John Wayne Was Once Jokingly Drafted by the Atlanta Falcons NFL Team – My Blog
Although his days playing football were long past him, John Wayne was jokingly drafted by the Atlanta Falcons during the 1971 NFL draft.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Atlanta Falcons drafted John Wayne due to his past football experience. The actor was 63-years-old at the time. And an Atlanta Falcons representative on-site described him as a “big strong guy. Who has also had some success in a couple of movie roles.”
At the time, the Atlanta Falcons head coach Norm Van Brocklin asked his staff: “Do we want the roughest, toughest S.O.B. in the draft?!”
Obviously, most people understood that the whole thing was in fact a joke. However, it was reported that at least two people were fooled by the Atlanta Falcon’s plan to draft John Wayne. One Georgia Tech fan told a reporter at the time, “I think that it’s a pretty sick joke when they select John Wayne and leave [defensive tackle] Rock [Perdoni] sitting here.”
Sports Illustrated further revealed that John Wayne picked up football at an early age due to his father. Who was a former college player. He later earned a scholarship to the University of Southern California as a 170-pound offensive lineman.
Sports Illustrated revealed that after suffering from a surfing accident that left him with a broken collarbone, John Wayne lost his football scholarship at the University of Southern California. The accident happened right before his junior year season. Although he ended up working for Fox Film Corporation afterward and got his big start in film, he never forgot what football gave him.
“Football put me on that stagecoach and sent me on my way,” John Wayne stated. “I found out early in life that football gave me an unusual understanding of the other fellow. You don’t care what color or religion he is, or what he thinks. But if he hits you hard, he gets your attention. And usually your respect. I’ve tried to live by that all my life.”
John Wayne also spoke about football in a 1933 interview. “No matter how much you may seem to be losing ground, no matter how often you lose the ball, you play just as hard–maybe harder–than if you were making first down with every play. And every time you get the ball into your hands, there’s a chance you may breakthrough for a length-of-the-field run–and a touchdown.”
John Wayne also stated that he heard himself be described as a “flash in the pan.” He then said from there he made up his mind that what was true of football was true of pictures. “So I started playing football.”
‘Black movie queen’ Maureen O’Hara – a close colleague of John Wayne passed away in front of the audience’s mourning. – My Blog
The star of the movie “Miracle on 34th Street”, a familiar co-star of actor John Wayne, has passed away due to old age and weakness. Maureen O’Hara, an Irish star, was once known as “the queen of movies. color”, died at his home in Boise, Idaho, USA, on October 24, at the age of 95.
The information was confirmed by Johnny Nicoletti, her long-time manager. “She passed away in the loving arms of her family, as well as on the soundtrack of the movie The Quiet Man that she loved so much,” one Maureen O’Hara’s relatives shared.
During her illustrious career, O’Hara had five times played the screen lover of actor John Wayne. She appeared in many classic Hollywood films, such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952). , Our Man in Havana (1959) and The Parent Trap (1961).
However, she never received an Oscar nomination. A year before Maureen O’Hara’s death, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to present her with an honorary Oscar for her service to Hollywood.
During the 1940s, when color film began to flourish, Maureen O’Hara appeared in a series of compelling works such as To the Shores of Tripoli (1942), The Black Swan (1942), The Spanish Main (1945). and The Quiet Man.
Possessing fair skin, red hair, as well as green eyes, she “shines like the sun on a silver screen,” as the New York Times described it. It was Dr. Herbert Kalmus, the inventor of color film, who gave Maureen O’Hara the nickname “color film queen”.
The reason why John Wayne is labeled ‘Draft Dodger’ in Wor ւ ԁ War II . – My Blog
When actor John Wayne visited American soldiers in Vietnam in the summer of 1966, he was warmly welcomed. As he spoke to groups and individuals, he was presented gifts and letters from American and South Vietnamese troops alike. This was not the case during his USO tours in 1942 and ’43.According to author Garry Wills’ 1998 book, “John Wayne’ America: the Politics of Celebrity,” the actor received a chorus of boos when he walked onto the USO stages in Australia and the Pacific Islands. Those audiences were filled with combat veterans. Wayne, in his mid-30s, was not one of them.
Around the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Wayne was not the big-name actor we remember him being today. He was fresh off the box-office success of the 1939 film “Stagecoach.”Being drafted or enlisting was going to have a serious impact on his rising star. Depending on how long the ԝаr lasted, Wayne reportedly worried he might be too old to be a leading man when he came home.
Other actors, both well-established and rising in fame, rushed off to do their part. Clark Gable joined the Army Air Forces and, despite the studios’ efforts to get him into a motion picture unit, served as an aerial ɡսոոеr over Europe. Jimmy Stewart was initially ineligible for the draft, given his low weight, but like some amazing version of Captain America, he drank beer until he qualified.In his 2014 book, “American Titan: Searching for John Wayne,” author Marc Eliot alleges Wayne was having an affair with actress Marlene Dietrich. He says the possibility of losing this relationship was the real reason Wayne didn’t want to go to ԝаr.
But even Dietrich would do her part, smuggling Jewish people out of Europe, entertaining troops on the front lines (she crossed into Germany alongside Gen. George S. Patton) and maybe even being an operative for the Office of Strategic Services.Wayne never enlisted and even filed for a 3-A draft deferment, which meant that if the sole provider for a family of four were drafted, it would cause his family undue hardship. The closest he would ever come to Worւԁ Wаr II service would be portraying the actions of others on the silver screen.
With his leading man competition fighting the ԝаr and out of the way, Wayne became Hollywood’s top leading man. During the ԝаr, Wayne starred in a number of western films as well as Worւԁ Wаr II movies, including 1942’s “Flying Tigers” and 1944’s “The Fighting Seabees.” According to Eliot, Wayne told friends the best thing he could do for the ԝаr was make movies to support the troops. Eventually, the government agreed.
At one point during the ԝаr, the need for more men in uniform caused the U.S. military brass to change Wayne’s draft status to 1-A, fit for duty. But Hollywood studios intervened on his behalf, arguing that the actor’s star power was a boon for ԝаrtime propaganda and the morale of the troops. He was given a special 2-A status, which back then meant he was deferred in “support of national interest.”The decision not to serve or to avoid it entirely (depending on how you look at the actor) haunted Wayne for the rest of his life. His third wife, Pilar Wayne, says he became a “super-patriot for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying at home.”