One of Woodward's longest television roles was as the deputy/sidekick "Shotgun" Gibbs in 1955-1961 television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp starring Hugh O'Brian. On that series, Woodward played a tall, cantankerous, shotgun-toting backwoodsman who eventually became the trusted deputy of lawman Wyatt Earp in his days as a Kansas lawman. Though often overshadowed by the cool menace of Douglas Fowley's Doc Holliday, Woodward portrayed Gibbs as a solid, trustworthy, and more pragmatic partner to Earp, making Gibbs a character who, though ostensibly rough around the edges, would gradually come to share many of the qualities demonstrated over the years by another trusted television deputy, Ken Curtis' world-weary Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke.
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“Tom Mix: Wyatt, is that really the way it was?
Wyatt Earp: Absolutely. Well, give or take a lie or two.”
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