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Who was Tonto
Who played Tonto?
John Todd (February 25, 1933 to September 3, 1954)
He was born Fred McCarthy in 1877 and died July 14, 1957.
A former stage actor known for Shakespearean roles, Todd soon gained work at Detroit radio station WXYZ, as part of director James Jewell's repertory company, with roles on the various series produced by the station.
His most famous work was on The Lone Ranger. He played a local sheriff in some of the show's earliest episodes, but on the twelfth broadcast, which aired February 25, 1933, Todd first played his most famous role, the masked man's Native American companion Tonto.
In reality a bald, stocky man of Irish descent in late middle age, Todd occasionally donned a wig for publicity photos, but was usually replaced by a Native American performer for public appearances.
With the exception of a brief period where he was replaced by a real Native American, Todd played Tonto for almost the entire radio run, and was the only original cast member heard on the final broadcast, on September 3, 1954.
Station owner George Trendle wanted to replace Todd in the role of Tonto, because he was "too old". Todd's replacement, a college educated native American refused to perform the "Me do" and "Him go" type lines as written and Todd was given back the role of Tonto.
Chief Thunder-Cloud (1938 & 1939)
He played Tonto in "The Lone Ranger" with Lee Powell as the masked man in a movie serial in 1938 and "The Lone Ranger Rides Again" in a 1939 movie serial with Robert Livingston.
His real name was Victor Daniels and was given the title of "Chief" in an honorary capacity, although he was indeed a true Native American Indian.
Born in the Muskogee region of Oklahoma on April 12, 1899, he was the first of nine children born to Dark Cloud and Morning Star, who were Cherokee mixed with Scottish, Irish and German.
Raised on a ranch in Arizona, he was educated at the University of Arizona at Tucson where he excelled not only scholastically but in athletics (football, boxing).
He performed unskilled labor on cattle ranches and rodeos in addition to finding work as a mining foreman, boxer and guide before going to Hollywood in the late 1920s.
Initially training to become a singer of tribal folk songs, he made money in films as a stuntman doubling for a number of the top western stars of the day. He eventually earned screen credit for his Indian tribe members and chiefs, typecast more as bad than good.
He is best known, however, for his creating the role of faithful sidekick "Tonto" in the serial The Lone Ranger (1938) and its sequel The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939). He also played the title role of Paramount Pictures' Geronimo (1939).
He died at age 56 following surgery for stomach cancer in Ventura County, California on November 30, 1955. He was survived by wife Frances, a former singer, and their two children.
Jay Silverheels (1949 - 1957)
The Lone Ranger" television series 1949-1957, "The Lone Ranger" movie feature 1956, and the movie feature "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" 1958.
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