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John Wayne once picked the best role of his career – My Blog

No doubt one of the greatest actors in movie history, the all-American Hollywood star John Wayne became an icon of the western genre throughout the 20th century. From the 1920s all the way through to the 1970s, the actor dominated the western landscape, appearing in such movies as John Ford’s The Searchers, Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo and Albert S. Rogell’s War of the Wildcats.Rubbing shoulders with the likes of James Stewart, Clint Eastwood and Randolph Scott in the genre, Wayne’s legacy is inextricably linked to western cinema. Oozing class and potent patriotic vigour, Wayne was highly successful throughout his career, though he often played the same character in each of the movies he appeared in, essentially playing a rough and tough caricature of himself.The actor was aware of his tendency to be typecast, too, telling Roger Ebert in an interview from 1969 that his role in the Henry Hathaway film True Grit was one of his first opportunities to branch out. Speaking to the influential movie critic, he stated: “It’s sure as hell my first decent role in 20 years…and my first chance to play a character role instead of John Wayne. Ordinarily, they just stand me there and run everybody up against me”.Though the actor admits to often taking the same kind of role, he goes on to explain: “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”.Talking about the movie, which tells the story of a drunken U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger who help a teenager track down her father’s killer, Wayne picks out one scene as his all-time favourite.The scene comes when Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn and Kim Darby’s Mattie Ross are waiting throughout the night on a clifftop for the bad guys to return to their cabin. A moment of downtime in the intense western, the scene sees Rooster unravel his personality, telling his life story to the teenager, revealing his personal thoughts towards his own wife, his complicated life and where he’s heading in the future.“I guess that scene in True Grit is about the best scene I ever did,” Wayne told Ebert, giving some insight into how the actor reflected on his later career.Joel and Ethan Coen directed a remake of True Grit in 2010, with Jeff Bridges taking the role originally played by Wayne. Also featured in the cast were the likes of Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Pepper and Domhnall Gleeson.Take a look at the trailer for the original 1969 movie below.

True Grit - Trailer

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‘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”.

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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.”

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John Wayne Wanted to Make His Home Alarm a Hilarious Tape Recording of His Voice: ‘I See You, You Son of a B****’

John Wayne Wanted to Make His Home Alarm a Hilarious Tape Recording of His Voice: ‘I See You, You Son of a B****’

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