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JOHN WAYNE’S COLLEGE ROOMMATE AND BEST FRIEND, AS WELL AS THE STAR OF THE 1950’S NUMBER ONE TELEVISION SHOW “WAGON TRAIN” WAS BORN TODAY IN 1903.

Wardell Edwin “Ward” Bond was born April 9, 1903 in Benkelman, Nebraska.

In 1919, his parents moved the family to Denver where Ward graduated high school.
University of Southern California
At 6’2” and 195 pounds, Ward became a starting lineman for USC’s football team.

His roommate and good friend, Marion Robert Mitchell Morrison, was forced to drop out of football as a result of a bodysurfing accident in 1926.
Ward and his USC football team went on to win the national championship in 1928.
At the same time, former roommate and friend Marion Morrison had found work at local film studios with the stage name of John Wayne.
Director John Ford hired the young John Wayne, along with Ward Bond and the entire Southern Cal football team, to appear in the 1929 silent film “Salute.” During shooting of the film, director John Ford promoted Ward Bond from an extra to a supporting role along with John Wayne. Ford quickly befriended both John Wayne and Ward Bond, becoming life long friends.
Ford and Wayne then convinced Ward Bond to also get into acting full time.
Hollywood
JOHN WAYNE, WARD BOND, TALL IN THE SADDLE, 1944 Stock Photo - Alamy


Ward’s rugged face and personality fit perfectly into almost any type of film, and he went on to appear in hundreds of pictures in his more than 30-year career, in both bit parts and major supporting roles.
On a personal note, while on his way to John Wayne’s wedding he was hit by a car, but performed his duty as best man on crutches. Later, on a hunting trip, Ward was accidentally ѕһot by John Wayne. Bond left Wayne the ѕһotɡսո in his will.
Kloppholic on Twitter: "Great photo of John Wayne, John Ford, Henry Fonda  and Ward Bond playing cards. To be a fly on the wall...  https://t.co/bUjb34twq1" / Twitter
Among Ward’s most memorable roles were as John L. Sullivan in Gentleman Jim (1942), Det. Tom Polhaus in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and the Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnson Clayton The Searchers (1956).
Ward’s role as “Officer Bert” in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), inspired Jim Henson to name one of his most famous Muppets after Bond’s character (Bert, of Bert and Ernie fame).
تويتر \ Megan Abbott على تويتر: "And isn't this great? James Cagney, William  Powell, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond & Jack Lemmon on the set of MISTER ROBERTS  ('55). https://t.co/6fjBwPjd4L"
Wagon Train
However, it was a starring role in John Ford’s 1950 film “Wagonmaster” that Ward Bond’s most lasting professional role, his continuing part as trail master Seth Adams on the hit NBC television series “Wagon Train,” which debuted in 1957.
Ward even saw to it that Ford directed one episode in which John Wayne had a bit role, billed under his real name of Marion Michael Morrison.
Ward Bond stayed with Wagon Train for three seasons as NBC’s number one series.
Then suddenly, while attending a football game in Dallas, Texas, Wardell Edwin “Ward” Bond unexpectedly ԁıеԁ of a heart attack in his hotel room November 5, 1960 at the young age of 57.
John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral.
Ward Bond appeared in the most films (seven) of the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movies: It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) , The Maltese Falcon (1941), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Searchers (1956).
For his contribution to the television industry, Bond has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.
In 2001, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
There is also a Ward Bond Memorial Park in his birthplace of Benkelman, Nebraska.

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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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