My first real exposure to Doc Holiday or Doc Holliday was Val Kilmer’s portrayal of the character in Tombstone [not very relevant, but how would Johnny Depp do as Doc Holliday?]. Anyway, I liked square-jawed Kilmer in the film, though for some Dennis Quaid’s acting in the film “Wyatt Earp” is the definitive portrayal of the man.
But who was Doc Holiday and how could a TB-stricken man shoot so well. This tribute by Wyatt Earp for his friend should give us an idea – “He was the most skillful gambler, and the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever saw.”
Doc Holiday lived in a time when it was possible to move back and forth between the lines that demarcated lawfulness from lawlessness. And he always operated in the wilder sections of the Wild West. Doc was used to shifting bases because he invariably attracted bounty hunters. But the one time he even outdid himself was when the Army, U.S. Marshals, Texas Rangers, and local lawmen and citizens were hot on his trail because he plugged an armyman in Fort Richardson.
It was flight from this formidable posse that brought Doc to Kansas via Colorado to meet Wyatt Earp and sow the seeds for facing his own destiny.
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