Broadly based on fact, this series followed Wyatt Earp’s career and catalogued his encounters with the famous outlaws of the Wild West.
It began with the murder of his friend, Marshal Whitney, and Earp agreeing to take on his badge in Ellsworth, Kansas.
The rugged lawman later moved to Dodge City, where he confronted the infamous Doc Holliday and was assisted by his deputy, Bat Masterson.
The mayor, Jim ‘Dog’ Kelly, was also a friend, and Earp’s brothers Virgil and Morgan appeared now and again (but not Matt Dillon who, according to Gunsmoke, was also Marshal of Dodge City at exactly the same time).
In his last posting, Earp took over as Marshal of Tombstone, Arizona, meeting some of his most fearsome adversaries, the Clanton ‘Ten Percent Gang’.
With the Tombstone sheriff Johnny Behan in the pocket of Old Man Clanton, Earp was forced to call up frontiersman Shotgun Gibbs, a friend from Dodge City, to be his new deputy.
Doc Holliday also showed up, and the series came to a conclusion with the celebrated ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’.
Nellie Cashman, owner of the Birdcage Saloon, was Earp’s romantic attachment, and throughout the series, Earp’s trademark was a pair of “Buntline Special” pistols with extended barrels.
They allowed him to shoot his enemies from a long distance – very useful when dealing with such a bad crowd.
Wyatt Earp Hugh O’Brian
Bat Masterson
Mason Alan Dinehart III
Ben Thompson
Denver Pyle
Abbie Crandall
Gloria Talbot
Doc Fabrique
Douglas Fowley
Marsh Murdock
Don Haggerty
Jim ‘Dog’ Kelly
Paul Brinegar (1)
Ralph Sanford (2)
Doc Holliday
Douglas Fowley (1)
Myron Healey (2)
Shotgun Gibbs
Morgan Woodward
Morgan Earp
Dirk London
Virgil Earp
John Anderson
Nellie Cashman
Randy Stuart
Old Man Clanton
Trevor Bardette
Sheriff John Behan
Lash La Rue (1)
Steve Brodie (2)
Doc Goodfellow
Damian O’Flynn
