On this day in 1887 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Doc Holliday’s tuberculosis (and dependence on alcohol and laudanum) got the best of him.
Here’s Kirk Douglas as an ailing Holliday in Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957), with Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp. Some versions on the Holliday story/legend claim Earp was with him when he died. He was not.
Holliday’s tombstone reads “He died in bed.”
I really like Douglas’ take on Holliday, his final scene in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral has a wonderful air of bravado about it.
Tombstone bought into the idea of Earp visiting Doc just as he was dying and, even if it’s not the truth, it makes for a great scene.
There have been many fine Docs (more so than Earps!), from Quaid and Kilmer to Robards and Douglas, but I do think Douglas is the best of the lot. He actually hits the perfect note of self-loathing and self-congratulation perfectly.