‘Tombstone’ Cast Includes a Real-Life Wyatt Earp

Since its release, Tombstone has become known as one of the greatest Westerns. The film tells the story of the historical lawman Wyatt Earp, and some of the figures he worked with in Tombstone, Arizona. The film received favorable reviews upon its release and has left a powerful legacy.

Part of the reason for Tombstone‘s success is its legendary cast. Kurt Russell stars as Wyatt Earp, and Val Kilmer gives one of his best performances as Doc Holliday. The film also starred actors like Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Charlton Heston, and Robert Mitchum as the narrator. However, viewers who closely watched the credits would have noticed a mysterious name — somehow, Wyatt Earp is listed as one of the actors.

The Real Wyatt Earp’s Cousin Appeared in ‘Tombstone’

The simple reason for Wyatt Earp being listed as an actor in a movie about himself is that an actor shared a name with him. It wasn’t like a Better Man situation, where Wyatt Earp played himself, considering that the notorious sheriff was dead by then. The actor Wyatt Earp doesn’t even play Earp in the movie.

Wyatt Earp, the actor, is actually the fifth cousin of the historic Earp. They’re technically related, although being fifth cousins means that they only share a great-great-great-great-great-grandparent, making them quite far from each other. However, the fact that they are cousins does put some perspective into how recently the real Earp was alive, as he didn’t die until 1929, only 33 years before his fifth cousin was born.

In Tombstone, Wyatt Earp plays the very small role of Billy Claiborne. Claiborne barely appears in the movie, but his most noticeable scene is during the famous O.K. Corral gunfight. Claiborne appears just before the fight actually happens, as the Earps approach the outlaws. Claiborne is with the outlaws, standing in the back, and he quickly runs away in the scene. He wears a white shirt, a reddish scarf, a mustache and a cowboy hat.

Claiborne’s small appearance in the scene is at least historically accurate. Claiborne was friends with Billy Clanton, who participated in the gunfight, and Claiborne was around at the time. Historians say that he did leave the fight quickly, and would later go on to impersonate Billy the Kid.

The Actor Made an Interesting Career Out of Being Earp’s Cousin

The actor Wyatt Earp wasn’t always known that way. He was born as Glen Wyatt Earp, but he dropped the first name when he started acting. Kurt Russell once referred to him as Wyatt Earp III in an interview, which was a mistake as the actor is not a direct descendant of Wyatt Earp. He’s also been called Wyatt Earp’s great-grandnephew, but he’s made it clear he’s a fifth cousin.

The actor’s role in Tombstone was initially even smaller, according to an Entertainment Weekly profile of the actor in 1994, but when his relation to the real Wyatt Earp was discovered, he was given the Claiborne part. Earp would consult with people on the set about his distant cousin. He also said he had a few bigger scenes that were cut, like one where he kills Mr. Fabian and another where he was killed.

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Since Tombstone, Wyatt Earp has been acting in plays about his cousin, as well as Doc Holliday. He acted in the one-man play Wyatt Earp: Life on the Frontier, which was written by his wife, Terry Earp. He also played Doc Holliday in a similar show called The Gentleman Doc Holliday, which was written as a collaboration between his wife and Karen Holliday Tanner, who was a relative of Doc Holliday. Both plays also retold the events of the O.K. Corral gunfight, which must have been a full-circle moment for Wyatt Earp, as that was one of his main scenes in Tombstone.

An Obsession With Wyatt Earp Happened in the ’90s

The actor Wyatt Earp was smart to cash in on his famous genetics when he did. In the early 1990s, there seemed to be an obsession with the figure Wyatt Earp, as two major films about the lawman were released in theaters. The first one, released in 1993 by Buena Vista Pictures, was Tombstone, which depicted how Wyatt Earp worked with other Western heroes to defeat the villainous Cowboys. Kurt Russell starred as Earp. The other film was released in 1994 and was titled Wyatt Earp. The film starred Kevin Costner and was more focused on Earp himself.

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The actor had connections to both films. When he heard that movies about his cousin were in production, he tried his best to get a part in them. He was trying to get Wyatt Earp‘s director Lawrence Kasdan to let him read the part of Morgan Earp when he got offered a role in Tombstone.

Of the two movies, Earp chose correctly. Tombstone went on to become a classic Western. The movie has been highly remembered for Val Kilmer’s portrayal of Doc Holliday, and it wasn’t a box-office bomb like Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp received poor reviews from critics with a 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, with most critics saying its three-hour runtime felt long.