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John Wayne: The Forgotten History of “The Duke”

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Elderberry:
The Post & Email by Sam Jacobs 6/28/2021

"A POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS ACTOR"

 John Wayne is an American Hollywood icon every bit the equal of James Dean or Marilyn Monroe. He is also a man from another era, a man whose conservatism came as naturally as walking down the street. Affectionately known as “The Duke,” he spent three decades as a top box office draw with 179 film and television credits to his name.

Before The Duke: Marion Robert Morrison

His story is as American as his values. Born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa at a whopping 13 pounds, his family relocated to Southern California. His family first arrived in America from Ireland in 1799 and his grandfather was a Civil War veteran. His nickname was bestowed upon him in childhood (“Little Duke” at the time) by a milkman amused by the omnipresence of Wayne’s Airdale Terrier, Duke.

Wayne attended the University of Southern California where he studied pre-law and played football for the Trojans before a broken collarbone from a bodysurfing accident ended his college athletic career. Losing his athletic scholarship forced Wayne to drop out of school.

He was first hired by the legendary Western director, John Ford, and silent Western star, Tom Mix. It was Mix who then introduced him to Wyatt Earp, who Wayne credited with his on-screen mannerisms.

Becoming the Duke: John Wayne’s Early Film Career

Wayne was hired as a favor to the equally legendary USC coach, Howard Jones, who later portrayed himself in Knute Rockne, All American, the famous Ronald Reagan film. Wayne soon graduated from an extra and prop boy to bigger parts – this began his life-long working relationship with director Ford. Director Raoul Walsh renamed Marion Robert Morrison “John Wayne,” though Wayne would keep his birth name for the rest of his life. Wayne was not present at the meeting where his stage name was crafted.

Wayne got his big break in The Big Trail, which cost a staggering $2 million (about $31.9 million in 2021 dollars). The film was shot in both 35mm and 70mm and was extremely well received by the 70mm audiences. Unfortunately, most cinemas were not equipped to show the “bigger” version of the film and it was regarded at the time as one of the all-time flops. After this, he was relegated to smaller parts in A pictures. In one of these roles, 1931’s The Deceiver, he played a corpse.

During these years, his bread and butter were the so-called “horse operas” – Poverty Row Westerns made on the cheap. Wayne appeared in over 80 of these while he was hustling to get back on his feet. In the 1933 film Riders of Destiny, he became one of the first singing cowboys, a popular style of film over the next two decades.

John Wayne Breaks Into the Big Time

In 1939, Wayne rose back to the top of the marquee on an A picture, John Ford’s Stagecoach. Ford had trouble finding financial backing and a studio, but he eventually acquired it, and Wayne was catapulted into the stardom that would follow him for the rest of his life.

World War II came but John Wayne did not serve due to his age and his family status. He was classified as 3-A, however, Wayne was not content to simply sit by the sidelines as his country went to war. He tried to enlist and even asked John Ford if he could join his unit, but the studio worked against him not wanting to lose their A-list actor who was under contract. This isn’t the braggadocio of the chickenhawk – there is ample evidence in official government records of Wayne attempting to change his status, as well as lobbying by his studio to keep him stateside.

More: https://www.thepostemail.com/2021/06/28/john-wayne-the-forgotten-history-of-the-duke/

skeeter:
Wayne's college football career was cut short by a bodysurfing injury received at The Wedge on Newport Beach. Probably why Howard Jones got him a job on a movie production lot.

Personal connection - my grandad played football at USC at the same time.

libertybele:
I absolutely LOVE John Wayne movies.  The "Duke" was my hero.  Talk about Americana!

mystery-ak:
Loved the Duke...most of my fav movies are his...

@HoustonSam

HoustonSam:

--- Quote from: mystery-ak on June 29, 2021, 01:55:41 am ---Loved the Duke...most of my fav movies are his...

@HoustonSam

--- End quote ---

Thanks for the ping @mystery-ak .  Obviously I'm a John Wayne fan as well.

His friendship with Ward Bond is particularly interesting to me; they were both "discovered" simultaneously by John Ford as members of the USC football team.  Although they did not get along well at first, John Ford intentionally paired them together, seeing something in their interaction, and they became very close friends.  When Bond died of a heart attack in 1959, Wayne was a pallbearer and cried at the funeral.

I've read conflicting accounts of Wayne's draft status and whether or not he tried to join or tried to avoid it.  I believe he was 34 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor so beyond the age of most volunteers or draftees, and he had (I think) four children already.  As much as I respect James Stewart, Clark Gable, and others for joining and pursuing active combat roles, I don't blame a man beyond normal enlistment age with four children for not signing up.  But the conventional wisdom is that it bothered him deeply for the rest of his life.

Of course there are lots of interesting anecdotes about many aspects of John Wayne's career.  I recommend the YouTube channel LandumC goes there; he puts out a lot of 10 to 12 minute videos about old TV shows and movies, and he's a big John Wayne fan.  A number of his videos describe making specific movies and several of them include accounts of how John Wayne went out of his way to help people that he knew - from fellow on-screen actors all the way to local American Indian families who lived near a southwestern desert movie set.

There are too many films in the John Wayne Canon to discuss in a forum like TBR; it would require an entire discussion group and a moderator far more knowledgeable than I.  But the serious student of Wayne must at least see and study the John Ford directed movies, from Stagecoach all the way through Donovan's Reef, with particular study of The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; even these latter two dark-themed accounts have moments of hilarious comedy.  The Howard Hawks movies are also required study, and of course John Wayne's own production of The Alamo, then so many others made during the 1960s and early 1970s.  A particular favorite of mine is Chisum, and there is no better character introduction in American Movies than Jacob McCandle's appearance scene in Big Jake.

Then there are movies which stand out (to me) individually rather than as part of a Director's set, like Sea Chase, where Wayne plays a German ship captain tracked down by the Royal Navy at the beginning of WWII, and Wake of the Red Witch; both of these join the small set of movies in which Wayne is killed in the end, along with Sands of Iwo Jima, Fighting Seabees, The Cowboys, and of course his swansong The Shootist.  There are just too many to list and discuss. 

Critics say he wasn't much of an actor, that he always portrayed himself just in different times and situations.  But anyone who has watched Ethan Edwards overcome his personal demons or Spig Wead deal with paralysis knows that Wayne excelled at portraying the kind of internal struggle that many men used to have; perhaps there are still such men among us.

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