John Wayne

John Wayne’s Attempt To Break Out Of Westerns Nearly Killed His Career

John Wayne tried to break his Western typecasting early on in his career – which almost destroyed it. A look at Wayne’s filmography reveals he made a movie in just about every genre, from historical dramas to romantic comedies. He will forever be tied to Westerns, however, and felt uniquely suited to the genre. Wayne starred in over 80 Westerns across his 50-year career, with even his final starring role – 1976’s The Shootist – being an Oater also. Early on in his career, he made dozens of low-budget, “Poverty Row” Westerns, including his “horror” Western Haunted Gold in 1932.
During the 1930s he seemed poised for stardom, but his big break was slow arriving. He attempted to split from both Westerns and Poverty Row by moving from b-movie studio Republic to Universal in the late 1930s. According to Shooting Star: A Biography of John Wayne (via /Film), Wayne was promised by Universal producer Trem Carr that if he made the leap, Universal would pull him out of Westerns and into a variety of more contemporary projects. When Carr kept his Western promise, Wayne’s six-movie run with Universal very nearly ended his career, as they were all cheapies too.
John Wayne’s Non-Western Movies Were Terrible

john wayne in idol of the crowds

With Universal, Wayne – whose last “role” was Star Wars – starred in everything from ice hockey drama Idol Of The Crowds – where the actor had never played prior to filming – or action movies like California Straight Ahead! Carr was attempting to make low-budget films with up-and-coming stars that would rival bigger budget fare from other studios. His scheme didn’t pay off for Wayne, with all of the films being shot quickly and cheaply. None of them were hits and they did little to elevate Wayne’s career. The now-lost Adventure’s End was the final movie of his Universal deal
How Stagecoach Saved John Wayne’s Career

Stagecoach

Instead of helping his career, his move away from the genre left Wayne in a bad spot. He claimed to have “crawled” back to Republic after his Universal days, as he couldn’t find work elsewhere. He embarked on another series of b-Westerns like Red River Range, before his friend John Ford (played by David Lynch in Fablemans) cast him as the Ringo Kid in 1939’s Stagecoach. The film is now regarded as one of the most important Westerns ever, and made the careers of both Wayne and Ford; Stagecoach was one of Wayne’s favorite films of his own, too.

After toiling away in b-projects for over a decade, Stagecoach finally gave Wayne the star-making role he was seeking. He made plenty of projects outside Westerns, including Sands of Iwo Jima or The Quiet Man, but most of his biggest hits came within the genre. The Searchers – another Ford collaboration – Rio Bravo (part of an unofficial trilogy) and True Grit are just some of his biggest successes, with the latter winning Wayne his sole Academy Award. His latter career can be traced back to the success of Stagecoach, however, but who knows how his filmography may have evolved if his Universal gamble had paid off.

John Wayne

Famed famous actress will not work with John Wayne for many years .

While many fans love John Wayne and his movies, it turns out he wasn’t always that popular with his fellow celebrities. In fact, there was at least one actress that refused to work with him for a long time! eventually, she came around but she called out his behavior and asked him to change. That actress was the iconic Katharine Hepburn.

In the ‘50s, John was a Republican who would often share his political views. Of course, this led to disagreements and other people didn’t always agree or like his views.

John wanted Katharine to play Angie Lowe in his western film Hondo. However, after she discovered that he supported the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), she didn’t want to work with him.

Kathar Hepburn famously feuded with John Wayne : In changed her mind. They worked together in the 1975 classic Rooster Cogburn. However, it doesn’t seem that all was well when they filmed the movie. After the movie was completed, Katharine spoke out about John, saying that he was always arguing with the crew and the director. She called him out during the film’s wrap party.

Reportedly, she told him, “I’m glad I didn’t know you when you had two lungs. You must have been a real b*****d. Losing a hip has mellowed me, but you!” Years later, before his death in 1979, they apparently made up and had some fun times together.

John Wayne

The reason Elvis Presley turned down John Wayne’s offer to return to the West together.

Elvis Presley could have starred in the 1969 western True Grit alongside icon John Wayne. However, as much as his manager Col. Tom Parker wanted Elvis to be a Hollywood star, he didn’t want him to have any co-starring roles. If it wasn’t the main role, then he didn’t want it for Elvis.

Reportedly, after Elvis’ western Love Me Tender did so well, John Wayne started noticing him as an actor. He asked Elvis to star in movies with him a few times, including True Grit. He wanted Elvis to play the part of Texan Ranger LaBoeuf.

Elvis Presley could have acted with the iconic John Wayne : However, at the time, Elvis was wanted to focus on music and live performances.

Just a year before True Grit came out, Elvis filmed his 1968 Comeback Special. His manager also asked if Elvis could receive the top credit in the film, above John, if he were cast.

So, Glen Campbell was cast instead. In addition to playing the role of LaBeouf, he sang the title song of the film. This wasn’t the only film role that fell through for Elvis because of his greedy manager.

Elvis was asked to play the lead role in A Star is Born with Barbra Streisand. After negotiations fell through, Kris Kristofferson was cast instead. Can you imagine A Star is Born starring Barbra and Elvis instead? That would definitely have been interesting. Sadly, Elvis died just a year after the film came out.

John Wayne

Ronald Reagan shared how he never forgot John Wayne’s support for him ?

John Wayne was indisputably a Hollywood icon, but he was much more than that to Ronald Reagan. In fact, the 40th president of the United States never forgot how America’s most beloved big screen cowboy, nicknamed the Duke, gave him support when he needed it most.

John Wayne remains one of the most recognizable actors of all time, but he was also extraordinarily patriotic. “John Wayne has dedicated his entire life to America,” said Sen. Barry Goldwater during the 1979 hearings to award the Duke with the Congressional Medal of Honor. “And I am safe in saying that the American people have an affection for John Wayne such as they have had for very few people in the history of America.”

“John Wayne is not just an actor, and a good actor, he is the United States of America,” said actress Maureen O’Hara at the 1979 hearings. “I feel this gold medal should say just one thing: John Wayne American . . . I beg you to order the President to strike it.” O’Hara, known for her fiery red hair, starred with the Duke in the 1952 classic A Quiet Man. They were also great friends his entire life.

Although Ronald Reagan and John Wayne never made a movie together, they were well acquainted. Reagan and Wayne shared political beliefs, but sadly, the Duke died about eighteen months before Reagan won his bid for the White House. However, during a 1988 interview, Reagan recounted how his friend gave him and his wife Nancy support during their first big public battle.

“Are there any comments you’d like to give to close out?” the interviewer asked. “We’re doing this documentary for public television on John Wayne, called An American Hero, I might add. Are there any last, closing comments you’d like to make about the man?”

“There’s one thing that I think shows the character of that man as well as anything,” Reagan said. Then, he began to tell the story of the first Screen Actors Guild strike. At that time, he was president of SAG. So, Reagan was catching most of the blame from the media as well as others in Hollywood.

“In the mornings, for seven months, I was out of that house at meetings trying to get this thing settled,” Reagan explained. “And, Nancy would be there with the morning papers. Sometimes, they were worse than others.”

Ronald Reagan went on to explain how the Duke reached out to Nancy Reagan. “One day, Nancy told me that she’d had a phone call that morning after I left, and it was John Wayne.” The Duke was reading the papers as well. So, according to Reagan, he just called to say, “I thought you might want to hear a friendly voice about this time.” He then went on to tell Nancy how supportive he was of Ronald Reagan and what he was doing as head of SAG.

That wasn’t just a one-time thing, either. Ronald Reagan said that John Wayne called his house every morning just to cheer Nancy up. Looking back on that time, Reagan added, “That was very typical of John Wayne.” When Reagan left acting to start his career running for political office, Wayne publicly supported him through every campaign.