The Kaloma Photograph
There is a particular scene in the movie that is worth referencing as it is taken from a real-life story. Just before the shoot-out at O.K. Corral, there is a scene where Josie — Wyatt Earp’s love interest, played by the actress Dana Delany — refers to the famous Kaloma Photograph. In the scene, she briefly sees the photo at Fly’s Photographic Studio. The Kaloma Photograph is, in fact, real and pretty famous. It depicts the image of a nude woman who has draped herself in a sheer cloth.
There is a dispute over who the mystery woman in the photograph is. Some think it might be Josephine Marcus Earp, while some historians have questioned whether the photograph is in fact authentic. Some claim it to be just a showgirl from the East Coast. Historians also believe the photograph to be dated between 1913-1914 which would not match the timelines of the events in “Tombstone”, so it is unlikely actually to be Josephine Marcus Earp.
The Elvis Presley Connection
An unlikely connection can be made between Elvis Presley, also known as the King of Rock 'n Roll and the movie "Tombstone". In separate movies, Elvis has been played by both Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer who played alongside each other.
Val Kilmer played Elvis in the movie "True Romance". He had been busy as it was released in the same year as "Tombstone" and then played him again in the movie "Top Secret". Kurt Russell also played Elvis on two occasions. The first was a TV movie called "Elvis", and then later he was the voice of Elvis in the Oscar award-winning "Forrest Gump" which was released in 1994.
Lester Moore's Grave
There is a scene in "Tombstone" when the Earps enter the town for the first time. In one of the shots, the camera pans around the cemetery and focuses on one of the tombstones. The engraving on the stone reads, “Here lies Lester Moore, Four slugs from a 44, No less, no more.” While this may seem like a slightly unusual engraving, it was actually taken from a real tombstone in Tombstone Arizona. Here art was mimicking life.
There is an amusement park called Knotts Berry Farm, located in California which has a special “Wild West” section. There they recreated the cemetery and tombstone from the movie which visitors and fans of the film love to come and see. There were actually several scenes shot at Knotts Berry Farm as they were used for some of the establishing shots in the movie. We know this because the name of the theme park is listed in the thank you section of the movie credits. It’s always nice for a contribution to be recognized.
A Name Game
Both actresses who portrayed Wyatt Earp’s love interests had the same name. As a funny coincidence, Earp’s character fell in love with Josephine and Matty, but in real life, they are both named Dana. Dana Delaney played Josephine and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson played Mattie.
Mattie was Earp’s second common-law wife who he met after his first wife passed away. Josephine became his third common-law wife after things with Mattie fell apart.
One-Liners From Wyatt Earp
For a gun-slinging hero who kept players and sporting men as his constant companions, Wyatt Earp’s character had a sharp tongue. Referring to silver miners in "Tombstone" who had gotten very rich mining the area, Earp says, “They’ll all be richer than Croesus.”
It’s an idiom of the time, but it refers to a legendarily wealthy king who reigned over Lydia in Western Asia Minor from 560 to 546 B.C. His reserves overflowed with gold pouring from the mines. He was the first king to use gold to make coins. Silver coins were made out of Tombstone’s silver mines.