John Wayne was an iconic American
actor. I never knew why. Actually, I’d never watched more than fragments of a
John Wayne movie. He seemed so blustery. When I had the opportunity to read a
new book on the actor, I did. The Young Duke:
The Early Life of John Wayne was an eye-opener into the life of this
larger-than-life man.
Marion Morrison’s mother Molly was
a shrew who complained incessantly about her husband Clyde’s lack of ambition.
She felt entitled to an aristocratic lifestyle they couldn’t afford. She wanted
Marion to be an attorney, successful in business and finance. She resented that
he favored his father.
The family moved from Iowa to
California for Clyde’s health. Marion had a dog he called Duke, which became
his nickname, and he preferred it over his sissy name.
Duke attended USC on a football
scholarship. Movie celebrities liked to watch the winning Trojans, and cowboy
star Tom Mix exchanged summer jobs for players at Fox Films Corporation for box
seats. Duke Morrison got one of the jobs, and Mix suggested Duke work as an
extra in his next Western.
Director John Ford got him to
appear in Salute. In Ford’s next
film, Men Without Women, Duke
appeared again and did stuntwork. He didn’t actively seek out roles, but didn’t
turn them down.
Raoul Walsh cast him in The Big Trail. Studio executives
objected to his name; Duke Morrison didn’t sound American enough. He became
John Wayne in 1930.
After he started acting, Wayne
studied the craft. Paul Fix taught him what to do with his hands while talking
and other basic movement skills. Fix also changed Wayne’s gait, pointing his
toes into the ground as he walked, causing a distinctive sway to his shoulders
and hips.
Ford got mad at Duke for starring
in The Big Trail, even though he had
suggested him, and refused to speak to him for seven years. Columbia Pictures
president Harry Cohn got mad at him because he thought Wayne had an affair with
his co-star, Lara La Plante, whom Cohn liked, and retaliated by casting him in
demeaning roles for three years. Cecil B. DeMille asked him to his office in
1937 to discuss Duke possibly appeared in a Western DeMille was producing.
DeMille kept him waiting over an hour, and then spent their time together
critiquing Wayne’s work and explaining why he would not cast him in the lead.
Ford got over his pique and cast
Wayne in Stagecoach, the film that
took him out of B Westerns and made him an A star.
Wayne’s marriages don’t cast him in
a good light. He didn’t approach marriage wisely and wasn’t a faithful husband.
John Wayne met Josephine Saenz in
1926. Her parents forbade her to see him, an unemployed teenager with no social
standing, money, or prospects, a part-time actor who didn’t regularly attend
church. After a six-year engagement, they finally married in 1933 in a lavish ceremony at Loretta Young’s Bel
Air estate.
Josie organized posh affairs which
John was not comfortable with. She was not enamored with the Hollywood scene.
They distanced themselves from each other’s lives. Four children were born between
1934 and 1940, but his torrid love affair with Latin actress Chatta Bauer led
to a divorce in 1944. Friends and Ford had tried to curb the affair, but Wayne
resented their interference. He then wed Chatta in a volatile marriage doomed
to fail.
He was a patriotic American, yes,
and Congress awarded him a Congressional Gold Medal inscribed to John Wayne,
American. (Not the Medal of Honor as reported in The Young Duke.) His personal life wasn’t noteworthy.
I decided the next time a Wayne
film was on TV, I’d watch it in its entirety. Maybe a full movie would enlighten me. The Flying Leathernecks
aired several days ago. It was okay, but I still don’t know what all the fuss
is about. Are you a John Wayne fan?
I've enjoyed some of his movies. I got a kick out of some where Maureen O'Hara was his leading lady. I didn't know about his infidelity but it annoys me when he would throw an object to the ground and leave a tent or room. Leaving the object for someone else to pick up I imagine! I know some who hold him in great esteem though.
ReplyDeleteIt seems its better not to know too much about screen idols because they all had/have clay feet!
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