Doc Holliday Doc Holliday was a dentist , gambler , and gunfighter . Holliday moved to the town of Tombstone with his girlfriend , Kate Fisher . There he befriended the local marshal , Wyatt Earp , and started a business as a dentist . He was setting up this business when Kate came to warn him that the Clanton brothers ( Ike , Billy and Phineas ) had come to kill him after he killed their brother , Reuben Clanton . The First Doctor visited Holliday ' s dentistry to have his tooth removed . As he was the first ever customer , Holliday performed it for free . While he was with Kate in a back room , Seth Harper , an associate of the Clantons , entered and took the Doctor to be Holliday . He left after telling the Doctor to meet him at the Last Chance Saloon . Seeing this as a chance to fool the brothers , Kate and Doc dressed the Doctor in regalia akin to that of Doc , even giving him a gun with Holliday ' s name engraved upon it . After finding a message from Kate saying she had gone to the saloon , Doc went there and entered through a back entrance . He watched as the Clantons threatened the Doctor , believing him to be Doc . Holliday fired at the roof , causing chaos below . Dodo Chaplet was alerted by the shot and met Holliday on the stairs . He threatened her and forced her to return back to her room . Doc also went to Dodo ' s room and Kate joined them . To pass the time , Doc and Kate played chance . After seeing a mob pass by looking to lynch the Doctor , and also carrying his operating chair , Doc decided to go out . On the way down , Kate called after him , causing Seth Harper to identify him as the real Doc Holliday . However , Doc was faster on the draw and killed Seth . Doc , Kate and Dodo then left town and went to another saloon not far from Tombstone . While fetching food for his companions , Doc met a man whom he had wronged in the past and killed him in the ensuing fight . Impatient to return to her friends , Dodo threatened Doc with a gun , telling him to take her back to Tombstone . Although he was armed and Dodo posed little threat , he agreed and told Kate to stay in the saloon . Returning to Tombstone , Doc sided with Wyatt and Virgil Earp to fight the Clantons . This was largely because Johnny Ringo had sided with them and kidnapped Kate . The two sides met at the O . K . Corral and a gunfight ensued . Ringo managed to get behind Doc but Dodo warned him of the danger . Ringo took Dodo as a human shield , forcing Doc to drop his gun . As Ringo moved to run , Doc pulled a second gun and shot him . He sat next to him as he died , telling him he had expected more from him . Holliday regrouped with Wyatt and killed Billy Clanton . Together with Virgil , they killed Ike , the last of the Clanton brothers . Following this , Doc decided to leave town with Kate , largely because the sheriff , Bat Masterson , had issued a " Wanted " notice for Doc . ( TV : " The Gunfighters " ) Shortly before his death on 10 November 1887 , Holliday gave Ned Buntline a detailed account of an aspect of the gunfight which was not generally recorded in the history books , involving another Doctor . ( PROSE : " The Gunfighters " ) Behind the scenes . In reality , Doc Holliday died on 8 November 1887 .