Political views
The Challenge of Ideas
(1961)
Throughout most of his life, Wayne was a vocally prominent
conservative Republican in Hollywood, supporting anti-communist positions.
However, he voted for Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936
presidential election and expressed admiration for Roosevelt's successor,
fellow Democratic President Harry S. Truman, despite having supported
Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. He took part in creating the
conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in
February 1944 before being elected its president in 1949. An ardent
anti-communist and vocal supporter of the House Un-American Activities
Committee, he made Big Jim McLain (1952) with himself as a HUAC investigator to
demonstrate his support for the cause of anti-communism. His personal views
found expression as a proactive inside enforcer of the "Black List", denying employment and undermining careers
of many actors and writers who had expressed their personal political beliefs
earlier in life. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is alleged to have said that Wayne
should be assassinated for his frequently espoused anti-communist politics, despite
being a fan of his movies. Wayne was a supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Wayne supported Vice President Richard Nixon in the
presidential election of 1960, but expressed his vision of patriotism when John
F. Kennedy won the election: "I didn't vote for him, but he's my
president, and I hope he does a good job." He used his star
power to support conservative causes, including rallying support for the
Vietnam War by producing, co-directing, and starring in the financially
successful film The Green Berets (1968). In 1960, he joined the anti-communist
John Birch Society, but quit after the organization denounced fluoridation of
water supplies as a communist plot. In 1964, Wayne was a staunch supporter of
Barry Goldwater, and actively campaigned for him.
Due to his status as the highest-profile Republican star in
Hollywood, wealthy Texas Republican Party backers asked Wayne to run for
national office in 1968, like his friend and fellow actor Senator George
Murphy. He declined, joking that he did not believe the public would seriously
consider an actor in the White House. Instead, he supported his friend Ronald
Reagan's campaigns for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970. He was asked to
be the running mate for Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace, who had
been nominated for president by the American Independent Party, in his 1968
campaign, but he immediately rejected the offer[100] and actively campaigned
for Richard Nixon; Wayne addressed the 1968 Republican National Convention on
its opening day.
In 1971, Wayne wrote to President Richard Nixon, who was a
friend, to oppose Nixon's planned trip to China. Wayne enclosed some hate
literature on "that Jew,
Kissinger," who had negotiated the historic meeting with Chinese
leaders.
Wayne openly differed with many conservatives over the issue
of returning the Panama Canal, as he supported the Panama Canal Treaty in the
mid-1970s; while Republican leaders such as Reagan, Jesse Helms, and Strom
Thurmond had wanted the U.S. to retain full control of the canal, Wayne and
fellow conservative William F. Buckley believed that the Panamanians had the
right to the canal and sided with President Jimmy Carter. Wayne was a close
friend of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos Herrera, and Wayne's first wife
Josephine was a native of Panama. His support of the treaty brought him hate
mail for the first time in his life.
In 1973 actor Marlon Brando refused an Oscar he had won, due
to "the treatment of American
Indians today by the film industry"; Brando did not attend the award
ceremony but asked Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather
to attend and deliver a refusal speech in the event that he won. Wayne, who has
been described as "serial
slaughterer of Native Americans on-screen and self-professed white supremacist
off it", was in the wings, and was so angry about her presence there
that Littlefeather said "he was
coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage, and he had to be
restrained by six security men to prevent him from doing so." However,
an investigation in 2022 found that this is unlikely to have happened, and
Littlefeather had no way of witnessing this take place.
Roger Ebert writes that Wayne had a sense of humor about his
politics. He recalls Wayne giving him a tour of his house: "He pointed out autographed photos of Eisenhower, Nixon,
Goldwater, and J. Edgar Hoover. I said I had to take a pee. On the wall of the
bathroom opening off the den, he had a photo of Hubert Humphrey, inscribed
'with warm appreciation for your continued Support.'" Colorado
Congresswoman Pat Schroeder recalled that "John
Wayne gave me a silver cigarette lighter during the Vietnam War that said 'Fuck
Communism' on it. I didn't know how to do that. I still don't."
Left-wing activist Abbie Hoffman paid tribute to Wayne's
singularity, saying, "I like Wayne's
wholeness, his style. As for his politics, well—I suppose even cavemen felt a
little admiration for the dinosaurs that were trying to gobble them up."
1971 Playboy
interview
In May 1971, Playboy magazine published an interview with
Wayne, in which he expressed his support for the Vietnam War, and made
headlines for his opinions about social issues and race relations in the United
States:
With a lot of blacks,
there's quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly
rightfully so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn
everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy
until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. ... I don't feel we
did wrong in taking this great country away from the Indians. Our so-called
stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were
great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly
trying to keep it for themselves.
In the same Playboy interview, Wayne calls the two lead
characters in Midnight Cowboy "fags"
for the alleged "love of those two
men". He also responded to questions about whether social programs
were good for the country:
I know all about that.
In the late '20s, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself—but
not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody could
have ice cream and cake for every meal, but as he gets older and gives more
thought to his and his fellow man's responsibilities, he finds that it can't
work out that way—that some people just won't carry their load ... I believe in
welfare—a welfare work program. I don't think a fella should be able to sit on
his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots
keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them
a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the
faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't
understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal,
yet have no thought for the innocent victim.
In February 2019, the Playboy interview resurfaced, which
resulted in calls for John Wayne Airport to be renamed. John Wayne's son,
Ethan, defended him, stating, "It
would be an injustice to judge someone based on an interview that's being used
out of context." The calls for changing the airport's name back to
Orange County Airport were renewed during the George Floyd protests in June
2020.
In October 2019, USC student activists called for removing
an exhibit dedicated to Wayne, citing the interview. In July 2020, it was
announced that the exhibit would be removed.
Personal life
Wayne was married three times and divorced twice. His wives
included one of Spanish American descent, Josephine Alicia Saenz, and two from
Latin America, Esperanza Baur and Pilar Pallete. He had four children with
Josephine: Michael Wayne (1934–2003), Mary Antonia "Toni" Wayne LaCava (1936–2000), Patrick Wayne (born
1939), and Melinda Wayne Munoz (1940–2022). He had three more children with
Pilar: Aissa Wayne (born 1956), John Ethan Wayne (born 1962), and Marisa Wayne
(born 1966).
Several of Wayne's children entered the film and television
industry. Son Ethan was billed as John Ethan Wayne in a few films, and played
one of the leads in the 1990s update of the Adam-12 television series. Ethan
has also appeared on the History Channel show Pawn Stars to help authenticate
merchandise supposedly related to his father's career. Granddaughter Jennifer
Wayne, daughter of Aissa, is a member of the country music group Runaway June.
In 1973, Wayne was encouraged by Pilar, an avid tennis
player, to build the John Wayne Tennis Club in Newport Beach, California. In
1995, the club was sold to Ken Stuart, former general manager, and became the
Palisades Tennis Club. In The Quiet Man (1952), Wayne tells Michaeleen "Óge" Flynn (portrayed by
Barry Fitzgerald) that he is six feet "four
and a half" (194 cm), an assertion corroborated by Pilar's book John
Wayne: My Life With the Duke.
His divorce from Esperanza Baur, a Mexican former actress,
was stormy. She believed that Wayne and co-star Gail Russell were having an
affair, a claim that both Wayne and Russell denied. The night the film Angel
and the Badman (1947) wrapped, the usual party was held for cast and crew, and
Wayne came home very late. Esperanza was in a drunken rage by the time he
arrived, and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door.
Wayne had several high-profile affairs, including one with
Merle Oberon that lasted from 1938 to 1947. After his separation from Pilar, in
1973, Wayne became romantically involved and lived with his former secretary
Pat Stacy (1941–1995) until his death in 1979. Stacy published a book about her
life with him in 1983, titled Duke: A Love Story.
Wayne's hair began to thin in the 1940s, and he had begun to
wear a hairpiece by the end of the decade. He was occasionally seen in public
without the hairpiece (such as, according to Life, at Gary Cooper's funeral).
During an appearance at Harvard University, Wayne was asked by a student, "Is it true that your toupée is real
hair?" He responded: "Well
sir, that's real hair. Not mine, but real hair."
A close friend, California Congressman Alphonzo E. Bell Jr.,
wrote of Wayne: "Duke's personality and
sense of humor were very close to what the general public saw on the big
screen. It is perhaps best shown in these words he had engraved on a plaque:
'Each of us is a mixture of some good and some not so good qualities. In
considering one's fellow man, it's important to remember the good things. ...
We should refrain from making judgments just because a fella happens to be a
dirty, rotten S.O.B.'"
Wayne was fond of literature, his favorite authors being
Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. His favorite books
were David Copperfield, and Conan Doyle's historical novels The White Company
and Sir Nigel.
Wayne was a chess player. Roger Ebert recalls that on the
set of Chisum, "we were playing a
chess game, both of us bending over the board on an upended apple crate. Wayne,
slouched in his old stitched leather director's chair, had a crowd of
kibitzers: wranglers, extras, old cronies, drinking buddies, a couple of
Mexican stuntmen. He studied the board, roared with laughter, and said,
'God...damn it! You've trapped my queen!' We studied the board. I made a
decisive move. 'Why the hell did I just say that?' he asked. If I
hadn't-a...said it, you wouldn't-a...seen it.'”] According to Michael Munn,
when Wayne was asked about Rock Hudson's sexuality, he replied, "Who the hell cares if he's a queer? The
man plays great chess."
He used the same 1873 Colt Single Action Army revolver in
many of the Westerns in which he appeared.
Wayne had been a chain smoker of cigarettes since young
adulthood and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964. He underwent successful
surgery to remove his entire left lung and two ribs. Despite efforts by his
business associates to prevent him from going public with his illness for fear
that it would cost him work, Wayne announced he had cancer and called on the
public to get preventive examinations. Five years later, Wayne was declared
cancer-free. Wayne has been credited with coining the term "the Big C" as a euphemism for cancer. Ebert quotes him
as saying: "Tequila makes your head
hurt. Not from your hangover. From falling over and hitting your head."
He was a Freemason, a Master Mason in Marion McDaniel Lodge
No. 56 F&AM, in Tucson, Arizona. He became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite
Mason and later joined the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple in Los Angeles. He became
a member of the York Rite. During the early 1960s, Wayne traveled often to
Panama, and he purchased the island of Taborcillo off that nation's Pacific coast.
It was sold by his estate at his death.
Wayne's yacht, the Wild Goose, was one of his favorite
possessions. He kept it docked in Newport Beach Harbor, and it was listed on
the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Acting evaluation
The Big Trail (1930)
Sagebrush Trail (1933)
The Comancheros (1961)
In 1974, film critic Charles Champlin wrote of Wayne: "Wayne is a motion picture actor,
first, last and always, who defined as powerfully as anyone else what that
means. From the lean and intense early days, in those low-cost dusters which
still play on morning television, Wayne has had a presence which got through
the lenses and shutters and onto the film undiminished." John Ford
said of him: "He's not something out
of a book, governed by acting rules. He portrays John Wayne, a rugged American
guy. He's not one of those method actors, like they send out here from drama
schools in New York. He's real, perfectly natural." Lee Strasberg observed
that Wayne was similar to fellow actors Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper, who
"try not to act but be themselves".
Wayne thought of himself as a reactor rather than an actor,
and felt that the difference between good and bad acting was in acting and
reacting. He explained this difference: "In
a bad picture, you see them acting all over the place. In a good picture, they
react in a logical way to a situation they're in, so the audience can identify
with the actors." When asked about his approach to acting, Wayne
commented: "I read dramatic lines
undramatically and react to situations normally. This is not as simple as it
sounds. I've spent a major portion of my life trying to do it well and I am not
past learning it yet." Much like many actors of his generation, Wayne
disliked method acting, and once said of them: "Let those actors who
picked their noses get all the dialogue, just give me the close-up of
reaction."
Howard Hawks, who directed him in five films, felt that
after losing one of his lungs, Wayne became a much better actor. Hawks
explained: "Because of the lung
Wayne lost, he reads his lines differently. He pauses in the strangest places
simply because he hasn't got the breath he used to have. This device is
terribly effective, because you keep your eyes on him and wait for him to
finish, because you don't know what's coming next." Raoul Walsh noted:
"Wayne underreacts, and it's mighty
effective, not because he tries to underact–it's a hard thing to do if you
try–but because he can't overact."
Despite his popularity at the box office, Wayne was often
criticized for playing the same type of character during most of his career. In
a 1969 interview with Roger Ebert, Wayne remarked: "Of course, they give me that John Wayne stuff so much, claim I
always play the same role. Seems like nobody remembers how different the
fellows were in The Quiet Man or Iwo Jima, or Yellow Ribbon, where I was 35
playing a man of 65. To stay a star, you have to bring along some of your own
personality. Thousands of good actors can carry a scene, but a star has to
carry the scene and still, without intruding, allow some of his character into
it."
Gene Hackman said of Wayne, "John Wayne was one of the best actors ever. You must admire how
really good he was as an actor, in command of the scene and with such great
charisma."
Legacy
Awards, celebrations,
and landmarks
Wayne's enduring status as an iconic American was formally
recognized by the U.S. government in the form of the two highest civilian
decorations. On his 72nd birthday on May 26, 1979, Wayne was awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal. Hollywood figures and American leaders from across
the political spectrum, including Maureen O'Hara, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank
Sinatra, Mike Frankovich, Katharine Hepburn, General and Mrs. Omar Bradley,
Gregory Peck, Robert Stack, James Arness, and Kirk Douglas, testified to
Congress in support of the award. Robert Aldrich, president of the Directors
Guild of America, made a particularly notable statement:
It is important for
you to know that I am a registered Democrat, and to my knowledge, share none of
the political views espoused by Duke. However, whether he is ill disposed or
healthy, John Wayne is far beyond the normal political sharpshooting in this
community. Because of his courage, his dignity, his integrity, and because of
his talents as an actor, his strength as a leader, his warmth as a human being
throughout his illustrious career, he is entitled to a unique spot in our
hearts and minds. In this industry, we often judge people, sometimes unfairly,
by asking whether they have paid their dues. John Wayne has paid his dues over
and over, and I'm proud to consider him a friend and am very much in favor of
my government recognizing in some important fashion the contribution that Mr.
Wayne has made.
Wayne was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom on June 9, 1980, by President Jimmy Carter. He had attended Carter's
inaugural ball in 1977 "as a member
of the loyal opposition", as he described it. In 1998, he was awarded
the Naval Heritage Award by the US Navy Memorial Foundation for his support of
the Navy and military during his film career. In 1999, the American Film
Institute named Wayne 13th among the Greatest Male Screen Legends of classic
Hollywood cinema.
In the essay "John
Wayne: A Love Song", Joan Didion recalls the first time she saw Wayne
in a movie: "it was there, that
summer of 1943 while the hot wind blew outside, that I first saw John Wayne.
Saw the walk, heard the voice. Heard him tell the girl in a picture called War
of the Wildcats that he would build her a house, 'at the bend in the river
where the cottonwoods grow.' As it happened I did not grow up to be kind of
woman who is the heroine in a Western, and although the men I have known have
had many virtues and have taken me to live in many places I have come to love,
they have never been John Wayne, and they have never taken me to that bend in the
river where the cottonwoods grow. Deep in that part of my heart where the
artificial rain forever falls, that is still the line I want to hear... When
John Wayne rode through my childhood, and perhaps through yours, he determined
forever the shapes of certain of our dreams. It did not seem possible that such
a man could fall ill, could carry within him that most inexplicable and
ungovernable of diseases."
Wayne's most enduring
image is that of the displaced loner uncomfortable with the very civilization
he is helping to establish and preserve...At his first appearance, we usually
sense a very private person with some wound, loss or grievance from the past.
At his very best he is much closer to a tragic vision of life...projecting the
kind of mystery associated with great acting.– Film historian Andrew Sarris (1979)
Various public locations are named in honor of Wayne,
including the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, where a 9-foot
(2.7 m) bronze equestrian statue of him stands at the entrance; the John Wayne
Marina for which Wayne bequeathed the land, near Sequim, Washington; John Wayne
Elementary School (P.S. 380) in Brooklyn, New York, which boasts a 38-foot (12
m) mosaic mural commission by New York artist Knox Martin entitled "John Wayne and the American
Frontier"; and over a 100 miles (160 km) named the "John Wayne Pioneer Trail" in
Washington's Iron Horse State Park. A larger-than-life-sized bronze statue of
Wayne atop a horse was erected at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and
Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, at the former offices of the
Great Western Savings and Loan Corporation, for which Wayne had made a number
of commercials. In the city of Maricopa, Arizona, part of Arizona State Route
347 is named John Wayne Parkway, which runs through the center of town.
In 2006, friends of Wayne and his former Arizona business
partner, Louis Johnson, inaugurated the "Louie
and the Duke Classics" events benefiting the John Wayne Cancer
Foundation and the American Cancer Society. The weekend-long event each fall in
Casa Grande, Arizona, includes a golf tournament, an auction of John Wayne
memorabilia, and a team roping competition.
Several celebrations took place on May 26, 2007, the
centennial of Wayne's birth. A celebration at the John Wayne birthplace in
Winterset, Iowa, included chuck-wagon suppers, concerts by Michael Martin
Murphey and Riders in the Sky, a Wild West Revue in the style of Buffalo Bill's
Wild West show, and a Cowboy Symposium with Wayne's costars, producers, and
costumers. Wayne's films ran repetitively at the local theater. Ground was
broken for the new John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center at a
ceremony consisting of over 30 of Wayne's family members, including Melinda
Wayne Muñoz, Aissa, Ethan, and Marisa Wayne. Later that year, California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Wayne into
the California Hall of Fame, located at the California Museum in Sacramento.
In 2016, Republican assemblyman Matthew Harper proposed
marking May 26 as "John Wayne
Day" in California. This resolution was struck down by a vote of 35 to
20, due to Wayne's views on race and his support of controversial organizations
such as the John Birch Society and the House Un-American Activities Committee.
American icon
Wayne rose beyond the typical recognition for a famous actor
to that of an enduring icon who symbolized and communicated American values and
ideals. Using the power of communication through silent films and radio, Wayne
was instrumental in creating a national culture from disparate areas of the US,
and made the creation of a national hero possible. By the middle of his career,
Wayne had developed a larger-than-life image, and as his career progressed, he
selected roles that would not compromise his off-screen image. Wayne embodied
the icon of strong American masculinity and rugged individualism in both his
films and his life. At a party in 1957, Wayne confronted actor Kirk Douglas
about the latter's decision to play the role of Vincent van Gogh in the film
Lust for Life, saying: "Christ,
Kirk, how can you play a part like that? There's so goddamn few of us left. We
got to play strong, tough characters. Not these weak queers." However,
actor Marlon Brando was notably critical of Wayne's public persona and of the
cultural insensitivity of Wayne's characters, arguing on The Dick Cavett Show
that, "We [Americans] like to see
ourselves as perhaps John Wayne sees us. That we are a country that stands for
freedom, for rightness, for justice," before adding that "it just simply doesn't apply."
Wayne's rise to being the quintessential movie war hero
began to take shape four years after World War II, when Sands of Iwo Jima
(1949) was released. His footprints at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood
were laid in concrete that contained sand from Iwo Jima. His status grew so
large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United
States in 1975, he asked to meet John Wayne, the symbolic representation of his
country's former enemy. Likewise when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited
the United States in 1959, he made two requests: to visit Disneyland and meet Wayne.
The Big Trail (1930)
In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western
Stars poll, Wayne was listed in 1936 and 1939. He appeared in the similar Box
Office poll in 1939 and 1940. While these two polls are really an indication
only of the popularity of series stars, Wayne also appeared in the Top Ten
Money Makers Poll of all films from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1974, taking first
place in 1950, 1951, 1954, and 1971. With a total of 25 years on the list,
Wayne has more appearances than any other star, surpassing Clint Eastwood (21)
who is in second place.
Wayne is the only actor to appear in every edition of the
annual Harris Poll of Most Popular Film Actors, and the only actor to appear on
the list after his death. Wayne was in the top 10 in this poll for 19
consecutive years, starting in 1994, 15 years after his death.
Mylène Demongeot declared in a 2015 filmed interview: "Gary Cooper was sublime; there I have
to say; now he, was part of the stars, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, John Wayne,
those great Americans who I've met really were unbelievable guys, and there aren't
any like them anymore."
John Wayne Cancer
Foundation
The John Wayne Cancer Foundation was founded in 1985 in
honor of John Wayne, after his family granted the use of his name (and limited
funding) for the continued fight against cancer. The foundation's mission is to
"bring courage, strength, and grit
to the fight against cancer". The foundation provides funds for
innovative programs that improve cancer patient care, including research,
education, awareness, and support.
Dispute with Duke
University
Newport Beach, California-based John Wayne Enterprises, a
business operated by Wayne's heirs, sells products, including Kentucky straight
Bourbon, bearing the "Duke"
brand and using Wayne's picture. When the company tried to trademark the image
appearing on one of the bottles, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina,
filed a notice of opposition. According to court documents, Duke has tried
three times since 2005 to stop the company from trademarking the name. The
company sought a declaration permitting registration of their trademark. The
company's complaint filed in federal court said the university did "not own the word 'Duke' in all
contexts for all purposes." The university's official position was not
to object provided Wayne's image appeared with the name. On September 30, 2014,
Orange County, California federal judge David Carter dismissed the company's
suit, deciding the plaintiffs had chosen the wrong jurisdiction.
Filmography
Rio Bravo (1959)
The Longest Day (1962)
Between 1926 and 1977, Wayne appeared in over 170 films.
According to Quigley Polling, which has taken place every year since 1932 to
find the top box-office stars, John Wayne was named the top money maker (as of
2005).
Missed roles
Wayne turned down the lead role in the 1952 film High Noon
because he felt the film's story was an allegory against blacklisting, which he
actively supported. In a 1971 interview, Wayne said he considered High Noon "the most un-American thing I've ever
seen in my whole life", and that he would "never regret having helped run screenwriter Carl Foreman [who was
later blacklisted] out of the country".
An urban legend has it that in 1955, Wayne turned down the
role of Matt Dillon in the long-running television series Gunsmoke and
recommended James Arness, instead. While he did suggest Arness for the part and
introduced him in a prologue to the first episode, no film star of Wayne's
stature would have considered a television role at the time.
Terry Southern's biographer Lee Hill wrote that the role of
Major T. J. "King" Kong in
Dr. Strangelove (1964) was originally written with Wayne in mind, and that
Stanley Kubrick offered him the part after Peter Sellers injured his ankle
during filming; he immediately turned it down. While Sellers went on to play
three other roles in the film, Slim Pickens played Kong.
In 1966, Wayne accepted the role of Major Reisman in The
Dirty Dozen (1967), and asked Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for some script changes, but
eventually withdrew from the project to make The Green Berets. He was replaced
by Lee Marvin.
Though Wayne actively campaigned for the title role in Dirty
Harry (1971), Warner Bros. decided that at 63 he was too old, and cast the
41-year-old Clint Eastwood.
Director Peter Bogdanovich and screenwriter Larry McMurtry
pitched a film in 1971 called Streets of Laredo that would co-star Wayne along
with James Stewart and Henry Fonda. They conceived it as a Western that would
bring the final curtain down on Hollywood Westerns. Stewart and Fonda both
agreed to appear in it, but after long consideration, Wayne turned it down,
citing his feeling that his character was more underdeveloped and uninteresting
than those of his co-stars, which was largely based on John Ford's
recommendation after perusing the script. The project was shelved for some 20
years, until McMurtry rewrote and expanded the original screenplay co-written
with Bogdanovich to make the novel and subsequent TV miniseries Lonesome Dove,
with Tommy Lee Jones in Wayne's role and Robert Duvall playing the part
originally written for Stewart in the extremely popular miniseries.
Mel Brooks offered Wayne the role of the Waco Kid
(eventually played by Gene Wilder) in Blazing Saddles (1974). After reading the
script, Wayne declined, fearing the dialogue was "too dirty" for his family-friendly image, but told
Brooks that he would be "first in
line" to see the movie.
Steven Spielberg offered both Wayne and Charlton Heston the
role of Major General Joseph Stilwell in the film 1941 with Wayne also
considered for a cameo in it. After reading the script, Wayne decided not to
participate due to ill health, but also urged Spielberg not to pursue the
project. Both Wayne and Heston felt the film was unpatriotic. Spielberg
recalled, "[Wayne] was really
curious and so I sent him the script. He called me the next day and said he
felt it was a very un-American movie, and I shouldn't waste my time making it.
He said, 'You know, that was an important war, and you're making fun of a war
that cost thousands of lives at Pearl Harbor. Don't joke about World War
II'."
Awards and
nominations
Academy Awards
1949 Sands of Iwo
Jima Best Actor Nominated
1960 The Alamo Best Picture Nominated
1969 True Grit Best Actor Won
Golden Globe Awards
1953 — Henrietta Award (World Film Favorite
– Male) Won
1966 — Cecil B. DeMille Award Honored
1970 True Grit Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Won
Grammy Awards
1972 America, Why
I Love Her Best Spoken Word
Album Nominated
Brass Balls Award
In 1973, The Harvard Lampoon, a satirical paper run by
Harvard University students, invited Wayne to receive The Brass Balls Award,
created in his "honor",
after calling him "the biggest fraud
in history". Wayne accepted the invitation as a chance to promote the
recently released film McQ, and a Fort Devens Army convoy offered to drive him
into Harvard Square on an armored personnel carrier. The ceremony was held on
January 15, 1974, at the Harvard Square Theater and the award was officially
presented in honor of Wayne's "outstanding
machismo and penchant for punching people". Although the convoy was
met with protests by members of the American Indian Movement and others, some
of whom threw snowballs, Wayne received a standing ovation from the audience
when he walked onto the stage. An internal investigation was launched into the
Army's involvement in the day.
Additional awards and
honors
1970, Received the DeMolay Legion of Honor
1970, Received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy
of Achievement
1973, Awarded the Gold Medal from the National Football
Foundation
1974, Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in
the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
1979, Received the Congressional Gold Medal
1980, Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
nation's highest civilian honor, by President Jimmy Carter
1986, Inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame
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