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Originally posted by DixieChik:
Thanks TDB -- I didn't know that...I watched the original and it gave me nightmares when I was a kid...He did have a good sense of humor...From the Tombstone role, I pictured what a true "good man" from the West would have been like..you know, leave him here if they want him they gotta go through me...that protector feeling...
You're right about Tombstone. It was a perfect role for him. Heston was portraying Henry Hooker - one of those flesh and blood unsung heroes of the old west that you always hear historians talking about. A real man's man who didn't broadcast his accomplishments, but showed his true manhood by his actions and quiet courage.
This from Wikipedia:
Henry Clay Hooker was a prominent and wealthy rancher of the Old West, and personal friend to lawman Wyatt Earp during the early 1880s.
Hooker, sometimes referred to as "Col. Hooker", owned and operated the Sierra Bonita Ranch, located in Graham and Cochise Counties, first established in 1872. At one time his ranch was the largest in Arizona, at 800 acres. He was a supporter of the Earp faction, and assisted them with allowing them the use of his ranch and supplies during the Earp vendetta ride.
Although a prominent figure in the events that played out in Arizona during the late 19th century, little is known of Hooker otherwise. Little is known of his life after those events, and even less is known of his life prior to the events involving the Earp-Cowboys clash. It is believed that he served during the Civil War, on the side of the Union, but that has never been confirmed.
