Wednesday 22 July 2020

H is for... Holliday, Doc


The notorious gambler and gunfighter "Doc" Holliday had just opened his dentist shop in Tombstone Arizona in October 1881 when the TARDIS arrived. His girlfriend, Kate, was the singer at the town's Last Chance Saloon.
The Doctor was suffering from a terrible toothache after eating a boiled sweet, and he proved to be Holliday's first customer. The only anaesthetics on offer were a shot of whiskey, or being hit over the head with Holliday's revolver.
Holliday had earlier killed one of the Clanton brothers, and they were out for revenge against him. Holliday decided to set the Doctor up as a decoy, although the Clantons already suspected the Doctor to be their target after Steven Taylor had referred to him as "Doc" in their hearing.
Holliday was on friendly terms with Marshal Wyatt Earp, and he too went along with the deception to protect his friend, though he did not want to see the Doctor harmed - placing him in protective custody. Holliday fled the town, taking Kate and Dodo Chaplet with him, but they returned to Tombstone after Dodo threatened to shoot him.
After the Clanton's murdered Wyatt's brother, Holliday insisted on joining him in the shoot-out with the brothers at the OK Corral. Holliday gunned own the Clanton's associate Johnny Ringo, who was also out to kill him, and the Clantons also perished. Afterwards, Holliday was forced to abandon his dentist shop after having a bounty placed on his head. He gave the Doctor his 'Wanted' poster as a souvenir.

Played by: Anthony Jacobs. Appearances: The Gunfighters (1966).
  • John Henry Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia in 1851 - making him only 30 when the gunfight at the OK Corral took place (much younger than his portrayal by Jacobs). He got his nickname of "Doc" after studying dentistry. He was diagnosed with TB at the age of 21 - the illness which would claim his life in November 1887. When once asked if his conscience bothered him about the many men he had killed, he replied "I coughed that up with my lungs years ago". He died in bed.
  • Jacobs' son Matthew was the writer of 1996's Doctor Who: the Movie.

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