# Jack Elam RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083 "2003-10-23T11:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/1 "2003-10-23T11:53:24Z")
[Jack Elam](http://edition.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/22/obit.elam.ap/index.html) I thought he was already gone. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/2 "2003-10-23T11:56:25Z")
He was one cool dude! I spotted that he had left us on IMDB’s news page. It mentioned _Rawhide_ as his breakout role, and I can remember that movie as highly disturbing to a person my age at the time. I guess the shots at the baby got to me. My favorite role of his was when he was the proctologist, but I can’t remember for sure what movie that was. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/3 "2003-10-23T12:00:14Z")
_Cannonball Run_\*, **Zeldar**? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/4 "2003-10-23T12:12:24Z")
[And now a link - Cannonball Run](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082136/) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/5 "2003-10-23T12:13:20Z")
**dantheman** , that has to be it, since I wanted to guess that in my post. He was in the back of a van, right? Rubber glove? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/6 "2003-10-23T12:17:23Z")
Yup. That’s the one. He was in the sequel, too! Geez, who are they gonna get now to play the crusty old rancher/farmhand or wily varmint? No Jack Elam, no Denver Pyle, no Richard Farnsworth … ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/7 "2003-10-23T12:28:19Z")
No Ben Johnson, either. Tommy Lee Jones, a la _Lonesome Dove_ would work, but I doubt he’d stoop to the level of role that Elam and so many others made standard. I guess Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones (_Wild Bunch_) are close seconds to Elam, but Strother’s gone, and I haven’t seen L.Q. in a while. He’s still alive, if IMDB’s page on him is up-to-date. Others whose roles are/were unique or highly individualized include Woody Strode, Trevor Bardette, Roy Barcroft, Lane Bradford, Chill Wills, I. Stanford Jolley, and maybe a dozen others from the old B Western era. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/8 "2003-10-23T12:30:05Z")
The all-time best at that type role was Walter Brennan, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/9 "2003-10-23T12:32:22Z")
I didn’t realise he, literally, bought his way into the movie business, and that his eye got messed up as a child. Anyway, I never quite know what to say but maybe it’s enough to say he made me laugh out loud and that the memory of him also makes me smile. I hope he’d be happy with that, they’re good things to be remembered for. Fwiw, I sometimes thought that his character acting had an Ealing or ‘Carry On’ quality to it, but that’s probably my English imagination gorn overboard. 84, 85 or 86, not too bad. Take it easy, you mad bugger. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/10 "2003-10-23T12:36:39Z")
Arthur Hunnicutt was okay, too. I found it hard to accept him as Davy Crockett in _The Last Command_ though. Think about all those old sidekicks with scruffy beards: Al “Fuzzy” St. John, George “Gabby” Hayes, Fuzzy Knight. And the clean-shaven ones like Dub “Cannonball” Taylor, Smiley Burnette, Pat Buttram, Slim Pickens, Pat Brady, Andy Devine. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/11 "2003-10-23T12:49:56Z")
He was on a short-lived TV series with Loni Anderson. I remember only one scene, and my huband and I have quoted it many times. It was a dinner scene and raw oysters were being served. Elam’s character said something like: “I never eat anything that looks like it comes out of an ox nose.” ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/12 "2003-10-23T12:51:54Z")
Wait! I know that one! Easy Street? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/13 "2003-10-23T12:53:18Z")
Yeah - I just looked it up - Easy Street it was. Give that man a cigar! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/14 "2003-10-23T13:02:51Z")
Jack Elam and Neville Brand were my faves growing up. Now they’re both gone. Sob. What was the silly movie where Jack E was James Garner’s sidekick? This Gun for Hire or somesuch? I’d like to rent it and see if it held up as well as I remembered. Also had Walter Brennan, mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/15 "2003-10-23T13:06:25Z")
Neville Brand was almost as big a WWII hero as Audie Murphy. He was excellent in so many movies, but _Stalag 17_ is my favorite of his. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/16 "2003-10-23T13:07:59Z")
[Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0065051/) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/17 "2003-10-23T13:13:58Z")
And, as per Board regulations, there is [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=218907) on this, as well. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/18 "2003-10-23T16:04:25Z")
Jack Elam was in > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zeldar \* > \*\*[Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0065051/) \*\* and was also in “Support Your Local Gunfighter”. Both were excellent comic-westerns starring James Garner with Elam as a co-star. There was a lot of overlap of the casts, but both movies featured different characters and plots. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/19 "2003-10-23T18:13:46Z")
\ I don’t know the other two guys, but the one in the middle was Jack Elam! \ 😃 Seriously, I’m sorry he’s gone. Too many celebs dying this year. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083/20 "2003-10-23T21:39:20Z")
Maybe Encore Western channel will show the neglected western series _Temple Houston_, which co-starred Jack Elam. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-elam-rip/209083.md?page=2)