56 05 16 - On This Day in De History
De is injured filming "Gunfight at O.K. Corral."
Rehearsing with Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, and John Sturges (director).
The injury happening and it was kept in the film.
Here is De at a 1984 NY Convention detailing what happened (transcript below):
She also wanted me to mention a story that happened to me during Gunfight at OK Corral with Hal Wallis.
We were doing a scene in Arizona and we were approaching the Gunfight at the OK Corral and we were near a great big ditch. And in this gunfight I've been wounded at this time. I'm shot and I fall into this ditch and Krik Douglas pulls me to safety. He had to pull me about what was it, at least 50 yards. Now I had fallen on my, I made a bad fall and fell on my right arm on a shotgun caught inside. I tore all the cartilage loose from the side, which I didn't know at the time, I just knew I was in terrible pain. Kirk, of course, didn’t know this. So I’m flat on my back and he gets down on his knees and he’s pulling me this way and the camera is following me. And each time he’s pulling me, I’m going, “uh, uh, oh, oh,” until they finally said, “Cut!” And Kirk said, “Geez De, that’s great!” He said, “you sounded really [laughter]”
Now I couldn’t get up. I said, “I’m afraid something’s wrong. I can’t get up. I can’t move.” They tried to get me up and I couldn’t get up. So they finally brought the company doctor over and he pressed me and he said, “Something’s happened to him.” And they gave me a shot for the pain and took me to a local hospital there in Tucson. So, by the time I got into the hospital, they gave me another shot and put me up on the x-ray table and x-rayed me. The doctor said, “All your cartilage is torn loose. You should remain in the hospital certainly overnight and maybe tomorrow.” I got up and I had had this morphine that they had injected in me and I said, “Well I feel fine.” I said, “I’d rather go back to the hotel.” And he said, “Well you’re being very foolish young man.” He said, “You really should stay here.” I said, “No, I’m okay. I’ll go back.”
So I went back to the hotel and that night I felt so good that I- I was all taped and had all this tape around me. I got dressed and it was in the hot summer, I’ll never forget, and I had a white silk shirt on. Jack Elam knocked on the door and he opened up the door with his wicked eye and said, “How you doing, Kelley?” I said, “I feel great.” He said, “Well come on downstairs,” he said “we’re gonna have a drink, join us.”
So I went downstairs to a private club that they had in this hotel. It was for members only, and they would let motion picture cast people come in there to have dinner, and then the local citizens were able to enjoy Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and all those people who were celebrities. So I went downstairs and I joined the table with Kirk Douglas and John Sturgess, the director, and Burt Lancaster, and Jack Elam, and an actor named John Ireland. And we’re sitting at this table.
Suddenly I began to get warm and perspiration started to form on my forehead. And I looked over and I said to John Sturgess, I said, “I think I’ll go upstairs and rip off this tape. It’s getting hot in here.” He said, “Well, have the guy turn the air conditioning up.” So the guy turned the air conditioning up and I continued to get warm and I said, “No, I’m still warm. I’m gonna tape this tape off.” So I reached over and I got the check as I got up to pay for the round of drinks. I walked to the bartender and by the time I got to the bartender, I looked down and I could see water pouring on to this silk shirt. And the bartender said, “Yes? Can I do something for you?” And I said, “yes, you can catch me.” I fell and the horrible part is, here it is this lovely club with these leather sofas on the side, and when I came to, I was throwing up in a gold spittoon and everybody said, “Another drunken actor!”
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