 One of the few instances where actors playing the lawmen and the  robbers actually were the lawmen and the robbers:  William Tilghman (qv) was a famous and respected U.S. marshal on  the Oklahoma frontier; Al J. Jennings (qv) was a convicted train  robber who took up acting after having been released from prison;  Frank Canton (qv) was a widely feared gunfighter;  Heck Thomas (qv) was a legendary sheriff; Quanah Parker (qv) was  the son of an Indian father and a white mother who led several  Indian revolts.