Early film star Richard Dix, who appeared in 101 films including both silent and sound features, starred as Western lawman Wyatt Earp in the 1942 release Tombstone. Dix was a prolific actor who appeared, on average, in two movies per year from 1917 until his death in 1949.

Tombstone, with the sub-title ‘The Town Too Tough to Die’, was released in June of 1942 and is possibly the first film version of the incident known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Dix, who was nearing 50 at the time, plays Wyatt Earp, and Edgar Buchanan — who would appear in the television program “Petticoat Junction” in the 1970’s, was Curly Bill Brocious.

The film is not the first time the character of Wyatt was portrayed for the movies. In 1923, the film Wild Bill Hickok included Earp’s character as a fellow gunman. He was played by actor William S. Hart. The real Earp settled in Southern California and was friends with such noted early western stars as Tom Mix and Hart. Earp died at the age of 80 in 1929, and both Mix and Hart served as pallbearers.

There have been multiple movies about the famous incident, which occurred at Tombstone, Arizona on October 26, 1881. These include John Ford’s My Darling Clementine, 1946. Other more recent versions include Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Hour of the Gun (1967), Tombstone (1993), and Wyatt Earp (1994).