JACK ELAM - CONTRACT DOUBLE SIGNED 09/17/1971 - HFSID 322005

JACK ELAM
A contract signed by Elam for his appearance as Titus Spangler in the Gunsmoke episode titled "P.S. Murry Christmas"
Contract signed twice: "JE", "Jack Elam", in black ink, 2 pages, 8½x11. September 17, 1971. A contract for the part of Titus Spangler in the television series Gunsmoke for the episode entitled "P.S. Murry Christmas". Elam is employed for the amount of $3,000 to be paid out in a one time sum. Throughout the 1950s, Jack Elam (1920-2003) cemented his reputation as one of the meanest-looking and most reliable "heavies" in the movies. Few of his screen roles gave him the opportunity to display his natural wit and sense of comic timing, but inklings of these skills were evident in his first regular TV series assignments: The Dakotas and Temple Houston, both 1963. In 1969, Elam was given his first all-out comedy role in Support Your Local Sheriff, after which he found his villainous assignments dwindling and his comic jobs increasing. Elam cracked up audiences in the 1980s with his roles in Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II. Though well established as a comic actor, Elam would never completely abandon the western genre that had sustained him in the 1950s and 1960s; in 1993, a proud Elam was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Corners lightly worn and creased. Toned. Binding holes in top margin. Normal mailing folds. Light surface creases. Ink faded, but legible. Staple in top left corner. Otherwise, fine condition.