What Happened To Billy The Kid’s Father? True Story & Show Changes Explained

The MGM series Billy the Kid briefly touches on the ambiguous backstory of his father Patrick McCarty. William H. Bonney was born Henry McCarty to Irish immigrants before becoming immortalized as one of the most dangerous outlaws of the American Old West. Billy was orphaned at age 15 but he did spend a good part of his childhood with his father Patrick, particularly when they lived in New York City before his family headed West for Kansas during the post-Civil War 1860s. Throughout the course of his brief life, Billy would have a number of father figures and mentors.