List of cultural depictions of Wild Bill Hickok
Encyclopedia
Dime novel
Dime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...
" hero of the western era, with his exploits presented in heroic form, making him seem larger than life. In truth, most of the stories were greatly exaggerated or fabricated by both the writers and himself. With the frontiersman Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
, Hickok also became one of the first comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
heroes.
Television
- Portrayed by Guy MadisonGuy MadisonGuy Madison was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Robert Ozell Moseley in Pumpkin Center, California, Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Coast Guard in...
in the 1951-58 series The Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958.-Synopsis:The Adventures of Wild...
, as well as in the Mutual Broadcasting radio series "The Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958.-Synopsis:The Adventures of Wild...
," 271 half-hour programs 1951-54. - Played by Lloyd BridgesLloyd BridgesLloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
in a 1964 episode of the anthology The Great AdventureThe Great Adventure (TV series)The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964 television season. The series, hosted each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented each week a one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important...
. - Portrayed by Josh BrolinJosh BrolinJosh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
in the 1989-92 series The Young RidersThe Young RidersThe Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...
. - Portrayed by William Russ in episode 1.06 of the 1995 series LegendLegend (TV series)Legend was a science fiction Western television show that ran on UPN from April 18, 1995 until August 22, 1995, with one final re-airing of the pilot on July 3, 1996. It was Richard Dean Anderson's first major role after the successful MacGyver series, and also starred John de Lancie, best known...
, episode 1.06 "The Life, Death and Life of Wild Bill Hickok." The episode portrays him faking his own death so that he can retire peacefully. - Dramatized in the HBO series DeadwoodDeadwood (TV series)Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before...
, in which he is portrayed by Keith CarradineKeith CarradineKeith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
. - In the 1995 made-for-television film Buffalo GirlsBuffalo GirlsBuffalo Girls is a 1990 novel written by American author Larry McMurtry about Calamity Jane . It is written in the novel prose style mixed with a series of letters from Calamity Jane to her daughter. In her letters, Calamity describes herself as being a drunken hellraiser but never an outlaw...
based on the novel by Larry McMurtryLarry McMurtryLarry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas...
, he was played by actor Sam ElliottSam ElliottSamuel Pack "Sam" Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, and deep, resonant voice match the iconic image of a cowboy or rancher, and he has often been cast in such roles.-Early life:Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training...
with Anjelica HustonAnjelica HustonAnjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
as Calamity JaneCalamity JaneMartha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...
. The film (as does the book on which it is based) portrays the legend that Calamity Jane had a daughter by him. - Played by Sam ShepardSam ShepardSam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
in the 1999 film Purgatory, a made-for-television film on TNTTurner Network TelevisionTurner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner... - Histeria!Histeria!Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...
featured Hickok in the episode "North America"; he appears in a sketch where Lydia Karaoke hosts a game show in which her contestants must guess Hickok's occupation.
Films
- Played by William S. HartWilliam S. HartWilliam Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
in the 1923 film Wild Bill Hickok - Played by Gary CooperGary CooperFrank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
in the 1936 film The PlainsmanThe PlainsmanThe Plainsman is a 1936 American Western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. The film presents a highly fictionalized account of the adventures and relationships between Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, and General George Custer, with a...
, featuring Jean ArthurJean ArthurJean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
as Calamity JaneCalamity JaneMartha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...
and directed by Cecil B. DeMilleCecil B. DeMilleCecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies... - In The Three Stooges short Goofs and Saddles (1937) Moe HowardMoe HowardMoses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...
's character is known as "Wild Bill Hiccup". - Played by Wild Bill ElliottWild Bill ElliottWild Bill Elliott was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B-Westerns, particularly in the Red Ryder series of films.-Early life:...
in the 1938 serialSerial (film)Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Great Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is a Columbia movie serial. It was the fourth of the fifty-seven serials released by Columbia and their first western serial. The serial was the first from a new production company, the previous three serials had been produced by Weiss Brothers.-Plot:Wild... - Played by Roy RogersRoy RogersRoy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
in the 1940 film Young Bill Hickok, directed by Joseph KaneJoseph KaneJasper Joseph Inman Kane was a prolific American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter... - Played by Bruce CabotBruce CabotBruce Cabot was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong . He is also known for his roles in films such as the sixth version of Last of the Mohicans, Fritz Lang's Fury and the western Dodge City.-Early life:Cabot was born Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad,...
in the 1942 film Wild Bill Hickok Rides - Played by Howard KeelHoward KeelHarold Clifford Keel , known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s...
in the 1953 film Calamity Jane - Played by Forrest TuckerForrest TuckerForrest Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood 190 cm tall and weighed 93 kg , appeared in nearly 100 action films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:Forrest Meredith Tucker was born in Plainfield, Indiana, a son of...
in the 1953 film Pony ExpressPony ExpressThe Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861... - Played by Tom BrownTom Brown (actor)Thomas Brown was an American child model, and later a film and television actor....
in the 1956 film I Killed Wild Bill HickokI Killed Wild Bill Hickok- Cast :*Johnny Carpenter as 'Johnny Rebel' Savage*Denver Pyle as Jim Bailey*Virginia Gibson as Anne James*Tom Brown as Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok*Helen Westcott as Bella Longtree*I. Stanford Jolley as Henry Longtree*Frank 'Red' Carpenter as Ring Pardo... - Played by Robert CulpRobert CulpRobert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...
in the 1963 film The Raiders, directed by Hershel Daugherty - Portrayed by Jeff CoreyJeff CoreyJeff Corey was an American stage and screen actor and director who became a well-respected acting teacher after being blacklisted in the 1950s.-Biography:...
in the 1970 Arthur PennArthur PennArthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
film Little Big Man - Portrayed by Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
in the 1977 film The White BuffaloThe White BuffaloThe White Buffalo is a 1977 western film starring Charles Bronson, Kim Novak, Jack Warden, Slim Pickens, and Will Sampson. The movie is rated PG in the USA. The film is directed by J. Lee Thompson, who frequently teamed with Bronson. It was also the final film Bronson made for United... - Portrayed by Richard FarnsworthRichard FarnsworthRichard W. Farnsworth was an American actor and stuntman. His film career began in 1937; however, he achieved his greatest success for his performances in The Grey Fox and The Straight Story , for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor.- Early life :Farnsworth was born...
in the 1981 film The Legend of the Lone RangerThe Legend of the Lone RangerThe Legend of the Lone Ranger is a 1981 British-American western film directed by William A. Fraker and starring Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse and Christopher Lloyd.... - Portrayed by Jeff BridgesJeff BridgesJeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
in the 1995 film Wild Bill - Portrayed by Gerard Buehler in the 1998 TV documentary series Gunfighters of the West narrated by Brian Dennehey
Novels
- Little Big Man (1964), Thomas Berger
- The Return of Little Big Man (1999), Thomas Berger
- Darlin' Bill: A Love Story of the Wild West (1980), Jerome CharynJerome CharynJerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life...
- Deadwood (1986), Pete DexterPete DexterPete Dexter is an American novelist. He was the recipient of the 1988 National Book Award for Fiction for his novel Paris Trout.-Biography:Dexter was born in Pontiac, Michigan...
- Under the Stars and Bars, J.T.Edson
- And Not to Yield, Randy Lee Eickoff
- Aces & Eights (1981), Loren D. EstlemanLoren D. EstlemanLoren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter....
- A Breed Apart Max EvansMax EvansMaxwell "Max" Evans is a fictional character created by Melinda Metz for the young adults book series Roswell High and adapted by Jason Katims for the 1999-2002 American science fiction television series Roswell...
- The Lawless, Volume VII of The Kent Family ChroniclesThe Kent Family ChroniclesThe Kent Family Chronicles is a series of eight novels by John Jakes written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. The books became best sellers, with no novel in the series selling fewer than 3.5 million copies...
(1978), John JakesJohn JakesJohn William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction.-Early life and education:... - The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok (1996), Richard MathesonRichard MathesonRichard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
- The White Buffalo, Richard SaleRichard Sale (director)Richard Sale, was an American screenwriter and film director.He started his career writing for the pulps in the Thirties, appearing regularly in Detective Fiction Weekly , Argosy, Double Detective, and a number of other magazines...
Comic Books
- Classics IllustratedClassics IllustratedClassics Illustrated is a comic book series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies...
No. 121, Wild Bill Hickok, published by Gilberton Co., Inc., July 1954; interior art by Sal Trapani and Medio Iorio. - Cowboy Western #62 Wild Bill Hickok 1957
- Young Wild Bill Hickok appears as part of The League of Infinity, a team of teenage heroes from different eras in Supreme (comics)Supreme (comics)Supreme is a fictional superhero created by Rob Liefeld and first published by Image Comics, then Maximum Press, and later by Awesome Entertainment...
as written by Alan MooreAlan MooreAlan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
circa 1994. - Hickok has a 2nd-tier, but prominent role in Vertigo's mini-series, "Jonah HexJonah HexJonah Woodson Hex is a Western comic book antihero created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga and published by DC Comics. Hex is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side. Despite his poor reputation and personality, Hex is bound by a personal...
: Two Gun Mojo" wherein he survived being shot but was buried alive, only to be made into a mindless "zombieZombieZombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
" by the antogonist of the story.
Music
- "Deadwood Mountain", Big and Rich
- "Wild Bill Hickup", parody by Spike JonesSpike JonesMel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
- "Aces and Eight", David JohnDavid JohnDavid "Dai" John was a Welsh professional rugby league footballer of the 1910s who at representative level played for Wales, and at club level for Salford.-International honours:Dai John won a cap for Wales while at Salford in 1913.-External links:*...
- "The Ace of Spades", Motörhead
- "Rhymes of the Renegades", Michael Martin MurpheyMichael Martin MurpheyMichael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, Country music, and Popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter...
- "The Burial Of Wild Bill", John Wallace CrawfordJohn Wallace CrawfordJohn Wallace Crawford , known as "The Poet Scout", was an American Civil War veteran, an American Old West scout, and a poet of western lore. He was a scout for General George Crook and General Phil Sheridan, friend of Wild Bill Hickok and co-actor, performer and scout with William F. Cody...
, performed by Norman BlakeNorman Blake (American musician)Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...
on Flower From the Fields of AlabamaFlower From the Fields of AlabamaFlower From the Fields of Alabama is an album of American musician Norman Blake, released in 2001.- Track listing :All songs Traditional unless otherwise noted.# "Salty Dog" – 4:21# "Bonaparte's Grand March" – 5:20... - "Philadelphia LawyerPhiladelphia Lawyer (song)Philadelphia Lawyer is a Woody Guthrie song about a divorce lawyer from Philadelphia who is shot by a jealous husband. It is a folksong version of a lawyer joke. It is also known by the title Reno Blues.-Recordings:...
" by Woodie Guthrie - "Rambling, Gambling Willie", Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- "Wild Bill," Blue HighwayBlue HighwayBlue Highway is an American contemporary bluegrass band. They have released eight CDs, their sixth and seventh – Wondrous Love , and Marbletown – received Grammy Award nominations.-Personnel:...