. Slade's exploits spawned numerous legends, many of them untrue. His image, especially by
Mark Twain in
Roughing It, as the vicious killer of up to 26 victims was greatly exaggerated. Only one killing by Slade, that of Andrew Ferrin, is undisputed. In his essay "
Raffles and Miss Blandish," the English essayist George Orwell criticized Twain's admiration for Slade, saying that Twain's attitude represented an alleged American tolerance for violent crime. Slade's life was depicted in the 1953 film movie
Jack Slade, with
Mark Stevens starring as Slade.
Dorothy Malone co-starred as Virginia Maria Dale and
Barton MacLane was Jules Beni. The tagline for the movie was "Everyone knew the terror of his blazing iron...only she knew the fire in his heart!"
Gregg Palmer played Slade in a 1955 episode of the
syndicated television series
Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by
Jim Davis.
Paul Newlan portrayed Jules Beni and
Elaine Riley played Virginia Slade in this episode. John Dehner played an evil version of Slade, who is shot and finally shows some decency before dying, in the
Laramie episode "Company Man", aired in February, 1960. The same episode featured Dabbs Greer as Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), who, when asked about his profession, says that he is a writer, working on a new book, which he is going to title
Roughing It. In 1963, Don Collier played Jack Slade in the season-12 episode of the television series
Death Valley Days titled "The Man Who Died Twice."
John Dennis Johnston played Slade in the 1999 made-for-cable fantasy Western movie
Purgatory.
Ned Beatty played Slade in the 2002 Hallmark Channel miniseries
Roughing It. ==See also==