Bottom line: Earp and Wayne never met. Anything Wayne knew about the real Earp came to him secondhand from Ford during their 25-year working relationship. Their encounter is only a charming Hollywood fable. Nonetheless, Earp and Wayne did share several qualities.
John Ford, who in his youth had known the real Wyatt Earp, claimed the way the OK Corral gunfight was staged in this film was the way it was explained to him by Earp himself, with a few exceptions. Ford met Earp through Harry Carey.
McLean, Bat Masterson, and Neal Brown. Masterson was a close friend of Wyatt and spent much time in Tombstone before returning to Kansas in 1882. Luke Short, another friend, and part-time lawman and part-time gambler, spent time in Tombstone and left a victim in Boothill.
In 1871 Earp met Wild Bill Hickok in Kansas City and other western legends, including “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Jack Gallagher, and Billy Dixon. Wyatt would later say of Wild Bill Hickok, “Bill Hickok was regarded as the deadliest pistol shot alive and a man of great courage.
Meeting Wyatt Earp Leaves a Lasting Impression on John Wayne
Who cried at Wyatt Earp's funeral?
In the film Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, during the closing credits reference is made to the fact that "Tom Mix wept" at Wyatt Earp's funeral.
The Earps clashed with a group of outlaws known as the "Cowboys". Wyatt, Virgil, and younger brother Morgan held various law-enforcement positions that put them in conflict with Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, Ike Clanton, and Billy Clanton, who threatened to kill the Earps on several occasions.
He went to Dallas in 1873 and partnered with another dentist; however, Holliday soon turned his attention from fixing teeth to drinking and gambling. Earp and Holliday became friends on the Texas gambling circuit in the late 1870s, and Doc participated in the gunfight at the OK Corral in 1881.
It's true that Holliday and Earp were friends. The two fought side by side in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881's famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. But they'd met only four years earlier, while passing through Texas.
Great performance as the stoic Earp in the neoclassic Tombstone. Gave us great lines like "are you gonna do something or just stand there and bleed". Val Kilmer steals the show as Doc Holliday, but Russell's performance is the backbone of the film.
Wyatt Earp Quote: Fast is fine, but accuracy is final. In a gun fight. You need to take your time in a hurry. Wyatt Earp Quote: Fast is fine, but accuracy is final.
Wyatt Earp the literary character is a Stoic hero to be emulated in many ways. Wyatt Earp the historical figure was a pimp, a cheat, a claim-jumper, probably a horse thief, and a cold-blooded murderer. He was also a low-rent con artist who tried to sell people painted rocks he claimed were gold nuggets.
He was said to have been on the set during the production of the movie, Wild Bill Hickok, in 1923. Five years later, John Wayne apparently met Wyatt Earp on a film set. They got talking and Earp related many of his hair-raising exploits to the actor known as “The Duke”.
Wyatt Earp can be considered a documentary because it tries to be historically truthful, while My Darling Clementine's place is in the realm of Hollywood magic.
Wyatt and Warren Earp, Doc Holliday, Johnson and McMaster were joined by "Texas Jack" Vermillion, Dan Tipton, Charlie Smith, Fred Dodge, Johnny Green, and Louis Cooley to form a federal posse under Wyatt's authority as the Deputy US Marshal.
— On Nov. 8, 1887, John Henry “Doc” Holliday died of tuberculosis in a rented room at the Hotel Glenwood in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The fact is, despite his fame and notoriety, the gambler, gunfighter, dentist and friend of Wyatt Earp left this earth destitute.
Quick draw and hip shooting was a rare skill in the West, and only a handful of historically known gunslingers were known to be fast, such as Luke Short, John Wesley Hardin, and Wild Bill Hickok.
Doc Holliday spent much of his life out West, there is no evidence that he and Billy the Kid crossed paths. An alleged photo that has been circulating of Doc, Wyatt, Billy, and Jesse James has no solid provenance and its validity has not been verified.
Handshake Refusal: Doc Holliday refuses to shake the hand of the corrupt fop of a sheriff who is in league with the Cowboy gangs, though this is because he's a Lawman, and has nothing to do with his corrupt foppery. Happily Married: Virgil and Allie Earp.
Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois on March 19, 1848. When they were young men Wyatt and his brother's earned the nickname, “The Fighting Earps.” In 1871, Wyatt was arrested for stealing horses.
According to old Holliday family stories, the young romance between Doc and his first cousin really happened – and may have been one of the reasons he left Georgia. The girl was Martha Anne “Mattie” Holliday, daughter of Doc's uncle Robert Kennedy Holliday.
In the wake of multiple shootouts, his legend grew, culminating at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Amid bullet after bullet, he never took one himself, adding to his Old West mystique. But back in 1969, Wyatt Earp carried no such reputation, charisma or swagger. He was just a young man seeking his niche.
Among those who took home pieces of iconic Wild West history was John Anderson, a founder of Isagenix International in Chandler, Ariz. He outbid others to snag Earp's Winchester lever-action shotgun for $50,000 though its high value was at $125,000.
The Wyatt Earp gun on display at the Arizona History Museum. Inside the Arizona History Museum beside the University of Arizona campus, held in a glass display, is a cream handled Colt . 45 revolver that museum officials say once belonged to Tombstone legend Wyatt Earp.
