John Henry Holliday was an American dentist, physician, and poker player born in the mid-nineteenth century.

Born on August 14, 1851, in Griffin, Holliday was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he trained in dentistry. That formal professional education shaped the foundation of how he would be identified throughout his life, even as he also worked as a physician and spent time at the poker table.

Holliday died on November 8, 1887, in Glenwood Springs, at the age of thirty-six. His working life combined the roles of dentist and physician on one side and poker player on the other, and those dual identities — the trained professional and the card-game participant — run through the historical record that documents who he was.

The story of his life has proven to be lasting material for writers and filmmakers alike. His character and the events surrounding him have been depicted in many books and portrayed by well-known actors in numerous movies and television series. At the center of those many retellings is the same set of facts: a University of Pennsylvania-educated dentist and physician who was also a poker player, born in Griffin in 1851 and dead in Glenwood Springs by 1887.