Doc Holliday

Dr. John Henry Holliday was born August 14, 1851 in Griffin, Georgia.  At age 19, he went to Philadelphia to study dentistry at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, now part of my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.  

After he graduated in 1872, Holliday moved to St. Louis to begin his dental practice.  Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, then an incurable disease.  

Holliday was advised that living in a drier, warmer climate would slow the deterioration of his health.  Following this guidance, he moved to Dallas, where he attempted to practice dentistry.  However, his frequent coughing spells made working as such almost impossible.  

To earn money, Holliday took up gambling, which was illegal in the State of Texas.  To stay out of trouble, he moved to Denver, Colorado where he became a faro dealer.

Holliday subsequently relocated to Cheyenne, Wyoming, Deadwood, South Dakota and Fort Griffin, Texas, all the while plying his trade as a professional gambler.  It was in Fort Griffin where he met and befriended the legendary lawman, Wyatt Earp.  

On July 19, 1879 (141 years ago today), while living in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Doc Holliday shot and killed a man for the first time, for wrecking his bar.  He subsequently proceeded to Dodge City, Kansas where Wyatt Earp was the local Marshal.

On October 26, 1881, Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp plus Earp's two brothers, Morgan and Virgil, participated in the most famous gunfight in the history of the West, at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.  They were opposed by five cowboys, Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton in addition to Tom and Frank McLaury.

There are at least six different movies which depict the above gunfight and six different actors who portray Doc Holliday in them.  

My Darling Clementine (1946) with Victor Mature.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Kirk Douglas
Hour of the Gun (1967) with Jason Robards
Doc (1971) with Stacy Keach
Tombstone (1993) with Val Kilmer
Wyatt Earp (1994) with Dennis Quaid

Doc Holliday survived the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but not his tuberculosis.  He died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado on November 8, 1887 at the age of 36, but he is not forgotten.