The cement was still wet on Hollywood Boulevard. Jay Silverheels, born Harold J. Smith on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, pressed his hands into the terrazzo square beside his newly embedded star. The ceremony on July 21, 1979, made him the first Native American to be so commemorated. The honor was for his work in motion pictures, specifically for playing Tonto, the loyal companion to the Lone Ranger, a role he performed for 221 television episodes and two films. The crowd included his former co-star, Clayton Moore, who famously wore his black mask to the event.
The moment was a paradox of recognition and constraint. Silverheels was a talented athlete and actor who leveraged the Tonto role into a durable career, founding the Indian Actors Workshop to create opportunities for others. Yet the character he played was a stereotype, speaking in broken English and existing primarily to serve a white hero. His star acknowledged his individual success and visibility while simultaneously highlighting the industry’s narrow, often demeaning, offerings for Indigenous performers. He accepted the honor with characteristic grace, but had long been publicly critical of Hollywood’s portrayals of Native people.
Many misunderstand the star as an endorsement of the Tonto character. Silverheels himself did not. He saw the role as a foot in the door, a platform he used to advocate for more authentic representation. In later years, he expressed a complex pride in the character’s popularity alongside frustration at its limitations. The star was not for Tonto, but for the man who endured and transcended the role.
The milestone created a physical landmark for Native American presence in an industry that had largely rendered them invisible or as caricatures. It provided a reference point. Future Indigenous honorees like Will Rogers, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Wes Studi would have their stars placed on the same walkway, building a lineage that began with a Mohawk man’s hands in wet cement.