I’m pretty sure it’s not just Hollywood, I’ve seen old drawings and paintings of people in battle or duels and they always only use one hand to aim and fire pistols, even after multishot revolvers and pistols are developed.
Why? It’s not like using two hands only became more supportive and stable after 1910.
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Ooh I know this one 😛 Smoothbore pistols were notoriously inaccurate. Using two hands would ensure better aiming accuracy, but it wouldn’t matter much if the bullet flies off the true aim anyway. Duelists found it better to stand side-on to the target, reducing their own target cross-section and improving their chances of survival. This is likewise why the old style of firing rifles survived so long. Nowadays it’s discouraged to fire long guns “chicken-wing” style, rather than keeping your elbow down and squaring up to the target, especially presuming you’re wearing a ballistic vest.
As for why gunmen continued to shoot one-handed after accurate guns came about, at least as far as revolvers go, you can’t put your second hand high up on the frame because flames come out of the cylinder and would burn you. This is where the “teacup” grip came from, with the second hand supporting the shooting hand. I don’t think it was considerably more effective than shooting one-handed though, especially in a close-range fight.
Now with magazine-fed pistols, we have the option of an effective two-handed grip.
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