Chief John Big Tree

Chief John Big Tree

Born: June 2, 1877
Died: July 6, 1967
in Buffalo - New York - USA
Chief John Big Tree was born on June 2, 1877 in Buffalo, New York, as Isaac Johnny John. He was an actor, known for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) and Devil's Doorway (1950). He died on July 6, 1967 in Onondaga Indian Reservation, New York.

One of three men who posed for artist James Fraser for the profile which became the famous "Indian head nickel" or "buffalo nickel" minted 1913-1938. The other two were Chief Two Moons (of the Cheyenne) and Chief Iron Tail (of the Lakota Sioux). The image was reused for a special commemorative $50 gold piece in 2006--the USA's first 24k (pure gold) coin.

Big Tree was a member of the Seneca Nation.

Movies for Chief John Big Tree...

Devil's Doorway
Title: Devil's Doorway
Character: Thundercloud
Released: September 15, 1950
Type: Movie
A Native American Civil War hero returns home to fight for his people.
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She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Title: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Character: Chief Pony That Walks
Released: October 22, 1949
Type: Movie
On the eve of retirement, Captain Nathan Brittles takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.
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Western Union
Title: Western Union
Character: Chief Spotted Horse
Released: February 21, 1941
Type: Movie
When Edward Creighton leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West, he hires a Western reformed outlaw and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor.
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Hudson's Bay
Title: Hudson's Bay
Character: Chief
Released: January 3, 1941
Type: Movie
Highly fictionalized early history of Canada. Trapper/explorer Radisson imagines an empire around Hudson's Bay. He befriends the Indians, fights the French, and convinces King Charles II to sponsor an expedition of conquest.
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North West Mounted Police
Title: North West Mounted Police
Character: Blue Owl (uncredited)
Released: October 22, 1940
Type: Movie
Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)
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Too Many Girls
Title: Too Many Girls
Character: Chief
Released: October 8, 1940
Type: Movie
Mr. Casey's daughter, Connie, wants to go to Pottawatomie College and without her knowledge, he sends four football players as her bodyguards. The college is in financial trouble and her bodyguards use their salary to help the college. The football players join the college team, and the team becomes one of the best. One of the football players, Clint, falls in love with Connie, but when she discovers he is her bodyguard, she decides to go back East. The bodyguards follow her, leaving the team in the lurch.
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Brigham Young
Title: Brigham Young
Character: Big Elk
Released: September 27, 1940
Type: Movie
Based on the story of the famous Mormon leader, it follows Brigham Young and his challenge to transport his people across the Rocky mountains to settle in Salt Lake City. The plot focuses on two fictitious characters, Jonathan Kent and Zina Webb and the hardships they have to face along the way.
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Destry Rides Again
Title: Destry Rides Again
Character: Indian in Saloon (uncredited)
Released: November 30, 1939
Type: Movie
When a tough western town needs taming, the mild-mannered son of a hard-nosed sheriff gets the job.
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Drums Along the Mohawk
Title: Drums Along the Mohawk
Character: Blue Back
Released: November 10, 1939
Type: Movie
Albany, New York, 1776. After marrying, Gil and Lana travel north to settle on a small farm in the Mohawk River Valley, but soon their growing prosperity and happiness are threatened by the sinister sound of drums that announce dark times of revolution and war.
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The Oregon Trail
Title: The Oregon Trail
Character: Spotted Elk
Released: July 4, 1939
Type: Movie
Jeff Scott is sent to investigate problems with wagon trains attempting to make the journey to Oregon. Sam Morgan has sent his henchmen, under lead-henchman Bull Bragg, to stop the wagon trains in order to maintain control of the fur trade in the area.
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Susannah of the Mounties
Title: Susannah of the Mounties
Character: Chief (uncredited)
Released: June 13, 1939
Type: Movie
This classic family drama stars Shirley Temple as young orphan Susannah Sheldon, the sole survivor of a brutal Indian attack who's befriended by Canadian Mountie Angus Montague (Randolph Scott) and his girlfriend, Vicky (Margaret Lockwood). The couple takes Susannah under their wing and soon learn that having a precocious child around can come in handy; when the Indians return, the girl uses her charm to broker peace.Shirley is the orphaned survivor of an Indian attack in the Canadian West. A Mountie and his girlfriend take her in...
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Stagecoach
Title: Stagecoach
Character: Indian Scout (uncredited)
Released: March 3, 1939
Type: Movie
A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.
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The Girl of the Golden West
Title: The Girl of the Golden West
Character: Indian Chief in Prologue
Released: March 18, 1938
Type: Movie
Mary Robbins is a moderately educated, beautiful, young woman who owns the saloon called "The Poker". She is the only woman in the town of Couldee - making her the fancy of all the men there, especially to Sheriff Jack Rance. On the way to Monterey to sing at a mass officiated by Father Sienna, her stagecoach is held up by the infamous masked bandit, Ramerez. He too takes a fancy to Mary, and decides to secretly follow her, taking on the identity of an officer named, Lieutenant Johnson. While in Monterey, he dances, sings and courts Mary, who has now fallen in love with him. He then has to make a quick getaway. In the mean-time, Sheriff Jack has set up a trap to catch Ramerez at "The Poker". When Ramerez does arrive he soon discovers that Mary is the owner, and quickly changes to the identity of Lieutenant Johnson. How long can this charade last?
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Prairie Thunder
Title: Prairie Thunder
Character: Indian (uncredited)
Released: September 10, 1937
Type: Movie
To increase profits for his shipping company, Lynch has goaded the Indians to attack both the telegraph line and the new railroad. When Lynch sells rifles to the Indians, Rod Farrell captures Lynch and his gang. But Lynch's Indian friends free him and this time Farrell finds himself the prisoner.
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Hills of Old Wyoming
Title: Hills of Old Wyoming
Character: Chief Big Tree
Released: April 16, 1937
Type: Movie
An evil deputy is using Indian half-breeds to rustle cattle. This causes trouble between the cattlemen and Indians. Hoppy, Windy and Lucky see that justice is served. Songs abound.
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Lost Horizon
Title: Lost Horizon
Character: Porter (uncredited)
Released: March 3, 1937
Type: Movie
British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like valley of Shangri-la. Protected by the mountains from the world outside, where the clouds of World War II are gathering, Shangri-la provides a seductive escape for the world-weary Conway.
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Maid of Salem
Title: Maid of Salem
Character: Indian Man (Uncredited)
Released: February 12, 1937
Type: Movie
When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a meddling girl arouses their suspicions, the town's elders accuse Barbara of being a witch. She is tried, convicted of sorcery and sentenced to death. As the townspeople prepare to burn Barbara at the stake, Roger tries desperately to save the woman he loves.
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The Bold Caballero
Title: The Bold Caballero
Character: Tavern Indian (uncredited)
Released: December 1, 1936
Type: Movie
The Commandant is making life rough for the colonials in Spanish California. While trying to help, Zorro is charged with the murder of the new Governor, but in the end he triumphs over the evil Commandant.
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The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
Title: The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
Character: Indian John
Released: January 13, 1936
Type: Movie
A 12-episode serial in which scholastic sports star Frank Merriwell leaves school to search for his missing father. His adventures involve a mysterious inscription on a ring, buried treasure, kidnaping and Indian raids. He saves his father and returns to school just in time to win a decisive baseball game with his remarkable pitching and hitting.
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Custer's Last Stand
Title: Custer's Last Stand
Character: Medicine Man
Released: January 2, 1936
Type: Movie
Kit Cardigan seeks the killer of his father...among other plot threads leading up to the famous historical incident.
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The Singing Vagabond
Title: The Singing Vagabond
Character: Chief White Eagle (uncredited)
Released: December 16, 1935
Type: Movie
Tex rides to the rescue when badguys led by LaCrosse and Utah Joe kidnap Lettie.
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Wheels of Destiny
Title: Wheels of Destiny
Character: Chief War Eagle
Released: March 1, 1934
Type: Movie
Bill, who is about to lead a wagon train to California, has a map to a valuable gold field and Rocky is after the map. When Rocky and his men attack, Ken Manning breaks it up and later identifies Rocky and his men as the attackers. Expelled from the wagon train, they stampede a buffalo herd puting the Indians on the warpath. After the Indians attack the wagon train, Rocky thinks he can get the map.
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King of the Arena
Title: King of the Arena
Character: Circus Indian
Released: June 1, 1933
Type: Movie
Mysterious deaths have been occurring in the same towns as Miller's Circus and the Governor has sent Ken Kenton to investigate. Ken joins the show but when he realizes that Bargoff is involved, Bargoff has fled and taken Mary Hiller as a hostage. The trail leads to Baron Petroff who concocted the deadly chemical and Ken quickly finds himself the Baron's prisoner.
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The Telegraph Trail
Title: The Telegraph Trail
Character: Indian Chief (uncredited)
Released: March 18, 1933
Type: Movie
A greedy businessman-turned-renegade foments an Indian uprising against the coming telegraph to perpetuate his economic stranglehold on the territory.
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The Golden West
Title: The Golden West
Character: Indian (uncredited)
Released: October 29, 1932
Type: Movie
Lovers David Lunch and Betty Summers are caught in the feud between their two families. When David kills the Summers son, he escapes to the West. He marries and when his boy is two he and his wife are killed by Indians who take the boy. Twenty years later the boy is now the Indian chief. Betty's daughter is nearby and the two are destined to meet.
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The Last of the Mohicans
Title: The Last of the Mohicans
Character: Huron Warrior (uncredited)
Released: May 17, 1932
Type: Movie
Natty Bumppo, known as Hawk-Eye, is a frontiersman in the American wilderness. Together with his Indian friends Chingachgook and Uncas, he fights battles against nefarious white soldiers as well as the vicious Indian Magua and his cohorts.
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Red Fork Range
Title: Red Fork Range
Character: Chief Barking Fox
Released: January 12, 1931
Type: Movie
It's time for the stagecoach race to win the mail contract and the only entries are Reden and Farrell. Reden's men kidnap Farrell's daughter and then force him to withdraw. Wally rescues Ruth, buys out Farrel, and enters the race himself. But Reden has his men planted along the course to make sure Wally doesn't win.
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Sioux Blood
Title: Sioux Blood
Character: Crazy Wolf
Released: April 20, 1929
Type: Movie
One of John Waters' two Tim McCoy westerns made with MGM in the last years of the silent era. A print is preserved at the George Eastman House in New York but it hasn't been made available to the public and there don't seem to be any plans for it.
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The Overland Telegraph
Title: The Overland Telegraph
Character: Medecine Man
Released: March 2, 1929
Type: Movie
At the beginning of the Civil War, as federal troops start to build the first overland telegraph, Indians, who fear the wires, kill some of the linesmen. In response, Major Hammond, who oversees the troops, requests that President Abraham Lincoln send twenty thousand more soldiers to come to his aid. Lincoln grants Hammond's request, and sends along Capt. Allen, who is knowledgeable about Indians. At his new post, Allen discovers that a Confederate spy has been fomenting trouble with the Indians. Allen eventually uncovers the spy, makes peace with the Indians and wins the love of Dorothy, a young woman who lives at the post.
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Spoilers of the West
Title: Spoilers of the West
Character: Red Cloud
Released: December 10, 1927
Type: Movie
A soldier falls in love with a beautiful settler who has refused his order to leave American Indian land.
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Painted Ponies
Title: Painted Ponies
Released: September 25, 1927
Type: Movie
A rodeo rider arrives in Toptown to compete in the local rodeo. He meets a pretty young girl who, with her crippled father, runs a merry-go-round for the town's children. The town bully, who has designs on the young girl, tries to drive off the cowboy but is beaten senseless in the resulting fight. Soon afterwards, however, the girl's father is found shot, and the cowboy is arrested for the crime.
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The Frontiersman
Title: The Frontiersman
Character: Grey Eagle
Released: June 11, 1927
Type: Movie
John Dale and Abner Hawkins are members of Andrew Jackson's Tennessee Militia, assigned to make peace with the Creek Indian tribe in general and the treacherous White Snake in particular.
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Winners Of The Wilderness
Title: Winners Of The Wilderness
Character: Chief Pontiac
Released: January 15, 1927
Type: Movie
During the French and Indian War the Indians under Pontiac kidnap Rene. Colonel O'Hara hopes to rescue and wed her.
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The Desert's Toll
Title: The Desert's Toll
Character: Red Eagle
Released: November 14, 1926
Type: Movie
Frank Darwin needs to convince Muriel he didn't kill her Father, as claimed by Jasper and Oneta.
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Mantrap
Title: Mantrap
Character: Indian (uncredited)
Released: July 24, 1926
Type: Movie
A sexy young manicurist living with her older backwoodsman husband in a small Canadian town finds herself attracted to a young, rich and famous divorce lawyer who comes to town on vacation.
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The Frontier Trail
Title: The Frontier Trail
Character: Chief Gray Wolf
Released: June 20, 1926
Type: Movie
A 1926 silent Western.
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The Red Rider
Title: The Red Rider
Character: Indian Chief
Released: August 2, 1925
Type: Movie
White Elk, a light-skinned Indian chief, incurs the enmity of Chief Black Panther, whom he prevents from looting a westbound wagon train. Although White Elk is betrothed to an Indian princess, he falls in love with Lucille Cavanagh, a white woman from the East. After her father, John Cavanagh, tricks White Elk into signing away the lands of his tribe, the young chief is condemned to be burned alive by Black Panther.
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The Iron Horse
Title: The Iron Horse
Character: Cheyenne Chief
Released: August 24, 1924
Type: Movie
Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy is all alone now.
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The Huntress
Title: The Huntress
Character: Otebaya
Released: August 20, 1923
Type: Movie
Bela, reared by Indians, learns that she is a white orphan and runs away from the Indian village to avoid marrying a brave from the tribe. She determines to marry land prospector Sam Gladding, who resists her advances but later falls in love with Bela when an Indian sage gives him some advice.
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The Primitive Lover
Title: The Primitive Lover
Character: Chief Johnny Bluebottle
Released: April 30, 1922
Type: Movie
A free-spirited girl is caught between her love for her husband and her attraction to a handsome adventurer.
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A Fight For Love
Title: A Fight For Love
Character: Swift Deer
Released: March 24, 1919
Type: Movie
The Northwest Mounties are after Cheyenne Harry for the murder of an Indian boy, and the only witness to the crime is a priest - who can't tell what he saw because the real killer, Black Michael, has confessed to him.
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The Spirit of '76
Title: The Spirit of '76
Character: Gowah
Released: January 1, 1917
Type: Movie
Catherine Montour, a striking half-breed Indian princess, and mistress of King George III aspires to become the first Queen of America when the revolution breaks out.