Jonathan Joss: Three roles the King of the Hill star was known for

BBC News

3 days ago

US actor Jonathan Joss, known for his roles in King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation, has died aged 59. Joss was shot dead, in what his husband called a homophobic hate crime, although police in Texas say there is no evidence of this. Joss's broad career spanned different genres and platforms, appearing in films, sitcoms, animations, stage productions and more.He has been credited with increasing representation of Native Americans on screen. Here are three of the notable performances he will be remembered for.
John Redcorn in King of the Hill
In the animated sitcom King of the Hill, Goss voiced the character of John Redcorn, a Native American "licensed New Age healer" from season two onwards.The sitcom centres around the Hill family and is set in the fictional town of Arlen, in suburban Texas.For the first four seasons, Redcorn is having an affair with Hank Hill's neighbour, Nancy Gribble. Nancy's husband Dale is oblivious.While a flawed character, Redcorn is known for his kindness and calm persona, and for championing his Native American heritage.In season four, during perhaps his most notable storyline, Redcorn reveals an ongoing battle between his tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, saying he hoped to regain Native American land from the government.Considering Redcorn a "true friend", Dale decides to help him with the lawsuit filed against the government, by introducing him to the Freedom of Information Act.Redcorn then permanently ends his14-year affair with Nancy, out of respect for Dale. The affair is not revealed to Dale and he happily heads home with Nancy.
Full story: King of the Hill and Parks and Rec actor shot dead
Author Dustin Tahmahkera once described Redcorn as "arguably the most developed and complex indigenous character in US sitcom history, thanks in critical part... to the on-and-offscreen work of Joss".In his 2014 book Tribal Television, which considered the representation of Native Americans in sitcoms, Tahmahkera added that the portrayal "attempted to break through a largely unkind and unflattering history of representations of the indigenous".But the fact that Redcorn was the "most human and multidimensional" Native American on screen was "a disheartening and stark reminder of the history of indigenous representations in network television", Tahmahkera pointed out. King of the Hill originally aired from 1997 to 2010. The sitcom is set to return in August with the characters aged and living a new part of their lives.
Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation
Joss's onscreen role as Native American tribe leader Chief Ken Hotate was a fan favourite in this live-action sitcom.The Chief's sharp dress sense matched his comedic wit, and he was often seen teasing the core characters as they struggled to tell if his straight-faced comments were deadly serious or a complete joke. Chief Hotate often met Leslie Knope, deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department for the fictional city of Pawnee, to discuss use of the land. He would often use stereotypes associated with Native Americans to his advantage, for example when opposing a festival organised on an ancient burial site by saying he hoped his ancestors "don't put a curse" on the event. White people are "terrified of curses", he explained to the camera in a tongue-in-cheek aside.As with King of the Hill, Joss's character was dedicated to defending tribal ancestry, and would often highlight injustices faced by his community.Parks and Recs creators used Joss's character with a "really witty kind of self awareness", said Samantha Sheppard, associate professor of cinema and media studies at Cornell University."Parks and Rec loved to kind of reckon with the fact that despite the very good intentioned and warm-hearted, generous public servant that was Leslie Knope, and the folks who worked for the city, that the city still existed on indigenous land, and therefore had to account for those violences and that history," Prof Sheppard told the BBC. His role made light of the sensitive issues in a way that made the difficult topic of America's ugly history with indigenous groups more "accessible", Prof Sheppard said. "There was this kind of cheeky awareness of stereotypical representations of Native Americans on screen," she said, referring to the dichotomy of Chief Hotate also being a casino owner."I think it did pave the way for, like, other kinds of indigenous storytelling to happen."
Denali in The Magnificent Seven
Taking on a darker role, Joss portrayed the ruthless Denali in 2016's The Magnificent Seven. A retelling of a 1960s Western of the same name, a group of gunslingers come together to protect the town of Rose Creek, which is under threat from a tycoon wanting to mine the ground for gold.Denali, exiled from the Comanche tribe, becomes a personal assassin to the tycoon, and is seen firing arrows and in hand-to-hand combat. "When people ask me what I thought of the movie, I tell them that all I know is my dad would have loved it," Joss told MySanAntonio: a news outlet local to his home town at the time of the film's release.