The Gunfighter turned it down, despite having expressed a strong desire to play the part, because of his longstanding hatred for Columbia's president, Harry Cohn. Columbia sold the rights to Twentieth Century Fox, where the role went to Peck. Wayne's final film, "The Shootist" (1976), is often compared to "The Gunfighter" and contains numerous plot similarities. The script was loosely based on the purported exploits of an actual western gunfighter named Johnny Ringo, a distant cousin of the outlaw Younger family and a purported survivor of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral against Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers. As in
Warren Earp in ongoing livestock thefts and had repeatedly threatened to kill the Earps if they interfered. Warren was at his parents' home in Colton, California at the time of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. On December 28, 1881, the Cowboys ambushed Virgil Earp, maiming him. Warren returned to Tombstone and was deputized by Wyatt. On March 18, 1882, Morgan Earp was murdered while playing billiards. On March 20, 1882 he joined a posse guarding Virgil and Allie as they were transported to Tucson to catch a train for California. At the station, Frank Stilwell was spotted