Here’s my capsule look back on the career of ‘America’s Biggest Hero,’ John (Duke) Wayne, born Marion Michael Morrison on May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. Wayne always considered himself a native Californian because he was raised in the golden state and attended U.S.C. on a football scholarship.
The young Wayne, on summer vacation from school, was employed as a laborer and third-string prop mover at the Fox studio. While at the studio, he was noticed by legendary film director, John Ford, and because of the young man’s good looks and 6 feet 4-inch frame, was chosen for bit parts in the films Ford was making on the lot. Wayne was shocked when Ford suggested to fellow director, Raoul Walsh, to cast him in the lead role in the expensive epic production of, “The Big Trail.” When Wayne told him, he had no experience as an actor, Walsh told him all he had to do was to look good and…point.
“The Big Trail” was made on location in seven states and was the very first film to use a new process called Grandeur, a 70 mm wide screen presentation. While critics were impressed with the beautiful production, the movie bombed because theaters at the time were concentrating on new sound systems and wouldn’t spend the money on converting their screens to the new process. Wayne, after failing in his first big chance, decided to stay in the movie business and, because of his friendship with Ford, the knowledge of others in the business, and his ability to ride a horse like a pro, he was cast as a cowboy in low budget “oaters,” as the low budget westerns were called .
After eight years of making an unprecedented 80 or so low budget pictures, it seemed that Wayne was entrenched in the position of low-payed, lowly star, when Ford, who remained friends with Wayne, chose to cast him in the role of ‘The Ringo Kid’ in his western classic, “STAGECOACH” (1939).
The success of “Stagecoach” provided the turning point in Wayne’s career and launched him as a screen hero. Year-by-year, often in films directed by Ford, Wayne developed into one of the biggest box office stars the screen has ever known. As his career – and his features – began to crack, Wayne’s image began to embody the American spirit and even today, after being gone for over 40 years, his movies still are rating winners on cable and venues like TCM (Turner Classic Movies).
Besides, westerns, Wayne, while not serving in the service during World War II, because of a punctured ear drum, was the image of the American soldier in flag-waving films such as ‘Sands of Iwo Jima,” “Flying Leathernecks,” “Back to Bataan,” and others. To single out John Wayne’s most popular films would be a task too heady too tackle, (my favorite is neither western nor war vehicle, but the popular Ford charmer, “The Quiet Man”).
However, Wayne, who had been criticized for just playing himself without showing range, surprised those who limited his acting ability by showing depth and poignancy, particularly in the role of Captain Nathan Brittles, the aging cavalry officer reluctant to change his way of life in 1949’s, “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” Equally defining was his role as the harsh, Tom Dunson, leading a cattle drive, in Howard Hawks, “Red River” (1948), and in his most complete role, that of the obsessed Indian hunter, Ethan Edwards, in “The Searchers.”
As his screen persona projected American values, so he did in the image of Super Patriot. As a fundamentalist and aforementioned super patriot, he made the Vietnam War a personal crusade and produced, directed and starred in, “The Green Berets” (Wayne’s 2nd film as director). Eight years earlier he made the massive saga, “The Alamo,” starring as Davy Crockett. He saw that historical event as a metaphor for America.
At the end of his 40 years as a screen star, in which he appeared in over 250 films, Hollywood paid its highest tribute to John Wayne when it awarded him the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of the hard drinking, one eyed Marshall with an eye patch, Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit.” HOWEVER, it was his final movie, “The Shootist,” which provided a more genuine tribute to his career, as the cancer-ridden gunfighter, John Book. John Wayne survived three major operations, including open heart surgery, and in 1979, he had his stomach removed. Until he finally passed away at 72 years, he showed remarkable courage. The prestigious Medal of Honor was struck in his honor.
There are scores of books about the life of John Wayne. The one I read most recently was “JOHN WAYNE: American,” by Randy Roberts and James M. Olson, very detailed – and long at 775 pages – but if you’re an avid fan, this book published in 1995, might be for you.
One particular story in the book made me laugh out loud, particularly because of my bad John Wayne impersonation. “Well, Pilgrim.. .etc., etc.”
During the 1960s, Wayne made several cameo appearances in other stars’ films or all star productions like Kirk Douglas’ “Cast a Giant Shadow,” “The Longest Day,” and “How the West was Won.” The reason for this was that he practically financed his dream project, “THE ALAMO” single-handedly and it lost a ton of money. To recoup the money he lost, he was available. One of the roles he took on was the George Stevens prestige production of the biblical epic, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
Wayne played a Roman centurion whose only line was to look up at Christ on the cross and say: “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” After the first take , Stevens told him, “Put a little more awe into the line.” When the cameras rolled again, Duke grinned up at the cross and his voice, exaggerating a western accent drawled…..“Aaawe, truly this man was the Son of God.”
Joe Redmond, former marketing director for Alive Magazine, is retired and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, near his daughter and grandchildren. He recently had the pleasure to meet his first great-grandchild, Dot. He enjoys discussing classic films and contributes content to social network groups with a special interest in noir films of the 1940s and 50s.
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