Coordinates	42°33′″N0°33′″N
Name	Doc Holliday
Birth name	John Henry Holliday
Birth date	August 14, 1851
Birth place	Griffin, Georgia, U.S.
Death date	November 08, 1887
Death place	Glenwood Springs, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation	Dentist, Professional gambler, Gunfighter
Education	Graduated from Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872 at age 20
Known for	Arizona War*Gunfight at the O.K. Corral*Earp Vendetta Ride }}

John Henry "Doc" Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887) was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The legend and mystique of his life is so great that he has been mentioned in several books, and portrayed by various actors in numerous movies and television series. For the 100-plus years after his death, debate has continued about the exact crimes he may have committed during his life.

Early life and education

"Doc" Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia, to Henry Burroughs Holliday and Alice Jane Holliday (née McKey). His father served in the Mexican–American War and the Civil War. His family baptized him at the First Presbyterian Church in 1852.

In 1864 his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia. Holliday's mother died of tuberculosis on September 16, 1866, when he was 15 years old. Three months later his father married Rachel Martin. While in Valdosta, he attended the Valdosta Institute, where he received a strong classical secondary education in rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, history, and languages – principally Latin, but also French and some Ancient Greek.

In 1870, the 19-year-old Holliday left home to begin dental school in Philadelphia. On March 1, 1872, he received the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. Later that year, he opened a dental office with Arthur C. Ford in Atlanta, where he lived with his uncle and his family while beginning his career as a dentist.

Doc Holliday's famous cousin (by marriage) was Margaret Mitchell, who is best known for having written ''Gone With the Wind''.

Health

According to one source, at birth he had a cleft palate and partly cleft lip, and 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 Long. According to this source, the repair left no speech impediment, although 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 tuberculosis (generally then called "consumption"). He may have contracted the disease from his mother, although he may also have caught it from a coughing or sneezing patient. Little or no precaution was taken against this during dental procedures as tuberculosis was not known to be contagious until 1885. He was given only a few months to live, but he considered that moving to the drier and warmer southwestern United States might slow the deterioration of his health.

Early travels

In September 1873, he moved to Dallas, Texas, where he opened a dental office at 56 Elm Street, about four blocks east of the site of today's Dealey Plaza. 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, Texas, 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. Holliday was in Denver, Cheyenne, and Deadwood (site of the gold rush in the Dakota Territory) in the fall of 1876.

By 1877, Holliday was in Fort Griffin, Texas, where Wyatt Earp first met him (per his later account). They were initially introduced through mutual friend John Shanssey. 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, Kansas, when Holliday defended Earp in a saloon against a handful of cowboys out to kill Earp, 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 practised dentistry only "for about 5 years".

Holliday also met Mary Katharine Horony ("Big Nose Kate") in Fort Griffin and began his long-time involvement with her.

Dedicated gambler and gunman reputation

Holliday had a reputation as a deadly shooter. In September 1878 Wyatt Earp, a deputy city marshal in Dodge City, was surrounded by "desperados." Holliday, who owned a bar in the town and was dealing faro (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 always credited Holliday with saving his life that day.

One documented instance happened when Holliday was employed during a railroad dispute. On July 19, 1879, Holliday and noted gunman John Joshua Webb were seated in a saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico when a former U.S. Army scout named Mike Gordon tried to persuade one of the saloon girls to leave her job and come away with him. When she refused, Gordon stormed outside and began firing into the building. Holliday followed him and killed him before he could get off a second shot. Holliday was placed on trial for the shooting but was acquitted, mostly based on the testimony of Webb.

Tombstone, Arizona Territory

Dodge City 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 as 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 Morgan and Virgil, Holliday made his way to the silver-mining boom town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, 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. Corral 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 of hard drinking and poker by Ike Clanton. 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 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.

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, Virgil Earp, the remaining members of the Earp families fled town. Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp stayed in Tombstone to exact retribution on Ike Clanton and the corrupt members known as the Cowboys. In Tucson, while Wyatt, Warren Earp, and Holliday were escorting the wounded Virgil Earp and his wife Allie to California, they prevented another ambush and this may have been the start of the vendetta against Morgan's killers.

Earp Vendetta Ride

A number of Cowboys were identified by witnesses and circumstantial evidence as suspects in the shooting of Virgil Earp and the assassination of Morgan Earp.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp and his deputies Holliday, Warren Earp, Sherman McMasters, and "Turkey Creek" Jack Johnson guarded Virgil Earp and his wife Allie on their way to the train for California. In Tucson, the posse spotted Frank Stilwell and Ike Clanton lying in wait, waiting to kill Virgil. On Monday, March 20, 1881, Frank Stilwell's body was found at dawn alongside the rail road tracks riddled with buckshot and gunshot wounds.

Tucson Justice of the Peace Charles Meyer issued arrest warrants for five of the Earp party, including Holliday. They returned briefly to Tombstone where they were joined by Texas Jack Vermillion and possibly others. The posse made its way to Spence's wood cutting camp in the South Pass in the Dragoon Mountains. They found and killed Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz.

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 five of the posse (including Holliday) in the Arizona Territory for the killing of Stilwell, the group moved to New Mexico, then Colorado, 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.

Extradition fails

On May 15, 1882, Doc Holliday was arrested in Denver on the Arizona indictment for murdering Frank Stilwell. Wyatt Earp, fearing that Holliday could not receive a fair trial in Arizona, asked his friend Bat Masterson, Sheriff of Trinidad, Colorado, to help get Holliday released. The extradition hearing was set for May 30. Late on the evening of May 29, Masterson needed help getting an appointment with Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. He contacted E. D. Cowen, capital reporter for the ''Denver Tribune'', who held political sway in town. Cowen later wrote, "He submitted proof of the criminal design upon Holliday's life. Late as the hour was, I called on Pitkin." After meeting with Masterson, Pitkin was persuaded by whatever evidence he presented and refused to honor Arizona's extradition request. His legal reasoning was that the extradition papers for Holliday contained faulty legal language, and the second was a warrant for Holliday on bunco charges that Masterson had fabricated in Pueblo, Colorado.

Masterson took Holliday to Pueblo were he was released on bond two weeks after his arrest. Holliday and Wyatt met briefly after Holliday's release during June 1882 in Gunnison.

Death of Johnny Ringo

On July 14, 1882, Johnny Ringo was found dead in the crotch of a large tree in West Turkey Creek Valley, near Chiricahua Peak, Arizona Territory, with a bullet hole in his right temple and a revolver hanging from a finger of his hand. The book, ''I Married Wyatt Earp'', supposedly written by Josephine Marcus Earp, reported that Wyatt Earp and Holliday returned to Arizona to find and kill Ringo. Edited by Glen Boyer, the book states that Holliday killed Ringo with a rifle shot at a distance, contradicting the coroner's ruling that Ringo's death was a suicide. However, Boyer's book has been discredited as a fraud and a hoax that cannot be relied upon. In response to criticism about the book's authenticity, Boyer said the book was not really a first-person account, that he had interpreted Wyatt Earp in Josephine's voice, and admitted that he couldn't produce any documents to vindicate his methods.

Official records of the Pueblo County, Colorado District Court indicate that both Doc and his attorney appeared in court there on July 11, 14, and 18, 1882. Author Karen Holliday Tanner, in ''Doc Holliday, A Family Portrait'', speculated that Doc may not have been in Pueblo at the time of the court date, citing a writ of habeas corpus issued for him in court on July 11. She believes that only his attorney may have appeared on his behalf that day, in spite of the wording of a court record that indicated he may have appeared in person—“in propera persona” or “in his own proper person”. She cites this as standard legal filler text that does not necessarily prove the person was present. There is no doubt that Holliday arrived in Salida, Colorado on July 7 as reported in a town newspaper. This is from the site of Ringo's death, six days before the shooting.

Final illness, death and burial

Holliday spent the rest of his life in Colorado. After a stay in Leadville, he suffered from the effects of the high altitude; as a result of this and his increasing dependence on alcohol and laudanum, 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, a sanatorium near the hot springs of Glenwood Springs, 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 last words were, "Damn, 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. Although, reports from the nurses of the Hotel Glenwood, reported him saying those actual words after he asked the nurse if he could have a shot of whiskey, and she told him no. 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 Kate was present at his death.

An Episcopal minister presided at Holliday's burial, which was on the day of his death, November 8, 1887. His gravestone sits in Linwood 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 Earp said that "Doc was a dentist not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; 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."

In a newspaper interview, Holliday was once asked if his killings had ever gotten on his conscience. He is reported to have said, "I coughed that up 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".

Record of violence

Although historical accounts usually support the belief that Holliday was extremely fast with a pistol, his accuracy was quite good considering the inaccuracy of pistols at the time. Even the famed Colt Peacemaker – with the exception of some custom-produced target pistols – had inadequate sights by modern standards, making them notoriously inaccurate weapons. There are documented accounts of men emptying their pistols at each other at distances of 40 feet with no one hurt. Most gunfights occurred in saloons or over poker tables, not in the street, although these did sometimes happen; even then, they were conducted at almost point-blank range.

Known gun fights

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 (saloon keeper 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 battery. With the exception of Mike Gordon in 1879, there are no contemporaneous newspaper or legal records to match the many unnamed men whom Holliday is credited with killing in popular folklore; the same is true for the several tales of knifings credited to Holliday by early biographers.

Public reputation

Publicly, Holliday could be as fierce as was needed for a gambling man to earn respect. In Tombstone in January 1882, he told Johnny Ringo (as recorded by diarist Parsons), "All I want of you is ten paces out in the street." He and Ringo were prevented from a 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 Stilwell 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 probably fired the second bullet that killed 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), the coroner's inquest found Frank was hit only in the stomach and through the back of the head under his ear; therefore either Holliday or Warren missed Frank.

In a March 1882 interview with the ''Arizona Daily Star'', Virgil Earp told the reporter, "There was something very peculiar about Doc. He was gentlemanly, a good dentist, a friendly man, and yet outside of us boys I don't think he had a friend in the Territory. Tales were told that he had murdered men in differ­ent parts of the country; that he had robbed and committed all manner of crimes, and yet when persons were asked how they knew it they could only admit that it was hearsay, and that noth­ing of the kind could really be traced up to Doc's account."

Arrests and convictions

Biographer Karen Holliday Tanner found that Holliday had been arrested 17 times before his 1881 shootout in Tombstone. Only one arrest, an 1879 shootout with Mike Gordon in New Mexico, was for murder. Holliday was not successfully charged in either case. The preliminary hearing after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral exonerated Doc's actions as a lawman. In Denver, the charges for Stilwell's murder went unanswered when Governor was persuaded by Trinidad Sheriff Bat Masterson to release Doc to his custody for bunco charges.

Out of all his other arrests, Holliday pleaded 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 evidence) that Holliday was involved in the August 1881 death of Newman Haynes Clanton (Ike 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 Massacre could just as well have been (and is usually assumed to be) a revenge killing by angry Mexican cattle-owners recently targeted by 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) as evidence that Holliday had been wounded, perhaps at the death of Old Man Clanton two months before. However, Holliday used a walking stick as early as 1877 when he was arrested for clubbing another gambler with one in a fight. On that occasion, Holliday 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 he drew a gun on Holliday. Held by the law and targeted for lynching, 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), denied that the story was true and laughed at the idea of holding a gun on a sheriff.

Photo issues

There are many supposed photos of Holliday, most of which do not quite match each other. The one clearly visible 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) photo of a standing Holliday taken in Prescott, Arizona Territory, in 1879, the year before he went to Tombstone.

The 1879 photo, though certified, is of very poor quality and barely 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 below 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 one Wyatt Earp wears in his own most well-known photo.

There are three photos most often printed (but uncertified) of Holliday, supposedly taken by C.S. Fly in Tombstone (but sometimes 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. The man in these later uncertified photos has darker hair, possibly because the photo has more contrast than the previous ones, or was pomaded (a typical fashion at the times) or unwashed, both cases yielding an "oilier", darker hue.

None of the three photos of the darker-haired man match each other exactly in certain clothing details, so they are not exactly the same image (though they may be poses 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 hat (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 Stilwell 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, Arizona, 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, Georgia, where he formerly resided, the Holliday Skate Palace, a since defunct roller skating rink, was named in his honor.

In January 2010, to coincide with its sesquicentennial celebration, Valdosta, Georgia held a Doc Holliday look-alike contest. It was won by local resident Jason Norton.

Popular culture

Holliday was nationally known during his life as a gunman, and the O.K. Corral fight has become one of the most famous moments in the American West. Numerous Westerns have been made of it, and the Holliday character has been prominent in all of them. Not all films however, that feature Doc Holliday, or a character based on him, are biographical in nature.

Actors who have played Holliday in name include:

Cesar Romero in ''Frontier Marshal'', 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 in ''The Outlaw'', in 1943, a Howard Hughes film.

Victor Mature in ''My Darling Clementine'', in 1946, directed by John Ford, with Henry Fonda 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 bear." Also, Holliday is killed at the Corral, when in fact he survived it. And Ringo was not even there.

Harry Bartell in the 13th episode of the CBS radio program "Gunsmoke," which aired on July 19, 1952.

Kim Spalding in the syndicated television series ''Stories of the Century'' (1954), starring and hosted by Jim Davis.

Kirk Douglas in ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'', in 1957, with Burt Lancaster as Earp. Again, Holliday's feud with Ringo is a large part of the story, and Ringo dies at the Corral. In fact, he was not involved and committed suicide.

Douglas Fowley 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 and Peter Breck each played Holliday more than once in the 1957 television series ''Maverick''.

Arthur Kennedy played Holliday opposite James Stewart as Earp in director John Ford's ''Cheyenne Autumn''.

Adam West played Doc Holliday on an episode of the TV series ''Lawman''.

Christopher Dark in an 1963 episode of the TV series ''Bonanza''.

Anthony Jacobs in the 1966 ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Gunfighters''.

Jason Robards in ''Hour of the Gun'', a 1967 sequel to the 1957 movie, with James Garner as Earp. This is the first movie to fully delve into the vendetta that followed the gunfight; both films were directed by John Sturges.

Sam Gilman in the 1968 ''Star Trek'' episode "Spectre of the Gun". 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 in ''Doc'', 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'': "Which Way to the OK Corral?" in 1971 and "The Ten Days That Shook Kid Curry" in 1972.

Dennis Hopper in ''Wild Times'', a 1980 television mini-series based on Brian Garfield's novel.

John McLiam played Doc Holliday in the pilot episode of the short-lived 1981 television series ''Bret Maverick''.

Jeffrey DeMunn played Doc Holliday in the 1983 made-for-television movie "''I Married Wyatt Earp''."

Willie Nelson in the 1986 all-singer/actor TV-remake of ''Stagecoach''. 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. If the character of the Southern-gentleman-gambler Hatfield is also partly based on Holliday (being played by the thin John Carradine, for emphasis, in the original film), then the 1986 remake actually contains ''three'' characters in whole or partly based on Holliday.

Val Kilmer in ''Tombstone'', in 1993. Sylvia D. Lynch in Aristocracy's Outlaw believes Kilmer caught Holliday's cheerful mix of despair and courage. But his last fight with Ringo is disputed. He was miles away, in court, when Ringo either committed suicide, or was killed but there are some facts that point out he may have, in fact, killed him.

Dennis Quaid in ''Wyatt Earp'', 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 Kate. Quaid's performance was also an insightful one.

Randy Quaid in ''Purgatory'', a 1999 TV film about dead outlaws in a town between Heaven and Hell.

Andrew Hussie, author of the webcomic MS Paint Adventures is a direct descendant of Holliday, and said on his official Formspring page that Doc Holliday was the inspiration for one of the comic's characters, Doc Scratch.

Roy Halladay, a Major League Baseball pitcher, is nicknamed "Doc" Halladay, a name coined by the late Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek.

"Doc Holliday Days" are held yearly in Doc's birthplace of Griffin, Georgia.

Fiction

''Merkabah Rider: The Mensch With No Name'' by Edward M. Erdelac, copyright 2010, ISBN 978-1-61572-190-0)

''The Buntline Special'' by Mike Resnick, copyright 2010, ISBN 978-1-61614-249-0

''Territory'' by Emma Bull, copyright 2007 ISBN 978-0-8125-4836-5

''Bucking the Tiger: A Novel '' by Bruce Olds, copyright 2002 ISBN 978-0-312-42024-6

''Wild Times'' by Brian Garfield, copyright 1978 ISBN 978-0671243746

''Deadlands ' ' a tabletop role-playing game produced by Pinnacle Entertainment Group in the book titled Law Dogs, Copyright 1996, ISBD 978-1889546261

''Doc: A Novel'' by Mary Doria Russell, copyright 2011 ISBN 978-1400068043

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.

See also

Lottie Deno

Wyatt Earp

In vino veritas

References

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.

"Aristocracy's Outlaw: The Doc Holliday Story", Sylvia D. Lynch, Tennessee Iris Press, 1995 ISBN 0964578107.

External links

DocHolliday.info, Information Repository

Skyways.org, John Henry Holliday arrives in Dodge City from ''Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait'', by Karen Holliday Tanner, 1998

Kansasheritage.org, John Henry Holliday family history

Tombstonetimes.com, "Where's Doc"

Doc Ancestry.com, Holliday Information, Photos and Genealogy from ''Spalding County, Georgia GenWeb''

Category:1851 births Category:1887 deaths Category:People from Griffin, Georgia Category:American dentists Category:American folklore Category:American gamblers Category:American poker players D Category:History of Cochise County, Arizona Category:Deaths from tuberculosis Category:Gunmen of the American Old West Category:Infectious disease deaths in Colorado Category:People of the American Old West Category:Cochise County conflict

bar:Doc Holliday cs:Doc Holliday da:Doc Holliday de:Doc Holliday es:Doc Holliday fr:Doc Holliday hr:Doc Holliday it:Doc Holliday mk:Док Холидеј nl:Doc Holliday ja:ドク・ホリデイ pl:Doc Holliday pt:Doc Holliday ru:Холлидей, Док sr:Док Холидеј fi:Doc Holliday sv:Doc Holliday

Coordinates	42°33′″N0°33′″N
name	Johnny Ringo
birth date	May 03, 1850
birth place	Greensfork, Indiana
death date	July 13, 1882
occupation	Outlaw
years active	1875–1882
children	}}

John Peters "Johnny" Ringo (May 3, 1850 – July 13, 1882) was an outlaw Cowboy of the American Old West who was affiliated with Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell in Cochise County, Arizona Territory during 1881-1882.

Early life

Ringo was born in Greensfork, Indiana, of distant Dutch ancestry. His family moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1856. He was a contemporary of Frank and Jesse James, who lived nearby in Kearney, Missouri, and became a cousin of the Younger brothers through marriage when his aunt, Augusta Peters Inskip, married Coleman P. Younger, uncle of the outlaws.

In 1858 the family moved to Gallatin, Missouri where they rented property from the father of John W. Sheets (who became the first "official" victim of the James-Younger gang when they robbed the Daviess County Savings & Loan Association in 1869).

On July 30, 1864, while the Ringo family was traveling through Wyoming on their way to California, his father Martin Ringo stepped out of his wagon holding a shotgun which accidentally discharged. The buckshot round entered the right side of his face, exiting the top of his head. The 14 year-old John Ringo and the rest of his family buried him on a hillside alongside the trail.

Mason County War

By the mid-1870s, Ringo had migrated from San Jose, California to Mason County, Texas. Here he befriended an ex-Texas Ranger named Scott Cooley, who was the adopted son of a local rancher named Tim Williamson.

Trouble started when two American rustlers, Elijah and Pete Backus, were dragged from the Mason jail and lynched by a predominantly German mob. Full-blown war began on May 13, 1875, when Tim Williamson was arrested by a hostile posse and murdered by a German farmer named Peter Bader. Cooley and his friends, including Johnny Ringo, conducted a terror campaign against their rivals. Officially called the "Mason County War", locally it was called the "Hoodoo War". Cooley retaliated by killing the local German deputy sheriff, John Worley, shooting him, scalping him, and tossing his body down a well on August 10, 1875.

Cooley already had a reputation as a dangerous man, and was respected as a Texas Ranger. He killed several others during the "war". After Cooley supporter Moses Baird was killed, Ringo committed his first murder on September 25, 1875 when he and a friend named Bill Williams rode up in front of the house of James Cheyney, the man who led Baird into the ambush. As Cheyney came out, unarmed, invited them in and began washing his face on the porch, both Ringo and Williams shot and killed him. The two then rode to the house of Dave Doole, and called him outside, but when he came out with a gun, they fled back into town.

Some time later, Scott Cooley and Johnny Ringo mistook Charley Bader for his brother Pete and killed him. After that both men were jailed in Burnet, Texas by Sheriff A. J. Strickland. Both Ringo and Cooley were broken out of jail by their friends shortly thereafter, and parted company to evade the law.

By November 1876, the Mason County War had petered out after costing a dozen or so lives, Scott Cooley was believed dead, and Johnny Ringo and his pal George Gladden were locked up once again. One of Ringo's cellmates was the notorious killer John Wesley Hardin. While Gladden was sentenced to 99 years, Ringo appears to have been acquitted. Two years later, Ringo was noted as being a constable in Loyal Valley, Texas. Soon after this, he appeared in Arizona for the first time.

Reputation

Louis L'Amour wrote that he had found nothing in Old West history to commend John Ringo as a particularly noteworthy "badman". According to L'Amour, Ringo was a surly, bad-tempered man who was worse when he was drinking, and that his main claim to fame was shooting the unarmed Louis Hancock in an Arizona territory saloon in 1879 for ordering beer after Ringo told him to order whiskey. L'Amour wrote that he did not understand how Ringo earned such a strong reputation as a "bad man" in legend. Other authors have concluded that perhaps Ringo's memorable name, coupled with his confrontations with the canonically "good" Earp brothers contributed to his latter-day reputation.

Tombstone

Ringo first turned up in Cochise County, Arizona Territory in 1879 along with Joseph Graves Olney (alias "Joe Hill"), a friend from the Mason County War. In December 1879, a drunk Ringo shot unarmed Louis Hancock in a Safford, Arizona saloon when Hancock refused a complimentary drink of whiskey, stating he preferred beer. Hancock survived his wound. He did not take part in the shoot out at the O.K Corral. He was occasionally erroneously referred to as "Ringgold" by the newspapers of the day.

On January 17, 1882, Ringo and Doc Holliday traded threats and seemed to be headed into a gunfight. Both men were arrested by Tombstone's new chief of police, James Flynn, and hauled before a judge for carrying weapons in town. Both were fined. Judge William H. Stilwell followed up on charges outstanding against Ringo for a robbery in Galeyville and Ringo was re-arrested and jailed on January 20 for the weekend.

Around Tombstone, Arizona, he had a reputation as having a bad-temper. He may have participated in robberies and killings with the Cowboys. Two months later, Ringo was suspected by the Earps of taking part in the murder of Morgan Earp on March 18, 1882.

After Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp and his posse killed Frank Stilwell in Tucson on March 20, 1881, warrants were issued for their arrest. Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan deputized Ringo and 19 other men, many of them Cowboys and friends of Frank Stilwell. Ringo joined the county posse that pursued but never found the federal posse.

Pete Spence's wife, Marietta Duarte, testified that her husband, Frank Stilwell, "Indian Charlie" Cruz, Frederick Bode, and a half-breed named Fries had killed Morgan Earp. The Earp posse searched for Pete Spence at his wood camp in the South Pass in the Dragoon Mountains and found Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz.

One of Ringo's closest friends, "Curly Bill" Brocius, was killed by Wyatt Earp in a gunfight at Iron Springs (later Mescal Springs) about from Tombstone. Earp told his biographer Lake that he got Cruz to confess to being the lookout, and that he identified Johnny Ringo, Frank Stilwell, Hank Swilling, and Curly Bill as Morgan's killers.

Death in Turkey Creek Canyon

On July 14, 1882, Johnny Ringo was found dead in the crotch of a large tree in West Turkey Creek Valley, near Chiricahua Peak, with a bullet hole in his right temple and an exit wound at the back of his head.

A single shot had been heard by a neighbor late in the evening the day before on July 13. The property owner found Ringo sitting on the low-leaning trunk and fork of a large tree by the river (a fallen trunk next to which Ringo is now buried). Ringo's revolver had one round expended and was found hanging by one finger in his hand. His feet were wrapped in pieces of his undershirt. His horse was found two weeks later, Ringo's boots tied to the saddle of his horse, a common method to keep scorpions out of boots. After an inquest, the coroner found that death had been caused by a single shot through the head, and Ringo's death was officially ruled a suicide.

Johnny Ringo is buried close to where his body was found in West Turkey Creek Canyon () at the base of the tree in which he was found, which fell around 2010. The grave is located on private land and is not publicly accessible.

Theories of Ringo's death

Many people have been put forth as Ringo's murderer, including Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, O'Rourke, and Buckskin Frank Leslie.

The book, ''I Married Wyatt Earp'', supposedly written by Josephine Marcus Earp, reported that Wyatt Earp and Holliday returned to Arizona to find and kill Ringo. Edited by Glen Boyer, the book claims that Holliday killed Ringo with a rifle shot at a distance, contradicting the coroner's ruling that Ringo's death was a suicide. However, Boyer's book has been discredited as a fraud and a hoax that cannot be relied on. In response to criticism about the book's authenticity, Boyer said the book was not really a first-person account, that he had interpreted Wyatt Earp in Josephine's voice, and admitted that he couldn't produce any documents to vindicate his methods. Holliday was fighting a court case in Colorado at the time of Ringo's death. Official records of the District Court of Pueblo County, Colorado indicate that both Doc and his attorney appeared in court there on July 11, 14, and 18, 1882, which, if true, would make it impossible for Holliday to have killed Ringo. Author Karen Holliday Tanner, in ''Doc Holliday, A Family Portrait'', speculated that Doc may not have been in Pueblo at the time of the court date, citing a writ of habeas corpus issued for him in court on July 11. She believes that only his attorney may have appeared on his behalf that day, in spite of the wording of a court record that indicated he may have appeared in person—“in propera persona” or “in his own proper person”. She cites this as standard legal filler text that does necessarily prove the person was present. There is no doubt that Holliday arrived in Salida, Colorado on July 7 as reported in a town newspaper. This is from the site of Ringo's death, six days before the shooting.

One theory that supports the coroner's finding that Ringo committed suicide is that a few weeks before Ringo's death, a large fire in Tombstone had wiped out most of the downtown area. The silver mines were producing less, and demand for beef was down. Many of Ringo's friends were gone, while his way of life was quickly becoming a thing of the past. Ringo was depressed after being rejected by his remaining family members in California and the recent deaths of his outlaw friends. Stoked by a period of binge drinking, Ringo was preparing to camp in an isolated spot, far from the city. He tied his boots to his saddle, a common practice in Arizona to keep scorpions out of them, but the horse got loose from his picket and ran off. Ringo tied pieces of his undershirt to his feet to protect them (these were found on his body and noted by the inquest), and crawled into the fork of a large tree to spend the night. As evening came on, despondent over his overall state, Ringo shot himself.

Fred Dodge, a Wells, Fargo & Co. undercover agent, attributed Ringo's killing to Mike O'Rourke. A gambler, O'Rourke had been arrested for murdering Henry Schneider. Curly Bill Brocius and John Ringo encouraged talk of a lynching and led other men who pursued the wagon carrying O'Rourke. McKelvey got to the outskirts of Tombstone and the Last Chance Saloon just ahead of the mob where he was met by Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp, and was escorted to jail in Tucson, where escaped. He held onto a burning rage toward Ringo and Curly Bill, and according to a conversation Dodge had with Frank Leslie, O'Rourke learned in July, 1882 that Ringo and Buckskin Frank Leslie were camping in the Turkey Creek Canyon area. O'Rourke knew that Ringo had been drinking heavily for the last week and made camp in the same area. On July 14 allegedly found Ringo sleeping off his liquor and killed him, arranging the body to look like a suicide. The story had enough credibility that many believed, including Ringo's close friend Pony Diehl, it to be true. O'Rourke was killed shortly after being caught cheating at cards.

Others believe Buckskin Frank Leslie killed Ringo. Leslie found Ringo drunk and asleep at a tree. Hoping to curry favor with Earp supporters in office, he shot Ringo through the head. Billy Claiborne believed Leslie killed Ringo, and it was said that his fatal shootout with Leslie was due to this fact. However, in reality Claiborne was demanding that Leslie refer to him as "Billy the Kid", and when Leslie refused Claiborne challenged him. Claiborne was shot through the right side, the bullet exiting out his back, and died hours later. His last words were supposedly "Frank Leslie killed John Ringo. I saw him do it", another claim that has no evidence to support it.

In Popular Culture

In the 1939 film ''Stagecoach'', John Wayne plays a character by the name of the Ringo Kid.

In the 1950 film ''The Gunfighter'', the title character, played by Gregory Peck, is named Jimmy Ringo, undoubtedly a reference to the famous outlaw. In the film, Ringo is sympathetically depicted as a man constantly trying to put his notorious past behind him.

In a 1954 episode of the syndicated western series ''Stories of the Century'' Ringo was played by Donald Curtis as "John B. Ringgold". Emlen Davies played his spinster sister, Helen, who tries in vain to convince him to turn away from lawlessness. ''Stories of the Century'' was the first western to win an Emmy Award.

Ringo is played by John Ireland in the 1957 film ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral''. In this version the animosity between Ringo and Doc Holliday is caused when Big Nose Kate (called "Kate Fisher" here) leaves Doc to become Ringo's lover. This is non-historical, although in Kate's letters she does note that Ringo visited her when Holliday was in jail briefly in November 1881 in connection with the O.K. Corral Spicer hearing, and it is quite possible that Holliday grew jealous. The movie portrays Ringo as a participant in the titular gunfight, when in fact he was not present. The film depicts Holliday lecturing a wounded Ringo about the triumph of good over evil before he shoots Ringo dead.

"Johnny Ringo's Last Ride" is an episode of the ABC western series ''Tombstone Territory'', which aired on February 19, 1958, with Myron Healey in the role of Ringo. The series starred Pat Conway and Richard Eastham.

A 1959–1960 CBS television show used Ringo's name, but had little to do with his actual life (the real Ringo probably never wore a badge, unless as a town constable). ''Johnny Ringo'' aired for one season (38 episodes). Ringo was played by Don Durant and carried a LeMat revolver (A Confederate nine shot revolver with a second barrel designed to fire a shotgun shell).

Ringo is the inspiration for the historically inaccurate, but highly popular song "Ringo" sung by then-''Bonanza'' TV-cowboy Lorne Greene, which topped the pop charts at #1 in late 1964 (replacing The Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack").

In the 1986 television remake of ''Stagecoach'' the Ringo Kid is played by Kris Kristofferson. The character of the gambler Hatfield is changed for Doc Holliday (Holliday is probably the inspiration for ''both'' Doc Boone and the gambler Hatfield in the original). In the remake, Holliday is played in name by Willie Nelson and Holliday and the Ringo Kid are allies, which is ironic given their relationship in real life.

In 1993's ''Tombstone'', Ringo is played by Michael Biehn. In this version, he is second in command of the so-called Clanton Gang. He is characterized as a violent sociopath who aspires to humiliate and destroy Doc Holliday. He is also characterized as highly educated, at one point trading Latin taunts with Holliday.

In the 1994 film ''Wyatt Earp'', Ringo is played by Norman Howell. In this film, Curly Bill Brocius is the major antagonist.

Johnny Ringo is the protagonist of a novel entitled ''Confessions of Johnny Ringo'' (ISBN 0451159888) by Geoff Aggeler. In the novel, Ringo's real name is Ringgold, and he is depicted as a young man studying the law who is driven to become an outlaw during the Civil War when his sweetheart is killed by Union troops in Missouri. He is killed by Wyatt Earp, who frees his spirit to reunite with the sweetheart.

Ringo is an antagonist in the ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Gunfighters'', in which he is inaccurately portrayed as not only being present at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral but as one of its casualties. In the novelisation, he is depicted as a classicist and intends to spend his wages on an encyclopedia of classical biography.

In the episode "Dead Man's Hill" of the television series ''The Lost World'', Johnny Ringo is played by David Orth as an outlaw in cahoots with the ruthless sheriff Jack Challenger, who have framed an innocent man for the murder of another woman's husband.

Johnny Ringo is depicted in the ''Mister Blueberry'' arc of the French graphic novel ''Blueberry'' as a psychotic and delusional gunslinger and scalp hunter who sacrifices women to an mystical entity known as "Red Dragon".

Johnny Ringo was depicted on the television series, ''The High Chaparral'', twice in 1969. In one episode, Ringo was portrayed by veteran television and film character actor, Robert Viharo. In another episode, Ringo was portrayed by veteran actor, Luke Askew. The premise of both episodes was that Ringo was a misunderstood outlaw and longtime friend of Manolito Montoya (Henry Darrow).

Drummer Ringo Starr of the pop group The Beatles (real name: Richard Starkey) is said to have adopted the stage name 'Ringo' because of the rings he wore, and because it sounded "cowboyish".

References

Additional reading

External links

- The most complete biographical info available on the web. - This site has a photo of Ringo, gives a valuable timeline for Ringo's life, and directions for finding Ringo's grave. - This is a second link to the gravesite.

Category:1850 births Category:1882 deaths Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:Suicides by firearm in Arizona Category:People from Wayne County, Indiana Category:People from Clay County, Missouri Category:People from Daviess County, Missouri Category:People from Mason County, Texas Category:People from Cochise County, Arizona Category:Outlaws of the American Old West Category:James-Younger Gang J Category:Cochise County conflict

de:Johnny Ringo it:Johnny Ringo ja:リンゴ・キッド pt:Johnny Ringo

Coordinates	42°33′″N0°33′″N
name	Val Kilmer
birth name	Val Edward Kilmer
birth date	December 31, 1959
birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor
years active	1977–Present
spouse	Joanne Whalley (1988–1996) }}

Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) 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!'' (1984), then the cult classic ''Real Genius'' (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in ''Top Gun'' and a lead role in ''Willow''.

During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a series of films that were also commercially successful, including his roles as Jim Morrison in ''The Doors'', Doc Holliday in 1993's ''Tombstone'', Batman in 1995's ''Batman Forever'', Chris Shiherlis in 1995's ''Heat'', Col. John Henry Patterson in 1996's ''The Ghost and the Darkness'', Simon Templar in 1997's ''The Saint'' and Moses in 1998's ''The Prince of Egypt''. During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including ''The Salton Sea'', ''Spartan'', and supporting performances in ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'', and as the voice of KITT in ''Knight Rider''.

Early life

Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Gladys ( Ekstadt) and Eugene Kilmer, an aerospace equipment distributor and real estate developer. Kilmer's grandfather was a gold miner in New Mexico; the poet Joyce Kilmer is a distant cousin of Kilmer's. Kilmer is of German, Swedish, Irish, and Cherokee descent. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley with his two siblings, older brother Mark and younger brother Wesley (who died at 15 due to an epileptic seizure in a swimming pool). Kilmer, who was raised a Christian Scientist, attended Chatsworth High School—where his classmates included Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham—as well as Hollywood's Professional's School. He also attended Berkeley Hall School, a Christian Science school in Los Angeles, from nursery school until graduation from the 9th grade. At the age of 17, he was at the time the youngest person to be accepted into Juilliard's drama program. He was in Group 10 of the Drama Division.

Career

1980s

In 1981, Kilmer co-authored and starred in the play ''How It All Began'', which was performed at the Public Theatre at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Kilmer turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film, ''The Outsiders'', as he had prior theatre commitments. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of a television short titled ''One Too Many'', which was an educational drama on drinking and driving; it also starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. His big break came when he received top billing in the spoof comedy ''Top Secret!'', where he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and actually released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".

During a brief hiatus, he backpacked throughout Europe, before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy ''Real Genius''. He turned down roles in ''Dune'' and ''Blue Velvet'', before being cast as naval aviator "Iceman" in the big budget action film ''Top Gun'', alongside Tom Cruise. ''Top Gun'' grossed a total of $344,700,000 worldwide. Following roles in the television films ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'' and ''The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains'', Kilmer played Madmartigan in the fantasy ''Willow''; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. Kilmer published a book of his poems, ''My Edens After Burns'', in 1987, and starred in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of ''Hamlet'' in 1988. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in both ''Kill Me Again'', again opposite Whalley, and in TNT's ''Billy the Kid''.

1990s

After several delays, director Oliver Stone finally started production on the film ''The Doors'', based on the band of the same name. Kilmer memorized the lyrics to all of lead singer Jim Morrison's songs prior to his audition, and sent a video of himself performing some Doors songs to director Stone. Stone was not impressed with the tape, but Paul Rothchild (the original producer of The Doors) said "I was shaken by it" and suggested they record Kilmer in the studio. After Kilmer was cast as Morrison, he prepared for the role by attending Doors tribute concerts and reading Morrison's poetry. He spent close to a year before production dressing in Morrison-like clothes, and spent time at Morrison's old hangouts along the Sunset Strip. His portrayal of Morrison was praised and members of The Doors noted that Kilmer did such a convincing job that they had trouble distinguishing his voice from Morrison's. Paul Rothchild played Val's version of 'The End' for Robby Krieger, and he told him "I'm really glad they got 'The End'. We never got a recording of that live with Jim and now we've got it." However, Doors keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, was less than enthusiastic with how Morrison was portrayed by director Oliver Stone's interpretation. In the early 1990s, Kilmer starred in the mystery thriller ''Thunderheart'', action comedy ''The Real McCoy'' and again teamed with ''Top Gun'' director Tony Scott to play Elvis in ''True Romance'', which was written by Quentin Tarantino.

In 1993, Kilmer played Doc Holliday in the western ''Tombstone'' alongside Kurt Russell, in what some say is one of Kilmer's finest performances. 1995 saw Kilmer star in ''Wings of Courage'', a 3D IMAX film, and that same year, he starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in ''Heat'', which is now considered one of the best crime/drama films of the 1990s. In 1996, he appeared in a largely unknown film, ''Dead Girl'', and starred alongside Marlon Brando in the poorly received ''The Island of Dr Moreau''. That year, Kilmer starred alongside Michael Douglas in the thriller ''The Ghost and the Darkness''. The next year he played Simon Templar in the popular action film, ''The Saint''. In 1998, he lent his voice to the animated film ''The Prince of Egypt'', before starring in the independent film ''Joe the King'' (1999) and playing a blind man in the drama/romance ''At First Sight'', which he described as of then, the hardest role he had ever had.

During the 1990s, Kilmer developed the reputation of being very difficult on sets. Joel Schumacher, director of ''Batman Forever'', called him ''The most psychologically troubled human being I've ever worked with'' and John Frankenheimer, director of ''The Island of Dr Moreau'', is quoted as saying, ''There are two things I would never do again in my life. I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world.'' While promoting ''The Ghost and the Darkness'' in France, Michael Douglas bitterly complained about Kilmer's attitude in an interview to daily newspaper ''Le Parisien''. Kevin Jarre, the original director of ''Tombstone'', said that Kilmer once told him, "I have a reputation for being difficult. But only with stupid people."

Batman

In December 1993 ''Batman Forever'' director Joel Schumacher had seen ''Tombstone'' and was most impressed with Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday. Schumacher felt him to be perfect for the role of the Caped Crusader, though at the time, the role was still Michael Keaton's. Batman co-creator Bob Kane said he felt Kilmer was the best actor to portray Batman.

In July 1994, Michael Keaton decided not to return for a third Batman film after 1992's ''Batman Returns'', due to "creative differences." William Baldwin (who previously worked with Schumacher on ''Flatliners'') was reported to be a top contender, though just days after Keaton dropped out, Kilmer was cast. Kilmer took the role without even knowing who the new director was and without reading the script. Kilmer first learned that he was offered the role of Batman while he was literally in a bat cave in Africa, doing research for ''The Ghost and the Darkness'' (1996).

Released in June 1995, ''Batman Forever'' was a success at the box office, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. There was debate about the performance of Val Kilmer; some critics charged that Kilmer, while physically fit to play Batman, more so than his predecessor Michael Keaton had been, gave a wooden performance as Bruce Wayne. Other critics though, such as Roger Ebert, had kind words for Kilmer. Batman creator Bob Kane said in a ''Cinescape'' interview that of all the actors to have played Batman up to that point (before the series was rebooted in 2005), he felt Kilmer had given the best interpretation. Film critic Leonard Maltin (who heavily criticized the dark tone contained in ''Batman Returns'') complimented Kilmer's portrayal when he reviewed the film for his expanding collection of film reviews, as well as being very favorable of the film as a whole. Defenders of ''Batman Forever'' praised the film for portraying Batman as a more heroic, less ruthless, and more human character than in the Tim Burton films. The film also brought the film interpretation of Bruce Wayne more into line with his comic book counterpart, showing him as a seasoned celebrity of the media and a very public figure rather than the neurotic recluse of the previous films.

In February 1996, Kilmer decided not to return for another Batman feature film, feeling that Batman was being marginalized in favor of the villains. Kilmer went on to do ''The Saint'' with a salary of $6 million. George Clooney replaced Kilmer as Batman in 1997's ''Batman & Robin''.

2000s

Kilmer's first role in 2000 was in the big budget Warner Bros. box office disaster ''Red Planet''. That same year, he had a supporting role in the film ''Pollock'' and hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' for the first time. In 2002, he starred in the thriller ''The Salton Sea'', which was generally well-reviewed, but received only a limited release. The same year, he teamed with his ''True Romance'' co-star, Christian Slater, and the two starred in the low budget film, ''Hard Cash'', also known as ''Run for the Money''.

In 2003, Kilmer starred alongside Kate Bosworth in the drama/thriller ''Wonderland'', as well as appearing in ''The Missing'', where he again worked with ''Willow'' director Ron Howard. The next year, he starred in ''Spartan'', where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the President. He received Delta Force-like training in preparation for the role. Subsequently, he had a role in the drama, ''Stateside'', and starred (again with Slater) in the thriller ''Mindhunters'', which was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005. Kilmer next appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production, ''Alexander'', which received poor reviews. Also in 2004, Kilmer returned to the theatre to play Moses in a Los Angeles musical production of ''The Ten Commandments: The Musical'', produced by BCBG founder Max Azria. The production played at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Kilmer had previously played Moses in the animated film ''The Prince of Egypt''. Finally in 2004, Kilmer appeared in an episode of ''Entourage'' where he played a Sherpa whose primary source of income was the growing, harvesting and distributing high-quality marijuana, all under a guise of metaphysical insights.

Kilmer was in negotiations with Richard Dutcher (a leading director of Mormon-related films) to play the lead role in a film entitled ''Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith'', although the project never materialized. Kilmer performed in ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' on the London stage from June to September 2005. In 2005, he co-starred with Robert Downey, Jr in the action-comedy film ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang''. His performance was praised and the film was well reviewed, but the film received only a limited release. It later won the award as "Overlooked Film of the Year" from the Phoenix Film Critics Society. In 2006, he reunited with director Tony Scott a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit ''Déjà Vu''. The song "Val Kilmer" was named after him on Bowling for Soup's 2006 album "The Great Burrito Extortion Case," and the song was later used for one of the Ford commercials on season 10 of "American Idol" in 2011. In 2007, he guest-starred in hit TV series ''Numb3rs'' episode "Trust Metric" as torture expert Mason Lancer. In 2008, Kilmer starred alongside Stephen Dorff in the Sony and Stage 6 film ''Felon''. The film was given only a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles in 2008, but it developed into a success secondary to positive word of mouth.

He next starred alongside Nicolas Cage in the Werner Herzog film ''Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'', and alongside Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in ''Streets of Blood''. Both were released in 2009. He appeared as the main antagonist "Mongoose" in a live TV series adaptation of the comic/video game of ''XIII'' on NBC in 2009.

In 2010, Kilmer starred in the horror film from Michael Oblowitz, ''The Traveler'', where he played the vengeful spirit of a man who had been tortured and murdered while in police custody.

In November 2010, Kilmer was filming in Kelseyville, California; he is the lead role in the Francis Ford Coppola film ''Twixt''. The film is being filmed mostly on Coppola's estate in Napa County. The filming is expected to take five weeks and is being independently funded by Coppola.

Kilmer was the voice of the car KITT for the 2008 ''Knight Rider'' TV pilot film and the following television series. He replaced Will Arnett, who had to step down from the role due to contractual conflict with General Motors. In keeping with tradition established by the original ''Knight Rider'' series and original KITT actor William Daniels, Kilmer was uncredited for the role on-screen.

In April 2011, Blackstone Audio will release Hollywood Theater of the Ear's full-cast audio adaptation of Johnston McCulley's ''The Mark of Zorro'' which features Val Kilmer as Zorro.

In 2010, Val Kilmer appeared as the villain in ''MacGruber''. It is also said that Kilmer will be going back to the wild west as aging legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in a indie western film called The Ride of Wyatt Earp, a film for people to remember Kilmer's memorable role as Doc Holliday in Tombstone, to come out in 2012.

Mark Twain/Mary Baker Eddy project

Since 2010, Kilmer has been working on a film about the life of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science church, and Mark Twain, one of her most famous critics. Kilmer wrote the screenplay, describing the film about the lives and relationship of Mary Baker Eddy and Mark Twain as "a quirky, tender, tragicomic portrait of two contrasting lives, set against the backdrop of Gilded Age America."

Personal life

Kilmer was married to actress Joanne Whalley from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the film ''Willow''. The couple had two children: a daughter, Mercedes (b. October 29, 1991), and a son, Jack (b. June 6, 1995). He dated supermodel Cindy Crawford in the 1990s.

Warwick Davis, Kilmer's co-star from the 1988 fantasy ''Willow'', in his audio commentary for the film described Kilmer as a very funny man and a hard working, dedicated actor. Kilmer is also an avid musician, and released a CD in the fall of 2007, proceeds of which went to his charity interests.

Other actors have noted that he prepares for his roles extensively and meticulously. Irwin Winkler (director of ''At First Sight'') talked about his decision to hire Kilmer. "I'd heard the stories, so I checked him out. I called Bob DeNiro and Michael Mann, who'd worked with him on ''Heat'', and they both gave him raves... I had a wonderful experience in spite of all the naysayers." Jeffrey Katzenberg (producer of ''Prince of Egypt'') talks about the actor. "Val was one of the first people cast in ''The Prince of Egypt''. He was there every step of the way; patient, understanding, and phenomenally generous with his time."

Following their appearance together in ''Top Gun'', Kilmer and co-star Tom Cruise reportedly had taken their onscreen conflict offscreen. Reports classified the two as holding a vitriolic hatred of one another. Kilmer even refused to participate in a charity beach volleyball game with Cruise on the grounds that he was "dangerous", although Kilmer is noted to have knocked Cruise out in a fistfight during the filming of ''Top Gun.''

Kilmer owns a ranch in New Mexico, where he hunts, tracks, hikes, fishes, and raises bison. Kilmer is also involved with The Wildlife Center of New Mexico and assists in rescuing animals and releasing them on his ranch.

In 2009, Kilmer listed Pecos River Ranch for sale for $33,000,000 with conservation real estate firm Orvis/Cushman & Wakefield. The price was subsequently dropped to $23 million in October 2010 and dropped again to $18.5 million two months later.

He briefly flirted with running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010, but in the end declined to run. He made a donation to Ralph Nader's 2008 presidential campaign. On January 30, 2009, Kilmer was chosen to be the King of Bacchus, a parading Krewe in New Orleans, that in 1969 began the tradition of having celebrities ride in their parade as King.

In November 2010, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filed a $498,165 lien against Kilmer's New Mexico ranch for unpaid 2008 income taxes. In April 2010, Kilmer paid $538,000 to settle another dispute with the IRS.

Filmography

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Film	Role	Notes
		Bit Part	Film DebutUncredited
	Bit Part	Uncredited
1979	''Apocalypse Now''	Bit Part	Uncredited
1981	''Body Heat''	William
1984	''Top Secret!''	Nick Rivers
1985	''Real Genius''	Chris Knight
	''Top Gun''	Lt. Tom 'Iceman' Kazanski
	Phillipe Huron	television film
1987	''The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains''	Robert Eliot Burns/Eliot Roberts
1988		Madmartigan
		William Bonney
''Kill Me Again''	Jack Andrews
1991		Jim Morrison	Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
1992	''Thunderheart''	Ray Levoi
		J.T. Barker
	Doc Holliday	Based on a true storyNominated – MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable MaleNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
''True Romance''
	''Batman Forever''		Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
	Chris Shiherlis	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
''Wings of Courage''	Jean Mermoz	IMAX Film
		Montgomery	rowspan=2|Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
''The Ghost and the Darkness''	Col. John Henry Patterson
	Dr. Dark
1997		Simon Templar
1998	''The Prince of Egypt''	Moses/God	Voice-over
	''At First Sight''	Virgil 'Virg' Adamson
''Joe the King''	Bob Henry
		Willem de Kooning
	Robby Gallagher
	''The Salton Sea''	Danny Parker / Tom Van Allen
''Hard Cash''	FBI Agent Mark C. Cornell	a.k.a. ''Run for the Money''
	Wonderland (film)>Wonderland''		Based on the Wonderland Murders
''The Missing''	Lt. Jim Ducharme
''Blind Horizon''	Frank Kavanaugh
''Masked and Anonymous''	Animal Wrangler
		The Sherpa	Episode: "The Script and the Sherpa"
	Robert Scott
	Staff Sergeant Skeer
	Philip II of Macedon
	El Cabillo	uncredited
	''Mindhunters''	Jake Harris
''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang''	Perry Van Shrike/"Gay Perry"	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion PictureNominated– Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
		The Wanted Man	a.k.a. ''Dead Man's Bounty''
''Moscow Zero''	Andrey
''10th & Wolf''	Murtha
''Played''	Dillon
	Agent Andrew Pryzwarra
''The Ten Commandments: The Musical''	Moses
	''Have Dreams, Will Travel''	Henderson
''Numb3rs''	Mason Lancer	Episode: "Trust Metric"
		Inish Scull	TV mini-series based on the book
	voice of KITT	television film based on 1980s TV series
	MacPherson	direct-to-video
	John Smith
	Bogardus	voice only
''2:22''	Maz
	John
''The Love Guru''	Himself	uncredited cameo
	Mongoose	based on Belgian comic book XIII
2008–2009		voice of KITT	TV series based on the 2008 television film
	''The Chaos Experiment''	James Pettis	a.k.a. ''The Steam Experiment''
''Streets of Blood''	Detective Andy Devereaux
''American Cowslip''	Todd Inglebrink
	Dr. David Kruipen
''Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans''	Stevie Pruit
	Virgil
''Fake Identity''	Nick	a.k.a. ''Double Identity''
		The Stranger/Mr. Nobody
	Warren Bloodworth
	Dieter Von Cunth
	Angel
	''Kill the Irishman''	Joe Manditski
	Arturo
''5 Days of August''	Dutch Journalist
	Hall Baltimore	in production
''Spider-Man: Edge of Time''	Walker Sloan	video game

References

External links

;General

Official website of Kilmer's Eddy-Twain movie project

;Interviews

''Maxim'' interview (January 2007)

Tom Green Live (November 6, 2006)

UGO interview (March 2004)

Deal Memo interview (April 23, 2002)

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Los Angeles, California Category:Actors from New Mexico Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:American poets Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Juilliard School alumni

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W.J. (Joe) Bethancourt III (born 1946) is a traditional American musician (a player of folk music), based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Biography

Bethancourt was born in El Paso, Texas. He began learning banjo at age 9, after he heard his maternal grandfather, C. H. Burnett, playing fiddle. His first banjo was given him by his grandfather, and was "an old S.S. Stewart." This banjo is now in the able hands of his nephew, Tom Purtill.

When his family moved to Phoenix for the final time, in 1961, Joe began learning guitar, hanging around coffeehouses, mariachi bands, bluegrass groups, and a place called "J.D.'s," where he would sneak in to listen to a local guy called Waylon Jennings. With the "folk boom" of the '60's just hitting its stride, he found that all that music he had learned as a child stood in good stead.

His first "real pro" gig came at age 18. The Phoenix acoustic scene was active and thriving and Joe hung out with people (then unknowns) like John Denver, the Irish Rovers and Jim Connor ("Grandma's Feather Bed"), and with some of the best in Dixieland, Ragtime and traditional Mexican musicians.

He spent a stint with a local bluegrass band, "Ma Tucker's String Band," playing with Jeff Gylkinson ("The Dillards") and Doug Haywood (keyboard player/songwriter for Jackson Browne). He also worked with noted entertainer Dan "Igor" Glenn in several bands. Joe credits "Igor" with teaching him much about the entertainer's art.

In 1968–1969, Joe worked in L.A. as a studio musician, where he made his first record, "The Joe Bethancourt String Concert Album." It was very favorable reviewed by Billboard (magazine) and given a four star rating.

Joe returned to Phoenix, where he became influential in the original KDKB underground radio "scene," hosting his own radio show on KDKB, "Folk Music Occasional," with (the late and much lamented) Bill Compton. He was also a regular on the Emmy award-winning "Wallace and Ladmo Show" on KPHO-TV (Ch.5) in the 1980s, and worked with children in the Arizona Commission for the Arts' "Artists in Education" program for about 6 years. He still does occasional Artist Residencies at local elementary schools.

For almost 17 years, he was the "house band" at a little restaurant at 19th Ave. and Bethany Home Rd, in Phoenix, called "Funny Fellows," playing instruments from his enormous collection of traditional (and not so traditional) instruments. During this time, he was instrumental in founding the Arizona chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism. He is no longer active in the organization, however, though he retains his membership in the Dark Horde. His Filk music within the SCA, under his Society name of Master Ioseph of Locksley, is legendary. Some call him a seminal influence on the acoustic music scene in Phoenix, crediting him for much of their style and technique.

He plays no less than 65 different instruments; from his beloved banjos (yes. plural! He has one of the finest collections of antique banjos in the Southwestern United States, and uses them on stage!) to 12-string guitar, all the way to more exotic things like 6-course Cittern, Celtic harp, Lute, and Ozark Mouthbow!

He was nominated for the (Arizona) Governor's Arts Award, and his recordings are now on file at the University of East Tennessee's Appalachian Archives Folklore collection. He's also on the advisory boards of the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall Of Fame and the Tombstone Western Music Festival. Popular Country Music singer Lynn Anderson called him "a genius" in the Summer 2007 issue of "Western Way" magazine.

He operates his own production company, White Tree Productions, and has recorded solo, with another noted songwriter, Leslie Fish, and with the neo-Celtic band The Bringers, all for Random Factors of Los Angeles. He teaches acoustic instruments of all kinds out of Boogie Music in Phoenix, Arizona, and is active in an historical reenactment group, the 9th Memorial Cavalry.

Discography

That Great Big Way Out There (Random Factors)

Who Fears The Devil? (Random Factors)

Celtic Circle Dance (Random Factors)

Naked Banjos (Random Factors)

Ride Back In Time (Random Factors)

It's About Time (The Bringers) (Random Factors)

Our Fathers Of Old (with Leslie Fish) (Random Factors)

Serious Steel (with Leslie Fish) (Random Factors)

Smoked Fish And Friends (RF-1004) (Random Factors)

Arizona Road Song (White Tree Productions)

Old Red Cat (White Tree Productions)

The Black Book Of Locksley (White Tree Productions)

The Filk Was Great: The Best of ConterPoint 3; Gonglomeration Inc

357 Miles East Of L.A. (Zia)

CactusCon Choruses: NASFIC 1987 (WailSongs)

This Train Is Bound For Glory (Carsten) LC 75-751068

Arizona Sounds KDKB Vol. 1 (Dwight Karma)

String Concert (Public) PS 5001

References

External links

White Tree Productions

Random Factors

9th Memorial Cavalry

Category:American folk musicians Category:Filkers Category:People from El Paso, Texas Category:1946 births Category:Living people