September 2, 2025
Earlier this summer I was contacted by a True West reader named Dean Shier who told me he just may have found an image of Wyatt Earp on film.
In my 1993 book, "The Illustrated Life & Times of Wyatt Earp" I covered the tidbit that came from the Hollywood director Allan Dwan about his memory that the real Wyatt Earp was an extra on his 1916 silent film "The Half-Breed" starring Douglas Fairbanks. I covered all this in my book, but at the time I had not seen the film and relied on a friend, Jeff Morey, who had seen it. It was Jeff's astute opinion that the only person in the film that Dwan may have been referring to was a guy who more resembles Texas John Slaughter who was, like Earp, also a lawman in Cochise County and perhaps Dwan confused the two men?
Dean told me he easily found the film on YouTube. It has been restored with lost footage and everything. So, with much enthusiasm, I did the same thing—and so can you!
Sure enough, at the 9.26 mark we see a white mustachioed gent sitting along the back wall of the fictional Palka Saloon, and this is the character Dean believes might be Wyatt Earp.
Wyatt Earp as an extra?I tried to clean up the image so we could see his hat a little more clearly, but it is just too grainy. Here is my attempt to liberate the gent's hat, but it's just an educated guess.
Wyatt Earp author, Casey Tefertiller, is quite skeptical and says the jaw is not right, but I have to say, there are other confirmed photos of Earp that are similar, if not a little jaw dropping. . .
Wyatt Earp in LA, 1910
No, that's not Wyatt in the film. That guy has a much fatter face than Wyatt's, which was long and thinner. Wyatt also had very clear diagonal creases in his cheeks in both the 1910 photo just above, and the 1920's photo at the top. So in 1916, we would definitely have seen that, and they're not on the guy in the film. Wyatt's ear lobes were very long and detached, the guy in the film has normal length lobes and they look to be attached. The only thing similar between the two men is that they have a mustache! I watched the film, and I didn't see anyone else who looked to be Wyatt, but there are men with their backs to the camera or looking down most of the time so it's hard to tell.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Wyatt Earp...documentation says he was an extra in that scene
ReplyDeleteThe Director wrote a book stating Earp was on set and in that scene. LOOKS like Earp to me.
ReplyDeleteSure looks like Wyatt Earp!!!
ReplyDeleteHe was there...documentation he was there and proof he was on set.