William Eagle Shirt facts for kids

William "Good Lance" Eagle Shirt was a Native American actor, performer, and screenwriter who was born and raised on the Great Plains of South Dakota. He appeared in a string of Hollywood films in the 1910s and is credited with co-writing two of them.

Biography

William and his family — all Oglala Sioux — were forced to settle on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where he met and married a woman named Mattie; the pair had a daughter named Bessie. After performing in Wild West shows, he began appearing in silent films. At some point, he remarried a woman named Emma; the pair divorced in 1942 with no children.

Selected filmography

• The Conqueror (1917)
• The Silent Lie (1917)
• The Last Ghost Dance (1914)
• The Arrow Maker's Daughter (1914)
• His Squaw (1912)
• The Invaders (1912)
• Custer's Last Fight (1912)
• The Outcast (1912)
• The Lieutenant's Last Fight (1912)
• The Battle of the Red Men (1912) (also writer)
• The Heart of an Indian (1912)
• War on the Plains (1912) (also writer)