Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (Monmouth, Illinois, March 19, 1848 - Los Angeles, California, January 13, 1929) was a famous marshal (sheriff) who held various police posts in the western United States. He was one of the protagonists of the shooting at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, along with Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp. He is one of the legendary figures of the American West whose life has inspired numerous westerns .

Wyatt Earp was famous in the American West for his extreme toughness in dealing with those who broke the law, incorruptible and daring in his procedures. His fame was achieved in Tombstone (Arizona). During his tenure as marshal he lost one of his brothers and another of his was crippled by the revenge of his enemies.

Biography

The parents of Wyatt Earp (circa 1880)

Wyatt Earp at the age of 8 with his mother (1856)

Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois. He was the third child of farmers Virginia Ann Cooksey and Nicholas Porter Earp, a remarried ex-serviceman.

His career began in the town of Lamar, Missouri, in 1870; before that he was a cowboy by trade and a buffalo hunter. In 1871 he was betrothed to a woman named Urilla Sutherland, a relative of his brothers' wives. His marriage ended unhappily after two years when his wife fell ill with typhoid fever and died along with her unborn child. It was the only time he was married.

In 1876 he went to work with the Dodge City police and in 1878 was appointed assistant to sheriff Charles Basset. Following the death of Commissioner Ed Masterson during his absence, Wyatt learned that if he was not drastic, determined and fast in his procedures he would not earn the respect of the bandits and that could cost him his life. Earp befriended Doc Holliday, a dentist turned poker player, who would be his closest friend.

Earp at age 22.

In 1878 he had a common-law relationship with a prostitute named Mattie Blaylock, a relationship that would last until 1882; Earp left her because of her alcoholism and her fondness for her laudanum. Around the same time, he became friends with a dancer of Jewish origin named Josephine Sarah Marcus. In 1879 he moved to Tombstone, Arizona, intending to become a farmer. However, his brothers Virgil and Morgan held positions in the police and they recruited Wyatt as a special policeman; he later he would be the marshal of that town.

Due to the harshness of his management, he made irreconcilable enemies such as the Clanton brothers and McLaury, who considered the Earps as intruders in their domains. These brothers had many fights with the Earps and in the end they ended up in the shooting in the O.K. Corral, where two of McLaury's brothers and one Clanton lost their lives. As a result of this shooting, a trial was held against the Earps and Doc Holliday, whose decision was the freedom of all the defendants due to lack of merits in the murder charge. This triggered the shadowy revenge of the Clantons and the McLaurys, who killed Morgan Earp from behind and disabled Virgil. Wyatt got his revenge on them by killing them in a raid called the "Earp Ride".

Wyatt Earp lived with Josephine Sarah Marcus since 1882, a dancer of Jewish origin and former partner of commissioner Johnny Behan. She was his sentimental partner until her death in 1929.

Wyatt Earp died of natural causes at the age of 80 on January 13, 1929, in Los Angeles, California.

Actors who have played Wyatt Earp in movies

Wyatt Earp is one of the American characters who has appeared the most times on both the big and small screen, both telling his story and appearing casually.

• 1934 Border Sheriffled by Lewis Seiler. Wyatt's name was changed by Michael and interpreted by George O'Brien.
• 1939 Border Sheriffdirected by Allan Dawn. Wyatt Earp was played by Randolph Scott, and Doc Holiday by César Romero. This film and the previous one are adaptations of a similar novel by Stuart N. Lakes.
• 1942 Die in Tombstoneled by William C. McGann. Wyatt Earp was Richard Dix, and Doc Holiday was Kent Taylor.
• 1946 Passion of the strongdirected by John Ford. For some, the film that best tells the story of Wyatt Earp, which was played by Henry Fonda, while Doc Holiday was Victor Mature.
• 1950 Winchester 73led by Anthony Mann. The actor Will Geer was Wyatt Earp, Sheriff of Dodge City. His appearance in the film is only anecdotal, as the main argument of the film is how the famous rifle passes hand in hand.
• 1954 The Mastersons of Kansasled by William Castle. The actor Bruce Corvin makes the famous sheriff in a secondary role where the legendary Sheriff Bat Masterson is the protagonist. Doc Holiday was played by James Griffith.
• 1955 Wichitadirected by Jacques Tourneur, where Wyatt Earp was Joel McCrea. In this film are narrated supposed facts of Wyatt Earp's life prior to those who would give him fame.
• 1959 Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, series that narrates various adventures of the famous sheriff, played by Hugh O'Brian, while Myron Healey was Doc Holiday.
• 1957 Titans duel, led by John Sturges, with Burt Lancaster on the role of Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas in Doc Holiday.
• 1957 Forty Guns, led by Samuel Fuller, makes a particular re-reading of the Tombstone war.
• 1958 The country of the wickeddirected by Fred F. Sears. Buster Crabbe played Wyatt Earp in this movie.
• 1964 The Great Fightdirected by John Ford. In a small sequence of this movie James Stewart plays a sympathetic and Wyatt Earp player, and Arthur Kennedy is Doc Holiday.
• 1965 Rio Bravo ChallengeTulio Demichelli, with Guy Madison giving life to Wyatt Earp.
• 1967 The time of the guns, by John Sturges, is a new version of this director, starts right after the duel of OK Corral. James Garner was Wyatt Earp, and Jason Robards, Doc Holiday.
• 1971 Duel to death at OK Corraldirected by Frank Perry, the film seen from the point of view of Doc Holiday, played by Stacy Keach, while Wyatt Earp was Harris Yulin.
• 1981 Legend of the Lone Rangerled by Frank Conniff. Wyatt Earp was played by Matt Clark.
• 1983 I married Wyatt Earp.directed by Michael O'Herlihy. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday were played by Bruce Boxleitner and Jeffry DeMun, respectively.
• 1988 Murder in Beverly HillsBlake Edwards, where James Garner reinterpreted the famous sheriff in a crepuscular story.
• 1993 Tombstone, directed by George P. Cosmatos, with Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday, in a review of the myth of the 1990s.
• 1994 Wyatt Earp, led by Lawrence Kasdan, starring Kevin Costner, who would be Wyatt Earp, and Dennis Quaid, Doc Holliday, in an ambitious film that intended to cover the entire life of the hero, and that because of his meagre metraje was a commercial failure.
• 1994 Wyatt Earp. Back to Tombstone, miniseries, continuation of the fifties, in which again Hugh O'Brian was Wyatt Earp, while Douglas Fowley did on this occasion of Doc Holiday.
• 2006 Deadwood, series of the HBO chain, in which actor Gale Harold played Wyatt Earp as a recurring character of the third season.
• 2012 Wyatt Earp The first adventure (also known as The Revenge of Wyatt Earp). Directed by Michael Feifer, an old Wyatt Earp played by Val Kilmer tells the story of the capture of the Kennedy brothers by the young Wyatt Earp played by Shawn Roberts, in the role of Doc Holiday Wilson Bether.