origins, potentially out of spite or to support his own narrative, including that he had a glass eye and was an illiterate gambler.
Jay was a champion lacrosse player and a very good boxer till he got one of his eyes bopped out. Had himself fitted with a glass eye and some vague notion of becoming a professional gambler, he packed up his lacrosse stick and headed west.
He began hanging around Gower Gulch which is where my brother and I spotted him as potential movie material.
I mentioned he got his start in Unconquered because that's the first time anybody singled him out for any close camera shots. Actually, he had been playing bit parts in some writing sequences in Western Union.
He distinguished himself by not being able to write at all. Without knowing what the hell he was doing, he managed to keep up with the rest of us writers of the Purple Sage falling off his horse both on cue and off.