May 31, 2018
Volume 48 - No. 22
By Matt Fabritius
He is the stuff of classic Western legend. A myth, a ghost, a mystery. A tuberculosis-ridden, “lunger” dentist from Georgia who became the most feared gunslinger of the Old West. This was Doc Holliday, the right-hand man of infamous lawman Wyatt Earp throughout the 1880’s. A veteran of the shootout at the OK Corral, a member of the Earp Posse Vendetta Ride to hunt down a gang of outlaw cowboys and arguably the most controversial figure in all of Old West folklore. The The Paper Paper -- 760.747.7119 760.747.7119
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But who was Doc Holliday really?
How do we separate the myth of the man from reality? Was he truly the deadliest gunslinger around? Can we distinguish the actual details of his life from the inflated legend? And how did he wind up in the middle of nowhere in Tombstone with his story lasting to this day? For a man who never saw the age of 40, his legend has continued on to become one of the most emblematic American legends of the early Western frontier.
Most Americans today typically
know of John Henry “Doc” Holliday from Val Kilmer’s portrayal of the character in the 1993 Hollywood film Tombstone, directed by the Greek director George Cosmatos. From Kilmer’s eccentric portrayal of Holliday, he is shown to be a highly intelligent, outlaw gambler with a strong Southern accent and a Hungarian mistress in tow who acts as his accomplice during their regular robberies of hotel casino parlors. He is shown to be an expert card shark, classically educated in Latin, a smoker in spite of his tuberculosis, an alcoholic and talented quick draw gunslinger to boot. He meets up with old friend
Wyatt Earp and his family in the bustling 1880’s town of Tombstone, Arizona and soon involves himself as Earp’s right-hand man in their vigilante battle against a murderous outlaw cowboy gang that runs the town.
While most fans of the Old West have learned about characters like Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid from popular Hollywood films (with which I will refer to Tombstone frequently for convenient pop culture reference), it is important to remember that these folk tales were originally recorded
Doc Holliday - See Page 2