"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1955) TV series 1955-1961

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Release Date:

6 September 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Marshal Earp keeps the law, first in Kansas and later in Arizona, using his over-sized pistols and a variety of sidekicks...

Plot Keywords:

Marshal | Kansas | Wyatt Earp | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Hugh O'Brian

...

Wyatt Earp (164 episodes, 1955-1961)

Also Known As:

Wyatt Earp

Runtime:

30 min (266 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

From 1956 until 1959 the show was set in Dodge City, which was also the setting for "Gunsmoke" (1955). Marshall Matt Dillon is never mentioned, but in one episode Earp makes a passing reference to the Longbranch Saloon, a setting for much of the action on "Gunsmoke".

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Movie Orgy (1968)

Soundtrack:

The Legend Of Wyatt Earp

Sanitized with surprises

For my wife when she was a girl, Hugh O'Brien was Wyatt Earp. A cleaner better hero would be hard to find. When he finally killed someone, Wyatt was devastated and the star portrayed it beautifully. Oddly, there is some evidence this was historically accurate. No semi-professional gambling, no failed businesses, no "wives" and yet the staging of the famous Tombstone street fight was, garb apart, among the least inaccurate. Based on Stewart Lake's imaginative biography this series did for the 1950s what Lake's book did for the 1930s: cemented the Legend of Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp for as long as anyone remembers the Old West. Recently (2009) I watched the episodes contained in a boxed set of DVDs and was frankly astonished at Hugh O'Brien's portrayal of Wyatt Earp. There was an edge, a darkness to his Earp that I missed when I was young. O'Brien certainly captures the nobility that Lake's book placed to the fore but the actor also captured very subtly the coldness, the reserve, the calculating quality of the real Earp. I now, half a century after first watching "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", have belatedly realize what a fine actor Hugh O'Brien was. Thank you, Mr O'Brien!