John Henry "Doc" Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887) was an
AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n
dentistDentistry is the known evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the soft and hard tissues of the jaw , the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is a part of stomatology...
,
gamblerGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
and gunfighter of the
American Old WestThe American Old West comprises the history, geography, peoples, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the period of the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
, who is usually remembered for his friendship with
Wyatt EarpWyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, farmer, teamster, buffalo hunter, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his...
and the
Gunfight at the O.K. CorralThe Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a gunfight that occurred at about 3 P.M. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, United States. The famous gunfight did not actually occur at the O.K. Corral. It occurred in a fifteen- to twenty-foot space between Fly's Lodging House and...
.
Early life and education
"Doc" Holliday was born in
Griffin, GeorgiaGriffin is a city in Spalding County, Georgia, United States. The population was 23,451 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Spalding County...
, to Henry Burroughs Holliday and Alice Jane Holliday (
néeNEE, Nee, Née may refer to:* Née or Nee, French for "born", indicates a person's birth surname* Nee , a band in Kannada* NEE, a political party in Flanders, Belgium* "Ne~e?", a 2003 single by Aya Matsuura- People with the family name :...
McKey). His father served in both the Mexican-American War and the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
.
Holliday's mother died of
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
on September 16, 1866, when he was 14 years old. Three months later, his father married Rachel Martin. Shortly after the marriage, the family moved to
Valdosta, GeorgiaValdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Valdosta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 43,724; by the 2006 census estimate, it had grown slightly to 45,529...
, where Holliday attended the Valdosta Institute. There he received a strong classical secondary education in rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, history, and languages — principally
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, but also
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
and some
ancient GreekAncient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
.
In 1870, the nineteen-year-old Holliday left home to begin dental school in Philadelphia. On March 1, 1872, he received the degree of
Doctor of Dental SurgeryThe Doctor of Dental Surgery is an academic degree awarded to dentists, along with the Doctor of Dental Medicine , Bachelor of Dentistry , Bachelor of Dental Surgery/Chirurgiae , Bachelor of Dental Science , Bachelor of Dental Medicine , Licentiate in Dental Surgery , Doctor of Dentistry ,...
from the
Pennsylvania College of Dental SurgeryThe Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery was founded in 1863 in Philadelphia and is the second oldest school of dentistry in the United States. In 1909, the College merged with Temple University, but retained its name until 1913, when it became the Temple University School of Dentistry....
. Later that year, he opened a dental office with Arthur C. Ford in
AtlantaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, as well as the urban core of one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States....
. While in Atlanta, Holliday resided with his uncle and his family while beginning his career as a dentist there.
Doc Holliday's famous cousin (by marriage) was
Margaret MitchellMargaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her novel Gone with the Wind. The novel is one of the most popular books of all time, selling more than 30 million copies...
, best known for authoring
Gone With the WindGone with the Wind is a romantic drama and the only novel written by Margaret Mitchell. It is set in Jonesboro and Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction...
. It has been said, but not confirmed, that the character
Ashley WilkesGeorge Ashley Wilkes is a fictional character in the Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and the later film of the same name. The character also appears in the 1991 book Scarlett, a sequel to Gone with the Wind written by Alexandra Ripley, and in Rhett Butler's People by Donald...
is modeled after Holliday.
Health
At birth, he had a cleft palate and partly cleft lip. At two months of age, this defect was repaired surgically by Holliday's uncle, J.S. Holliday, M.D., and a family cousin, the famous physician
Crawford LongCrawford Williamson Long was an American physician and pharmacist best known for his early use of diethyl ether as an anesthetic.-Life and work:...
. The repair left no speech impediment, though speech therapy was needed, which was conducted by his mother. However, a more recent Holliday biographer, Gary L. Roberts, argues that it is unlikely that an infant as young as two months would have undergone cleft palate surgery in that era, as most operations of this type were postponed until the child was around two years old. Roberts asserts that such an early procedure would have been sufficiently noteworthy as to merit mention in local and national media and medical journals. Thus, he considers it doubtful that Holliday had a cleft palate at all, and dismisses the claim that a surgical scar is visible in the graduation photograph. This portrait, taken at the age of 20, supports accounts that Holliday had ash-blond hair. In early adulthood, he stood about 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) tall and weighed about 160 pounds (70 kg).
Shortly after beginning his dental practice, Holliday was diagnosed with
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
(generally called "consumption" in that era). It is possible he contracted the disease from his mother, as tuberculosis was not known to be contagious until 1882. He was given only a few months to live, but thought moving to the drier and warmer
southwestern United StatesThe Southwestern United States is defined as the states that lie west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37, 38, 39, or 40 degree north latitude. A 97.33 longitude degree west could qualify as the separation of the American Southwest from the...
might reduce the deterioration of his health.
Early travels
In September 1873, he moved to
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
, where he opened a dental office at 56 Elm Street, about four blocks east of the site of today's
Dealey PlazaDealey Plaza , in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas, Texas , is the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
. He soon began gambling and realized this was a more profitable source of income, since patients feared going to his office because of his ongoing cough. On May 12, 1874, Holliday and 12 others were indicted in Dallas for illegal gambling. He was arrested in Dallas in January 1875 after trading gunfire with a saloon-keeper, but no one was injured and he was found not guilty. He moved his offices to
Denison, TexasDenison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's estimated population as of 2007 was 24,103. It is one of two principal cities in the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, and after being found guilty of, and fined for, "gaming" in Dallas, he decided to leave the state.
In the years that followed, Holliday had many more such disagreements, fueled by a hot temper and an attitude that death by gun or knife was better than by tuberculosis. The alcohol Holliday used to control his cough may also have contributed. He would regularly use the term; "I'll be your Huckleberry." This may have been merely slang of the period for "I'm your best gun/man." Further, there was the practical matter that a professional gambler, working on his own at the edge of the law, had to be able to back up disputed points of play with at least a threat of force. Holliday continued traveling on the western mining frontier, where gambling was most likely to be lucrative and legal. Holliday was in Denver,
CheyenneCheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taa'e and the Tsé-tsêhéstâhese , which translates to "those like us". The name Cheyenne derives from Dakota Sioux Šahíyena, meaning "little Šahíya"...
, and
DeadwoodDeadwood may refer to:in geography*Deadwood, Alberta, hamlet in Alberta, Canada*Deadwood, California, several unincorporated communities in California, United States*Deadwood, Oregon, unincorporated community in Oregon, United States...
(site of the
gold rushA gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold.Gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States....
in the
Dakota TerritoryThe Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when that final extent of the territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota....
) in the fall of 1876.
By 1877, Holliday was in
Fort GriffinFort Griffin was a Cavalry fort established in the late 1860s in the northern part of West Texas, specifically northwestern Shackelford County, to give settlers protection from early Comanche and Kiowa raids...
, Texas, where
Wyatt EarpWyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, farmer, teamster, buffalo hunter, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his...
first met him (per his later account). They were initially introduced through mutual friend
John ShansseyJohn Shanssey was an American boxer, gambler, saloon owner, and Mayor of Yuma, Arizona, most known for introducing legendary lawman Wyatt Earp to gambler and gunman Doc Holliday....
. The two began to form an unlikely friendship; Earp more even-tempered and controlled, Holliday more hot-headed and impulsive. This friendship was cemented in 1878 in
Dodge City, KansasDodge City is a city in and the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, USA. It was named after Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. The population was 25,176 at the 2000 census...
, when Holliday defended Earp in a saloon against a handful of cowboys out to kill Wyatt, and where both Earp and Holliday had traveled to make money gambling with the cowboys who drove cattle from Texas. Holliday was still practicing dentistry on the side from his rooms in Dodge City, as indicated in an 1878 Dodge newspaper advertisement (he promised money back for less than complete customer satisfaction), but this is the last known time he attempted to practice. In an interview printed in a newspaper later in his life, he said that he only practiced dentistry "for about 5 years."
Holliday also met
Mary Katharine HoronyMary Katherine Horony Cummings was the long-time companion/common law wife of fabled gunfighter Doc Holliday in the American Old West.- Immigration to the United States :...
("Big Nose Kate") in Fort Griffin and began his long-time involvement with her.
Dedicated gambler, gunman reputation
An incident in September 1878 had Earp, at the time a deputy city
marshalMarshal is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word derives from Old High German marah "horse" and schalh "servant", and originally meant "stable keeper"...
, surrounded by men who had "the drop" on him. Holliday, who currently owned a bar in the town and was dealing
faroFaro, Pharaoh, Farobank, is a late 17th century French gambling card game descendant of Basset, and belongs to the Lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games, in that it is played between a banker and several players winning or losing according to the cards turned up matching those already exposed...
(as he did throughout his life), left the bar, approached from another angle to cover the group with a gun, and either shot or threatened to shoot one of these men. Earp afterward always credited Holliday with saving his life that day. Many other accounts of Holliday's involvement in gunfights, however, are sometimes exaggerated. He had several documented saloon altercations involving small shootings, where he was accounted as fast as
Wild Bill HickokJames Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a figure in the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized...
.
One documented instance happened when Holliday was employed during a railroad dispute. On July 19, 1879, Holliday and noted gunman
John Joshua WebbJohn Joshua Webb was a noted lawman turned gunfighter and outlaw of the American Old West.- Early life :Webb was born February 14, 1847, in Keokuk County, Iowa, the seventh of twelve children born to William Webb Jr and Innocent Blue Brown Webb. Webb moved about often in his youth. The family...
were seated in a saloon in
Las Vegas, New MexicoLas Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...
when a former U.S. Army
scoutReconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Canadian and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon...
named Mike Gordon began yelling loudly at one of the saloon girls. When Gordon stormed from the saloon, Holliday followed him. Gordon produced his pistol and fired one shot, missing. Holliday immediately drew his gun and killed Gordon. Holliday was placed on trial for the shooting but was acquitted, mostly based on the testimony of Webb.
Tombstone, Arizona Territory
Dodge was not a frontier town for long; by 1879, it had become too respectable for the kinds of people who had seen it through its early days. For many, it was time to move on to places not yet reached by the civilizing railroad, places where money was to be made. Holliday, by this time, was as well known for his prowess as a gunfighter and for his gambling, though the latter was his trade and the former simply a reputation. Through his friendship with Wyatt and the other Earp brothers, especially
MorganMorgan Seth Earp was the younger brother of Wyatt Earp, the famous gunfighter. Morgan was involved in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, where he was wounded...
and
VirgilVirgil Walter Earp was one of the men involved in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory of the United States...
, Holliday made his way to the silver-mining boom town of
TombstoneTombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then the Arizona Territory. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 1,569.-History:...
,
Arizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, in September 1880. The Earps had been there since December 1879. Some accounts state the Earps sent for Holliday when they realized the problems they faced in their feud with the Cowboy faction. In Tombstone, Holliday quickly became embroiled in the local politics and violence that led up to the famous
Gunfight at the O.K. CorralThe Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a gunfight that occurred at about 3 P.M. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, United States. The famous gunfight did not actually occur at the O.K. Corral. It occurred in a fifteen- to twenty-foot space between Fly's Lodging House and...
in October 1881.
The gunfight happened in front of, and next to, Fly's boarding house and picture studio, where Holliday had a room, the day after a late-night argument between Holliday and
Ike ClantonJoseph Isaac Clanton was born in Callaway County, Missouri, and grew up to be one of the pivotal players in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous events of the American Old West.-Early life:...
. The Clantons and McLaurys collected in the space between the boarding house, and the house west of it, before being confronted by the Earps. Holliday likely thought they were there specifically to assassinate him.
It is known Holliday carried Virgil's
coach gunA coach gun is a double-barrel shotgun, generally with barrels approximately 18" in length placed side by side . The name comes from the use of such shotguns on stagecoaches by shotgun messengers in the American Wild West and during the Colonial period of Australia.-History:The term "Coach gun"...
into the fight; he was given the weapon just before the fight by Wyatt Earp, as Holliday was wearing a long coat which could conceal it. Virgil Earp took Holliday's walking stick: by not going conspicuously armed, Virgil was seeking to avoid panic in the citizenry of Tombstone, and in the Clantons and McLaurys.
The strategy failed: while Virgil held up the cane, one witness saw a man, almost certainly Holliday, poke a Cowboy in the chest with a "large bronze pistol" (probably the shotgun), then step back. Wyatt Earp and Frank McLaury were the first men to fire, almost at the same time according to Wyatt's testimony. Shortly after, Holliday used the shotgun to kill Tom McLaury, the only man to sustain shotgun wounds — a fatal buckshot charge to the chest. This probably happened quite early in the fight, before Holliday fired a pistol. Tom being hit early in the fight before most of the shots had been fired was also testified to by a pro-Cowboy witness ("Ham" Light). Less likely scenarios in which Holliday held a pistol with one hand and a double-barreled shotgun in the other during the gunfight, and used the pistol first, have been postulated. The most widely accepted claim involves Holliday firing his shotgun once (wounding Tom McLaury) then discarding it in favor of a pistol for the remainder of the fight.
An inquest and arraignment hearing determined the gunfight was not a criminal act on the part of Holliday and the Earps. The situation in Tombstone soon grew worse when Virgil Earp was ambushed and permanently injured in December 1881. Then Morgan Earp was ambushed and killed in March 1882. After Morgan's murder, the Earps, their families, and Holliday fled town. In
TucsonTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. As of July 1, 2006, a Census Bureau estimate puts the city's population at 541,811, with a metropolitan area population at...
, while Wyatt, Warren Earp, and Holliday were escorting the wounded Virgil Earp and his wife Allie to
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, they prevented another ambush and this could have been the possible start of the vendetta against Morgan's killers.
Earp Vendetta Ride
The first victim of the vendetta was
Frank StilwellFrank C. Stilwell, sometimes misspelled as Stillwell was a noted outlaw and sometime deputy sheriff of the Old West. -Origins:...
, a former deputy of
Johnny BehanJohn Harris Behan was, for 21 months of a two-year term , the sheriff of Cochise County in the Arizona Territory. This newly-created county, of which Behan was the first sheriff, included the mining boom city of Tombstone, which served as the new county seat and Behan's headquarters...
's. Stilwell was in Tucson to answer a stage-robbery charge but wound up dead on the tracks in the train yard near the Earps' train. What Stilwell was doing in the train yard has never been explained (he may have been waiting to pick up another man who was supposed to testify in his favor), but Wyatt Earp certainly thought Stilwell was there to do the Earps harm. In his biographies, Wyatt admitted to shooting Stilwell with a shotgun. However, Stilwell was found with two shotgun wounds and three bullet wounds. Holliday, who was with Wyatt that night and said Stilwell and Ike Clanton were waiting in the train yard to assassinate Virgil Earp, is likely the second shooter. Holliday never directly acknowledged his role in Stilwell's killing or those that followed.
After the Earp families left for California and safety, Holliday, Wyatt, Wyatt's younger brother,
WarrenBaxter Warren Earp was the youngest brother of Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, James Earp, and Newton Earp. Like most of his brothers he was a lawman in the American West....
, and Wyatt's friends
Sherman McMastersSherman McMasters was an outlaw turned lawman, largely forgotten now, who was one of the six men involved in the Earp vendetta ride.-Early life:...
,
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson"Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson was one of Wyatt Earp's possemen during his infamous "vendetta ride".-Early life:Jack Johnson was thought to be a former bookkeeper and lawyer, coming from Missouri. Wyatt Earp believed that Johnson's real name was John Blunt, but there is no evidence to support this...
, and
Texas Jack VermillionJohn Wilson Vermillion , alias "Texas Jack," and later as "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out" Vermillion, was a gunfighter of the Old West known for his participation in the Earp vendetta ride and his later association with Soapy Smith.-Early life:...
rode on a vendetta for three weeks, during which Curly Bill Brocius and at least two other men thought to be responsible for Morgan's death were killed. Eventually, with warrants out for six of the vendetta posse (including Holliday) in the Arizona Territory for the killing of Stilwell, the group moved to
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S...
, then
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
, in mid-April 1882. While in New Mexico, Wyatt Earp and Holliday had a minor argument and parted ways, going separately to different parts of Colorado.
After the vendetta ride, neither Holliday nor any other member of the party ever returned to Arizona to live. In May 1882, Holliday was arrested in Denver for the Stilwell killing. Due to lack of evidence, Colorado refused to extradite him, although he spent the last two weeks of that month in jail while the issue was decided. He and Wyatt met again in June 1882 in
GunnisonThe historic City of Gunnison is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. As of the U.S. Census 2000, the city had a total population of 5,409. The city was named in honor of John W. Gunnison, a United States Army...
after he was released. There is controversy regarding whether any of the Earp vendetta posse slipped briefly back to the Tombstone area to kill
Johnny RingoJohn Peters Ringo , better known as Johnny Ringo, was a cowboy who became a legend of the American Old West because of, among other things, his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona...
on July 13, 1882. Biographers of Ringo do not believe it is very likely. Several other known gunmen were also implicated in the death, including
"Buckskin" Frank Leslie"Buckskin" Frank Leslie was a western gunman, most known as the killer of Billy Claiborne, as well as an Indian scout and customs official and prospector...
, little known gunman
Lou CooleyLou Cooley was a cowboy, and alleged gunfighter who took part in the Earp-Clanton feud in Tombstone, AZ from 1880-1882.-Biography:Cooley's reputation as a gunfighter is mostly hearsay. In fact, there are no known gunfights involving Cooley. The one confirmed fact is that he was one of the suspects...
, and gambler
Mike O'RourkeMike O'Rourke , aka "Johnny O'Rourke" or "Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce," was a professional gambler of the Old West, whose notoriety is mainly due to Old West lawman and legend Wyatt Earp's having saved his life, saving him from being lynched in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881.O'Rourke was born Michael...
. Some believe, however, that Ringo's death was in fact a
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
, as reported.
Final Illness, Death & Burial
Holliday spent the rest of his life in Colorado. After a stay in
LeadvilleLeadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of 10,152 feet , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...
, he suffered from the effects of the high altitude; as a result of this and his increasing dependence on alcohol and
laudanumLaudanum , also known as opium tincture or thebaic tincture is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% opium and 1% morphine . It is made by combining ethanol with opium latex or powder...
, often taken by consumptives to ease their symptoms, his health, and evidently his gambling skills, began to deteriorate.
In 1887, prematurely gray and badly ailing, Holliday made his way to the Hotel Glenwood near the hot springs of
Glenwood Springs, ColoradoThe City of Glenwood Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 8,564 in 2005. Glenwood Springs is home to one branch of Colorado...
. He hoped to take advantage of the reputed curative power of the waters, but the sulfurous fumes from the spring may have done his lungs more harm than good. As he lay dying, Holliday allegedly asked for a drink of whiskey. Amused, he looked at his bootless feet as he died — no one ever thought that he would die in bed, with his boots off. His reputed
last wordsLast words are a person's final words spoken before death.Last Words may also refer to:* Last Words, an Australian punk band* Last Words , a 1968 short film directed by Werner Herzog* Last Words: The Final Journals of William S...
were, "Well I'll be damned. This is funny." John Henry "Doc" Holliday died November 8, 1887. He was 36.
Recent Holliday biographer Gary L. Roberts, however, considers it unlikely that Holliday, who had scarcely left his bed for two months, would have been able to speak coherently, if at all, on the day he died. Despite legend, Wyatt Earp was certainly not present when Holliday died, and did not know of his death until months afterward. Though she later attested to attending him in his final days, it is also highly doubtful that
Big Nose KateMary Katherine Horony Cummings was the long-time companion/common law wife of fabled gunfighter Doc Holliday in the American Old West.- Immigration to the United States :...
was present at his death.
An Episcopalian minister presided at Holliday's burial, which was on the day of his death, Nov. 8, 1887. His gravestone sits in
LinwoodLinwood is a small town in Renfrewshire, Scotland, 14 miles south-west of Glasgow.By dint of its proximity to Glasgow International Airport and the M8 motorway to Glasgow and Edinburgh, Linwood has increased its residential scope as a commuter town...
cemetery, which overlooks Glenwood Springs. Entirely on the basis of the late date in the year, it has been speculated (for example) that he was not actually buried in his marked grave, or even in the cemetery itself, on the theory that the ground was frozen and he must have been buried the same day in what was probably a temporary grave, not in the old cemetery, which was up a difficult road on the mountain. However, the weather was evidently mild at the time of Holliday's burial, as biographer Gary Roberts has located evidence of other bodies being transported up the mountain to the same cemetery at the same time in 1887. Roberts argues that it is thus possible Holliday's body is indeed where the modern gravesite is, but no exhumation has been attempted.
Character
In an 1896 article,
Wyatt EarpWyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, farmer, teamster, buffalo hunter, gambler, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, along with Doc Holliday, and two of his...
had this to say about Holliday, "Doc was a dentist not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier
vagabondVagabond may refer to:*Vagabond , an itinerant person*Vagabond , traveling inexpensivelyIn music:*Vagabond , an alternative rock band fronted by Jørn Lande*Vagabond , a band from the UK...
; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew."
Wyatt Earp is also quoted as saying: "I found him a loyal friend and good company."
In a newspaper interview, Holliday was once asked if his killings had ever gotten on his
conscienceConscience is an ability or a faculty that distinguishes whether one's actions are right or wrong. It leads to feelings of remorse when a human does things that go against his/her moral values, and to feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to moral values. It is also often viewed...
. He is reported to have said, "I coughed that out with my lungs, years ago."
Big Nose Kate, his long-time companion, remembered Holliday's reaction after his role in the O.K. Corral gunfight. She reported that Holliday came back to his room, sat on the bed, wept and said, "that was awful — awful".
Virgil EarpVirgil Walter Earp was one of the men involved in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory of the United States...
, interviewed May 30, 1882, in
The Arizona Daily Star (two months after Virgil had left Tombstone after Morgan Earp's death), summed up Holliday:
Record of violence
Although historical accounts have usually supported the belief that Holliday was extremely fast with a pistol, his accuracy was less than perfect. In three of his four known pistol fights, he shot one opponent (Billy Allen) in the arm, one (Charles White) across the scalp, and missed one man (a saloon keeper named Charles Austin) entirely. In an early incident in Tombstone in 1880, shortly after he arrived in town, a drunken Holliday managed to shoot Oriental Saloon owner Milt Joyce in the hand, and his bartender Parker in the toe (neither was the man Holliday originally quarreled with). For this, Holliday was fined for
assault and batteryAssault and battery is the combination of two violent crimes: assault and battery . This legal distinction exists only in jurisdictions that distinguish assault as threatened violence rather than actual violence.Assault and Battery may also refer to:*Assault & Battery , a 1981 album by Rose...
. With the exception of Mike Gordon in 1879, there are no contemporary newspaper or legal records to match the many unnamed men whom Holliday is credited with shooting to death in popular folklore; the same is true for the several tales of knifings credited to Holliday by early biographers.
Publicly, Holliday could be as fierce as was needed for a gambling man to earn respect. In Tombstone in January 1882, he told
Johnny RingoJohn Peters Ringo , better known as Johnny Ringo, was a cowboy who became a legend of the American Old West because of, among other things, his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona...
(as recorded by diarist Parsons), "All I want of you is ten paces out in the street." He and Ringo were prevented from having the gunfight only by the Tombstone police (which did not include the Earps at the time), who arrested them both. Holliday's role in the deaths of
Frank StilwellFrank C. Stilwell, sometimes misspelled as Stillwell was a noted outlaw and sometime deputy sheriff of the Old West. -Origins:...
and the other three men killed on the Earp vendetta ride remains uncertain, but he was present at the events. Holliday is probably the second shooter of Stilwell, he killed Tom McLaury, and either Holliday or Morgan Earp fired the second bullet that ended the life of Frank McLaury. Although Frank McLaury is sometimes erroneously stated to have been hit by three bullets (based on the next-day news accounts in Tombstone papers), at the coroner's inquest, Frank was found to actually have been hit only in the stomach and in the neck under the ear; therefore either Holliday or Morgan missed Frank.
Biographer Karen Holliday Tanner states that of Holliday's 17 known and recorded arrests, only one (1879, Mike Gordon in
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S...
) was for murder. Actually, Tanner is incorrect, since Holliday was arrested and jailed for murder in connection with both the O.K. Corral fight, and later for the murder of Frank Stilwell. However, in neither case was Holliday successfully charged (the Spicer hearing was an
indictmentIn the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal accusation that a person has committed a criminal offence. In those jurisdictions which retain the concept of a felony, the serious criminal offence would be a felony; those jurisdictions which have abolished the concept of a felony often...
hearing, but it did not recommend indictment; any Stilwell indictment was quashed by Colorado's refusal to extradite). Of the other arrests, Holliday pled guilty to two gambling charges, one charge of carrying a deadly weapon in the city (in connection with the argument with Ringo), and one misdemeanor assault and battery charge (his shooting of Joyce and Parker). The others were all dismissed or returned as "not guilty".
Mythology
Claims have been made (on very thin
circumstantial evidenceCircumstantial evidence is evidence which requires or allows a trier of fact to make an inference which supports the truth of an assertion . That is, the evidence only supports indirectly the truth of the assertion...
) that Holliday was involved in the August 1881 death of
Old Man ClantonNewman Haynes Clanton was a successful cattle rancher and the father of the four Clanton brothers of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, including Billy Clanton and Ike Clanton, who became involved in the events that developed into the Gunfight at the OK Corral.-Early life:Newman Clanton was born in...
(
IkeJoseph Isaac Clanton was born in Callaway County, Missouri, and grew up to be one of the pivotal players in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous events of the American Old West.-Early life:...
and Billy Clanton's father) and four other cowboys in a canyon 100 miles (160 km) from Tombstone, while the cowboys were driving cattle from Mexico. However, Clanton's death in the so-called
Guadalupe Canyon MassacreThe Guadalupe Canyon Massacre was an incident that occurred in August, 1881, in the Guadalupe Canyon area of Arizona, during which five men were killed during an ambush. The canyon is located in the southern Peloncillo Mountains, which straddles the modern Arizona and New Mexico state line borders...
could just as well have been (and is usually assumed to be) a revenge-killing by angry Mexican cattle-owners who had recently been the target of rustlers (perhaps not the same men they later killed). Some have taken Holliday's use of a walking stick on the day of the O.K. Corral fight (which he traded Virgil for the shotgun), to be evidence that Holliday had been wounded, perhaps at the death of Old Man Clanton two months before. However, Holliday was known to use a walking stick as early as 1877, since in that year he was arrested for using it as a club on another gambler, in a fight. On that occasion, Holliday actually was wounded in the fight by gunfire, but there is no direct evidence that he was newly wounded in the fall of 1881. Actually the cane was typical; Holliday was physically frail throughout much of his adult life.
One of the better stories about Holliday might not have happened (though the tale has made it into at least one movie). According to the Stuart Lake biography of Wyatt Earp,
Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, Holliday got into a fight with another gambler (Ed Bailey) in Fort Griffin and knifed the other man to death as the man was drawing a gun on Holliday. Held by the law and targeted for
lynchingLynching in the United States was the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action in the United States of America, chiefly from the late 1700s through the 1950s...
, Holliday was rescued from death by Big Nose Kate, who procured horses, set fire to a building as a diversion, and then drew a gun on the sheriff to allow Holliday's escape.
The problem with this story is that no record of any such killing (or Bailey, the man supposedly killed) exists in news or legal accounts of the day. Additionally, Big Nose Kate, at the end of her life in 1940 (after the Lake biography of Earp had appeared in 1931), explicitly denied that the story was true and laughed at the idea of herself holding a gun on a sheriff. (Kate's refusal to embellish or even claim a part in a good story which centers around her, makes her simultaneous report of the action at the O.K. Corral gunfight, which she did claim to see, considerably more credible).
Photo issues
There are many supposed photos of Holliday, most of which do not quite match each other. The one clearly visibile adult portrait-photo known to be authentic is the March 1872 Pennsylvania School of Dental Surgery graduation photo taken when Holliday was 20. This photo shows a light-haired man with light and slightly asymmetrical eyes, a thin moustache and fine features. It matches the other known authentic photo, a poor-quality (but signed) standing photo of Holliday taken in Prescott, Arizona Territory, in 1879, the year before he went to Tombstone.
The 1879 standing photo, though certified, is of very poor quality and badly distinguishable. It shows Holliday as not changed a great deal in seven years, though he sports a larger mustache and perhaps also an
imperial beard (triangular bit of hair left below the middle of the lower lip, combined with a mustache). In the 1879 photo, Holliday is also wearing a tie with a diamond stickpin, which he was known to have worn habitually and which was among his few possessions (minus the diamond) when he died. This stickpin is similar to the one Wyatt Earp was wearing in his own most well-known photo.
There are three photos most often printed (but uncertified) of Holliday, which were supposedly taken by C.S. Fly in Tombstone (but sometimes are said to be taken in Dallas). These clearly show the same man in three different poses and slightly different dress. This man shows some slight differences from the Holliday in the two authentic photos, in which Holliday is clearly the same person, just older. The man in these later uncertified photos has darker hair, possibly a result of the photo technique having more contrast than the previous ones, or it might simply have been pomaded (a typical fashion at the times) or also unwashed, both cases eventually yielding an "oilier", darker hue.
None of the three photos of the darker-haird man match each other exactly in certain clothing details, showing that they are not exactly the same image (though they may well have been posses from the same session, since this man is dressed in the same suit). For example, a cowlick and differently-folded collar is present only in the oval inscribed photo, several different cravats are seen, and the shirt collar and vest change orientation between photos. Although perhaps described by Earp as "squared jawed," his graduation photo shows arched eyebrows and a pointed chin, which are matched by the second authentic 1879 photo, but not in the rest.
The last of the three later supposed photos of Holliday—in which the subject has a more open overcoat, a more open vest (allowing the bowtie cords to be seen), an upturned shirt collar, and is holding a
bowler hatThe bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby or billycock, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester.- History :...
(derby hat) — exists as a print in the Cochise County Courthouse Museum in Tombstone. Other sources for it are sought. It is evidently the same dark-haired man shown in the other two photos, but is yet another image (perhaps from the same photo session in which the upturned detachable shirt collar is worn, rather than the folded-down collar of the oval portrait).
Other, even more questionable photos exist as well.
Public Memorials
On March 20, 2005, the 122nd anniversary of the killing of
Frank StilwellFrank C. Stilwell, sometimes misspelled as Stillwell was a noted outlaw and sometime deputy sheriff of the Old West. -Origins:...
by Wyatt Earp (most likely with Holliday as the second gunman) a life-sized statue of Holliday and Earp (see photo:) by the sculptor Dan Bates was dedicated by the
Southern Arizona Transportation Museum at the restored Historic Railroad Depot in
Tucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. As of July 1, 2006, a Census Bureau estimate puts the city's population at 541,811, with a metropolitan area population at...
, at the approximate site of the shooting on the train platform.
The facial features on this statue are based on the set of supposed portrait photos and not on the two known authentic photos of him.
For a time in the 1970s and 1980s, in
Valdosta, GeorgiaValdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Valdosta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 43,724; by the 2006 census estimate, it had grown slightly to 45,529...
, where he formerly resided, the Holliday Skate Palace, a since defunct
roller skatingRoller skating is the traveling on smooth terrain with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation...
rink, was named in his honor.
Popular culture
The very different personal characteristics of Holliday and Earp have provided contrast which has inspired historical interest. Holliday was nationally known during his life as a gunman, whereas Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at O.K. Corral became a part of folklore only following Stuart Lake's biography of Earp after Earp's death. As this fight has become one of the most famous moments in the American West, numerous
WesternsThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
have been made of it, and the Holliday character has been prominent in all of them. Not all films that feature Doc Holliday, or a character based on him, are biographical in nature.
Actors who have played Holliday in name include:
- Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. was a Cuban American film and television actor, best known for his portrayal of The Joker in the 1960s television series Batman...
in Frontier MarshalFrontier Marshal is a 1939 western film starring Randolph Scott as legendary lawman Wyatt Earp. It is the second film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel based on Stuart N. Lake's highly fictionalized account of Earp, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. An earlier version was Wurtzel's Frontier Marshal, filmed in...
, 1939, plays Doc Halliday, a surgeon, not a dentist, who is ambushed coming out of the Belle Union tavern after performing surgery on the bartender's son. Wyatt Earp single-handedly fights and wins a gunfight against Doc's killers at OK Corral. Doc's tombstone in Boot Hill, the last shot in the film, reads John Halliday 1848-1880.
- Walter Huston
Walter Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Career:...
in The OutlawThe Outlaw is a 1943 American western film, directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jane Russell. The supporting cast includes Jack Buetel, Thomas Mitchell, and Walter Huston. Hughes also produced the film, while Howard Hawks served as an uncredited co-director...
, in 1943, a Howard HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels,...
film.
- Victor Mature
-Early life:Victor John Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a German-speaking father from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Italy, Marcellus George Mature a cutler, and a Kentucky-born mother of Swiss-American heritage, Clara P. Ackley. An older brother, Marcellus Paul Mature, died at 11 in...
in My Darling ClementineMy Darling Clementine is a western film, directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie was adapted by Samuel G...
, in 1946, directed by John FordJohn Ford was an American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, with Henry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting....
as Wyatt Earp. Holliday is portrayed as an Eastern-born surgeon fleeing his fiancee because of his tuberculosis and dissolute lifestyle. Writer Alan Barra's comment on this movie is that it shows Holliday as he might have been, if he had been a tough-guy from Boston: "Victor Mature looks about as tubercular as a Kodiak bearThe Kodiak bear , also known as the Alaskan brown bear, is the largest subspecies of Brown Bear and occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in south-central Alaska. Its traditional name in the Alutiiq language is: Taquka-aq.- Taxonomys :Taxonomist C.H...
."
- Kim Spaulding in the syndicated
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in countries where television is scheduled by networks with local affiliates, particularly in the United States...
television series Stories of the CenturyStories of the Century is a Western television series that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.-Synopsis:...
, starring and hosted by Jim DavisMarlin "Jim" Davis , was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
.
- Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American actor and film producer recognized for his prominent cleft chin, his gravelly voice and his recurring roles as the kinds of characters Douglas himself once described as "sons of bitches". He is the father of Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas...
in Gunfight at the OK CorralGunfight at the O.K. Corral is a 1957 movie starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday about the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. The movie was based on a real event which took place on October 26, 1881...
, in 1957, with Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor and star, noted for his athletic physique, distinct smile and, later, his willingness to play roles that went against his initial "tough guy" image...
as Earp.
- Douglas Fowley
Douglas Fowley was an American movie and television actor.Fowley was born in The Bronx, New York. The 5'11" actor is probably best remembered by movie buffs for his role as a movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singing in the Rain . The actor appeared in over 240 films and later and dozens of...
in "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" television series 1955-1961. As with many popular portrayals Fowley played Holliday as considerably older than the historical figure. Taking his cue from the popular Kirk Douglas portrayal, Fowley played Holliday as courtly, temperamental and dangerous. Unlike the Kirk Douglas Holliday, whose anger is often volcanic, Fowley's Holliday maintained a cool, gentlemanly Southern calm.
- Gerald Mohr
Gerald Mohr was an American radio, film and television character actor who appeared in over 500 radio plays, 73 films and over 100 television shows....
and Peter BreckPeter Breck is an American actor who has played roles on television and in film.-Roles and career:...
each played Holliday more than once in the 1957 television series MaverickMaverick is a comedy-western television series created by Roy Huggins that ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and featured James Garner, Jack Kelly, Roger Moore, and Robert Colbert as the poker-playing traveling Mavericks...
.
- Arthur Kennedy
John Arthur Kennedy was an American actor.-Early life:Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Worcester Academy and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. An award in Kennedy's honor is now presented every year to a deserving actor at Carnegie Mellon.-Career:Kennedy got his break when...
played Holliday opposite James StewartJames Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart was an American film and stage actor, best known for his self-effacing persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
as Earp in director John FordJohn Ford was an American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
's Cheyenne AutumnCheyenne Autumn is a 1964 western starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. The film was the last western to be directed by John Ford, who proclaimed it an elegy for the Native Americans who had been abused by the American government and misinterpreted by many...
.
- Adam West
Adam West is an American actor best known for his lead role in the 1960s TV series Batman and the film of the same name...
played Doc Holliday on an episode of the TV series, LawmanLawman is a western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and Peter Brown as Deputy Johnny McKay. Set in Laramie, Wyoming, the action often centered on the Birdcage Saloon, owned by Lily Merrill, portrayed by Peggie Castle...
.
- Christopher Dark
Christopher Dark was an American actor.Born Alfred Francis DeLeo in New York and died in Hollywood, California ....
in an 1963 episode of the TV series BonanzaBonanza is an American television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons, it is among the longest running Western television series and continues to air in syndication....
.
- Anthony Jacobs in the 1966 Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
story The GunfightersThe Gunfighters is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, set in 19th Century America on the days leading up to the famous gunfight at OK Corral...
.
- Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr., was an American actor and a WWII U.S. Navy combat veteran. He became famous playing works of American dramatist Eugene O'Neill, and would regularly play O'Neill's works throughout his career...
in Hour of the GunHour of the Gun is 1967 Western film about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers, in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona....
, a 1967 sequel to the 1957 movie, with James GarnerJames Garner is an American film and television actor.He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
as Earp. This is the first movie to fully delve into the vendetta that followed the gunfight; both films were directed by John SturgesJohn Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
.
- Sam Gilman in the 1968 Star Trek
Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 to September 2, 1969. Though the original series was titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish it from the spinoffs that...
episode "Spectre of the Gun"Spectre of the Gun" is an episode from the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series, that was first broadcast on October 25, 1968. It was repeated on April 4, 1969. This show was the last episode to air on NBC at 10 P.M. on Fridays...
". Gilman, who refers to the character as 'Dil Holliday', was 53 years old at the time he played this role. The real Holliday was 30 years old at the time of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
- Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach is an American actor and narrator. He is most famous for his dramatic roles; however, he has done narration work in educational programming on PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as some comedy and musical roles...
in DocDoc is a 1971 American western, which tells the story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and of one of its protagonists, Doc Holliday. It can be defined psychological in tone, and revisionist and outlaw in texture. It stars Stacy Keach, Faye Dunaway and Harris Yulin. It was directed by Frank Perry,...
, in 1971, in which the Tombstone events are told from his perspective.
- Bill Fletcher in two episodes of the TV series, Alias Smith and Jones
Alias Smith and Jones is a Western television series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It starred Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Kid Curry, a pair of Western outlaws trying to reform....
: "Which Way to the OK Corral?" in 1971 and "The Ten Days That Shook Kid Curry" in 1972.
- Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper is an American actor, filmmaker and artist, with a career that spanned half of the 20th century. Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films also featuring...
in Wild Times, a 1980 television mini-series based on Brian Garfield's novel.
- Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor and activist. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, but remains iconic, especially in American popular culture.He has continued to tour, record and perform in recent years, and...
in the 1986 all-singer/actor TV remake of StagecoachStagecoach is a 1939 western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox...
. In addition to the alcoholic Doc Boone character of the original film, the remake adds a new "Doc Holliday", also a medical doctor, and a consumptive. Since Doc Boone in the original film is loosely based on Holliday, the remake now contains two characters based on Holliday.
- Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role...
in TombstoneTombstone is a 1993 Western movie written by Kevin Jarre and directed by its star Kurt Russell, with credited director George P. Cosmatos ghost-directing. The film, which boasts an ensemble cast with 85 speaking roles, involves Wyatt Earp and his brothers moving to Tombstone, Arizona, where they...
, in 1993. Several historians believe Kilmer caught Holliday's cheerful mix of despair and courage.
- Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films.-Early life:...
in Wyatt EarpWyatt Earp is a 1994 semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Joanna Going,...
, in 1994, a detailed bio-epic of Wyatt Earp's life where Quaid plays an oft drunk Doc Holliday with a relationship with Big Nose KateMary Katherine Horony Cummings was the long-time companion/common law wife of fabled gunfighter Doc Holliday in the American Old West.- Immigration to the United States :...
.
- Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles in the National Lampoons Vacation movies, Independence Day , Kingpin , Brokeback Mountain , and the CBS miniseries Elvis...
in Purgatory-Plot:An outlaw band led by Blackjack Britton and second man Cavin Guthrie robs a bank. A woman is shot and dies in the arms of Sonny, a young member of the gang who is the lookout and appears to still have a conscience. The gang flees and is pursued by a posse...
, a 1999 TV film about dead outlaws in a town between Heaven and Hell.
Songs
- "Guns of Arizona", Written by David John and performed by David John and the Comstock Cowboys on the album "Legends of the West".
- "Linwood", Written & performed by Jon Chandler on the CD "The Grand Dame of the Rockies - Songs of the Hotel Colorado and the Roaring Fork Valley." Winner of the 2009 Western Writers of America's Spur Award for Best Song.
Further reading
- "Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait", Karen Holliday Tanner, University of Oklahoma Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-8061-3320-1.
- "Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend", Gary L. Roberts, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2006 ISBN 0-471-26291-9.
External links