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John Wayne Facts
John Wayne's father Clyde was a
pharmacist with a lung condition which required him to move wife Mary
and son Marion to the warmer climate of southern California where they
tried ranching near the Mojave desert. Next the family moved to
Glendale where Marion delivered medicines for his father, sold
newspapers, and had an Airedale dog named "Duke" where John
Wayne got his nick name. He went to USC on a football scholarship
1925-27. Tom Mix got him a summer job as a prop man in exchange for
football tickets. On the set he became close friends with director
John Ford for whom, among others, he began doing bit parts, some
billed as John Wayne. His first featured film was Men Without Women
(1930). After more than 70 low-budget adventures, Ford cast him
in Stagecoach (1939), the movie through which he emerged as a major
star. He appeared nearly 250 movies, many of epic proportions. From
1942-3 he was in a radio series "The Three Sheets to the
Wind" and in 1944 he helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for
the Preservation of American Ideals, later becoming its president. His
right-wing political stance was also reflected in Alamo, The (1960)
which he produced, directed and starred in. His superhawk stand was
enshrined in Green Berets, The (1968) which he co-directed and starred
in. He received the Best Actor nomination for Sands of Iwo Jima
(1949) and the Oscar for his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit
(1969). A Congressional Medal was struck in his honor. He is perhaps
best remembered for his parts in the cavalry trilogy -- Fort Apache
(1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).
John Wayne's height was 6 foot
and 4 inches.
John Wayne holds the record for
most leading roles 142 of them.
John Wayne and his buddy, actor
Ward Bond, frequently played practical jokes on each other. In one
incident, Bond bet Wayne that they could stand on opposite sides of a
newspaper and Wayne wouldn't be able to hit him. Ward Bond set a sheet
of newspaper down in a doorway, John Wayne stood on one end, and Bond
slammed the door in his face, shouting "Try and hit me now!"
Wayne responded by sending his fist through the door, flooring Bond
(and winning the bet).
Another interesting story, the
evening before a shoot he was trying to get some sleep in a Las Vegas
hotel. The suite directly below his was that of Frank Sinatra, who was
having a party. The noise kept Wayne awake, and each time he made a
complaining phone call it quieted temporarily but each time eventually
grew louder. Wayne at last appeared at Sinatra's door and told Frank
to stop the noise. A Sinatra bodyguard of Wayne's size approached
saying, "Nobody talks to Mr. Sinatra that way." Wayne looked
at the man, turned as though to leave, then backhanded the bodyguard,
who fell to the floor, where Wayne knocked him out by crashing a chair
on top of him. The party noise stopped.
John Wayne turned down the roles
of Dirty Harry, Patton, and the lead role in the Dirty Dozen.
In the Duke's final years he
would do an action scene and then have to wear a respirator to catch
his breath due to all the cigarettes he smoked. He refused to let it
stop him from doing his action scenes. His smoking habit was at it's
peak during the filming of the Alamo.
John Wayne Quote
"Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much."
John Wayne Stories
Wild Wild Westerns
In the early days of Hollywood,
for studios like Universal Westerns were the easiest films to make.
They required very few props and made use of the wide-open spaces
available in the area. Even the smallest studio, sometimes an empty
space between two buildings known as a lot, could easily film outside.
It was a cheap and effective way to involve audiences in wild chase
scenes involving pure heroes like the white clad Tom Mix going after
dastardly villains. One time a theater was showing a Western, when the
film suddenly broke right at the climatic scene. An emotional audience
member yelled out," Hurry up and fix it before they get
away!"
The master of the Western was John Ford, who felt that the genre was
the purest form of movie making. In 1956, he and John Wayne went to
their regular spot the Monument Valley in Utah to make the powerful
chase movie The Searchers. Location shooting allowed the two old
friends to relax by camping out, playing cards and avoiding contact
with the studio executives that Ford despised. The only problem was
unpredictable Utah climate could delay filming. Ford turned to a local
Navajo Medicine Man. "Sir I will pay one hundred dollars if you
can accurately predict the weather." The Shaman shut his eyes
went into a trance and said,"Rain!" Sure enough it did rain.
The grateful director asked him to repeat his efforts the next day.
"Mmm, cloudy!" Again success. But on the third day when
asked the Medicine Man shook his head sadly and said,"Can not
tell weather today" Ford's pipe fell out of his mouth."
Really. Why is that?" The Medicine Man replied," Transistor
radio broke!"
Ford's relationship with the Navajo in Utah was usually cooperative.
He would offer them parts in films and generally provide a welcome
boon to a depressed economy. In 1948, while filming another Wayne
Western called Fort Apache, he hired two locals to create smoke
signals. It took several hours but then finally the technicians
finished the task. As the smoke arose from the ground the assembled
cast and crew watched in awe. The silence was broken when one of the
Navajo Extra's stated,"Wow, I wish I'd said that!"
About the Author
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of
the audiobooks "Fascinating Walt Disney" and "Tales Of
Hollywood". The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two
elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear
realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at www.hollywoodstories.com.
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