After 'Tombstone,' This Unsung Actor Should've Been a Western King

5 days ago 8

Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, Wyatt Earp, and Morgan Earp walk side by side in Tombstone.

Published May 25, 2026, 8:33 AM EDT

Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.

There are a lot of powerful actors out there who are instantly associated with the Western genre. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are the most notable, but there's also Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Kevin Costner, and a whole band of others. Although Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer aren't traditionally Western stars, when it comes to Tombstone, they've made a real name for themselves as some of the genre's best. But there's one other actor from this 1993 epic that should've been given a bigger spotlight following his work in the film, and that's none other than Michael Biehn, who played the smiley outlaw Johnny Ringo, one of the quickest guns in the West. If we had it our way, Tombstone would've been the first of many Biehn-featured Westerns as he impressed audiences everywhere with his exceptional range while playing against his usual action hero type. We love Michael Biehn in Tombstone, and here's why.

‘Tombstone’ Is an Excellent Western for Many Reasons

There are countless reasons to love Tombstone. The commitment to historical detail and the period-accurate costuming, the fantastic script with memorable lines such as "I'll be your huckleberry," and the groundbreaking performances by Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday (among others) all elevate this Western classic above many of its contemporaries. The early '90s was a great period for the horse opera, as Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves likewise pushed the boundaries of the genre just before the turn of the century. But there's one character who is just as important to Tombstone as any other, and that's Michael Biehn's Johnny Ringo. If Ringo's name sounds familiar, that might be because of the Gregory Peck classic The Gunfighter, in which that Hollywood legend played Jimmy Ringo, who himself was likewise based on the real-life Johnny Ringo. But Biehn's character isn't the hero this time around.

What Makes Michael Biehn So Great in 'Tombstone'?

As a red-sashed, black-hatted member of the Cowboys, the outlaw gang that terrorizes the town of Tombstone, Ringo is a powerful shot and an aggravated road agent with a major chip on his shoulder. He has no problem killing anyone who gets in his path, and in the character's introduction at the beginning of the film (where the Cowboys execute those at a Mexican wedding) he mercilessly shoots a priest before translating the holy man's words, quoting the biblical Book of Revelation. Talk about an explosive entrance. From this moment alone, as Ringo coolly stands in the background while the Cowboys raid the would-be wedding feast, we understand the depths of his depravity. Biehn plays it here as naturally as any part in his impressive filmography, but adds a crazed look to the outlaw's eye that makes him stand out in the Western genre's Hall of Villains.

Whether Biehn is playing the character as a calm antagonist, a drunk gunslinger, or an irked adversary trying to coax Doc Holliday into a fight, Johnny Ringo is a major force to be reckoned with. His cocky, shoot-first attitude and unrepentant demeanor makes him the worst of all the Cowboys, and "Curly Bill" Brocius (Powers Booth) and Sherman McMasters (Michael Rooker) hardly come close. Though Ringo only appears in a handful of scenes, he manages to make the sort of impact on Tombstone that Darth Vader had on the original Star Wars despite not having too much screen time. What's crazier is that, according to Biehn on an episode of the Inside of You podcast, much of his character's arc with the Cowboys was cut from the final film. Despite that, Ringo is a looming threat that hovers over the Earp brothers and Holliday, and though he's a bit out of sorts on occasion, he can still draw quicker than most.

'Tombstone's Johnny Ringo Plays Against Michael Biehn's Usual Action Hero Type

During the height of Michael Biehn's career, the actor was primarily known for playing action heroes. In The Terminator, he played Sgt. Kyle Reese, the future resistance fighter who travels through time to save Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). In Aliens, he plays Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, a Colonial Marine who plows his way through a horde of Xenomorphs alongside Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). He also played a Navy SEAL in both James Cameron's The Abyss and Michael Bay's The Rock. Needless to say, Biehn's most notable roles always put him in the part of the hero, and we loved him for that. No, he wasn't as famous as many of his '80s and '90s co-stars, but he was just as excellent on the screen. So, when Tombstone cast Biehn against his usual type, it's understandable that some may have thought he wasn't right for the part. Boy, were they wrong.

Biehn manages to make Johnny Ringo menacing, captivating, and downright unlikable, and we cannot look away. This gunslinging outlaw is the complete anthesis to any of Biehn's usual roles, but he plays Ringo with the same dedication he always gives. With the mustache and the black hat, you might not even recognize Michael Biehn at first. His performance as Johnny Ringo feels just as natural as his screen time as Kyle Reese, though these two characters couldn't be more different. With the backdrop of the Western genre, the film makes it clear that Biehn can do just about anything. By the time we get to that fabulous showdown between Ringo and Holliday, we already know how things are going to end, but we almost wish we'd had more time with the gunslinger.

Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown

Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.

🤠Yellowstone

🛢️Landman

👑Tulsa King

⚖️Mayor of Kingstown

FIND YOUR WORLD →

Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.

ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.

NEXT QUESTION →

Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.

AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.

NEXT QUESTION →

Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.

AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.

AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.

AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.

NEXT QUESTION →

What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.

AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.

ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.

NEXT QUESTION →

Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.

AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.

NEXT QUESTION →

What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.

AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.

NEXT QUESTION →

When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.

AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.

REVEAL MY SHOW →

Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…

The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.

🤠 Yellowstone

🛢️ Landman

👑 Tulsa King

⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown

You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.

You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.

You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.

You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

It's a shame that Biehn wasn't cast in more Western outlaw roles such as Johnny Ringo. The Tombstone actor has a real talent for playing this type of gunslinger, and could easily have played the leading man in a '90s theatrical Western in the same vein as The Dollars Trilogy or Pale Rider. Or, if he was hoping to play another villainous role, maybe something more akin to The Wild Bunch. Of course, combining the action heroics of his Terminator and Aliens roles with the atmosphere and aesthetic of Tombstone might've been a game changer for Biehn, who was often typecast in military roles (usually in science fiction).

'Yellow Rock' Showcases Michael Biehn’s Acting Skills – and Is an Underrated Western

Biehn may be well known for his work on Tombstone, but in 2011 he starred in another Western: Yellow Rock. Biehn plays Tom Hanner, a tracker who's approached by Max Dietrich (James Russo), who needs his help finding his missing family members. Hanner accepts, but the harsh terrain of the West and the past threaten to consume them all. Yellow Rock showcases Biehn's range, especially in scenes regarding Hanner's past. Hanner turns out to have taken the job because he's still grieving the death of his son, with Biehn looking appropriately haunted. It's a far cry from his cocky, antagonistic turn as Ringo in Tombstone.

Despite Biehn's stellar performance, Yellow Rock is a mixed bag. Scenes involving Indigenous characters are chock-full of outdated tropes, such as a cursed graveyard and mysterious wolves that show up when Dietrich's group crosses into "forbidden lands." It also feels like the costume department aimed to trigger memories of other Westerns, with Biehn donning a poncho resembling Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name. One member of the Dietrich gang is even dressed like Doc Holliday in Tombstone. Even with its bumps, however, Yellow Rock proves that Biehn could headline his own Western if given the chance.

Michael Biehn Also Starred in 'The Magnificent Seven' TV Series

The Seven—played by Anthony Starke, Rick Worthy, Dale Midkiff, Michael Biehn, Eric Close, Ron Perlman, and Andrew Kavovit—in 'The Magnificent Seven.'

Fans might remember that there's actually one other notable Western character that Biehn added to his filmography in the late '90s, one that felt a little more in-step with the actor's usual performances. In 1998, Biehn was cast in the CBS Western drama series titled The Magnificent Seven. A remake of the 1960 film of the same name, Biehn played the leading role of Chris Larabee, a gunslinger with a tortured past who leads a band of seven men as they protect a frontier town without the benefit of the law. Though the series only ran two seasons, Biehn's performance here is as strong as ever, and Chris Larabee is easily one of the most underrated characters of his career. Unlike his work as Ringo, Larabee is a strong, morally-upright gunslinger just short of being a genuine hero who is devastated by the murder of his wife and son. It's his own personal struggles with injustice that prompts Larabee to unite the Seven and aid a small Native American village against a merciless company of Confederate soldiers. From there, he and his allies stick around to help the little guy, and plenty of Western-fueled drama and action ensues. It's a great show, if only it had run just a little longer.

Between Tombstone and The Magnificent Seven, it's clear that Michael Biehn not only had the ability to play different types of classical Western heroes and villains, but also a real interest in revisiting the genre. The actor had once cited Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven as his favorite Western back in 2010, and hoped to see a greater resurgence in the genre following films like Cowboys & Aliens and the Coen Brothers' True Grit remake. A decade later, we're living in a modern renaissance of Western content of our own, with both traditional and contemporary takes on the genre thriving. It might be time for Biehn to show us again what he's made of. He's already shown up in The Mandalorian, itself something of a Space Western. He's also perfect for the Yellowstone sequel series Dutton Ranch. While it's difficult to top his powerful performance in Tombstone, there's no denying that Michael Biehn deserves to be in more Westerns going forward. After all these years, it seems like the time is now for Biehn to get back in the saddle.