John Wayne
John Wayne’s scandalous divorce confirmed why wife almost shot him in jealous rage
John Wayne was seen as a bastion of conservative values, especially in the latter stages of his career. But when his career went stratospheric in the 1940 he was (behind closed doors) a well-known “hell-raiser” according to his daughter Aissa. His tempestuous 1946 marriage to second wife Esperanze ‘Chata’ Baur ended in a spectacularly tawdry court case that became so lurid that both sides quickly decided to settle before any more outrageous and potentially career-damaging details were aired in public.Wayne’s first marriage to Josephine Saenz had yielded four children but become increasingly loveless and, reported by Aissa in her book John Wayne: My Father, increasingly sexless.
The Westerns actor had a lifelong love of Latin women. He was instantly smitten when he was introduced to smoldering aspiring actress Esperanza in Mexico by fellow Hollywood leading man Ray Milland.
However, the raven-haired beauty was already hiding scandalous secrets according to Aissa: “In truth, Chata was a dark, voluptuous, high-priced call-girl. By the time my father discovered the facts of her life, he’d fallen in love.”
Wayne’s friends tried to persuade him against marriage and director John Ford even apparently barely spoke to his long-time collaborator for two years when he ignored his warnings. Ultimately, everybody was proved right.
Aissa said: “For the seven stormy years they stayed married, they separated numerous times. When the marriage finally shattered, the allegations made for a lurid trial. Too much angry suspicion, too much hard liquor, and not enough fidelity.”
Access to Wayne’s testimony from the divorce trial makes for eye-popping reading where descriptions of the star constantly finding his wife and her mother drunkenly passed out at home were minor details.
John Wayne with his second wife Esperanza Bauer had a tempestuous marriage (Image: GETTY)
The most explosive section related to Chata’s conviction that her husband was having an affair with co-star Gail Russell on 1947’s Angel and the Badman, just one year into their marriage. Wayne came late one night from filming and was almost shot by his wife on their doorstep.
In court, Wayne said: “My wife refused to let me in. I could hear her and her mother talking about me loudly. I rang the bell but they wouldn’t open the door. Then I broke a glass panel, reached in, and opened it myself. Chata and her mother, they came charging out. Chata had a forty-five in her hand. She and her mother were fighting over it.”
Under oath, Wayne testified that Chat, again drunk, accused him of sleeping with Russell and then turned the gun on him and threatened to shoot.
John Wayne with his second wife Esperanza Bauer in 1951 (Image: GETTY)
Chata testified that she thought he was a burglar. Since both were under oath, one of them was lying in court.
Over the following days she accused her husband of infidelity and 22 acts of “physical cruelty” across the years. She repeatedly said that he had “clobbered” her and the phrase soon hit headlines. Wayne responded with 31 charges of his own and said he had only ever touched his wife to protect himself from her drunken attacks.
Both parties soon realised the bad publicity the trial was generating and settled for an “uncommon divorce’ where neither side conceded to any of the charges.
John Wayne and daughter Aissa (Image: GETTY)
John Wayne with third wife Pilar in 1967 (Image: GETTY )
By the terms of the 1954 divorce, either party could remarry after 12 months. Wayne kept his sprawling Encino estate but agreed to pay off all of Chata’s debts, in addition to giving her $150,000 ($1.45million today) upfront and a further $60,000 ($583,000 today) a year for six years.
Esperanza Baur had become a very wealthy woman. However, her addictions followed her and shortly after those payments ended she was found dead in a hotel room in Mexico City. The cause of death was given as a heart attack, but the room was strewn was alcohol bottles.
Wayne had immediately tied the knot for the third and final time to a beautiful 21-year-old actress Pilar Pallete. They had three children – Aissa, John and Marisa. Although they remained married until his death in 1979, they had separated in 1973, when he started an affair with his secretary Pat Stacy.
John Wayne
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John Wayne
Why John Wayne Turned Down the Chance to Work With Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are the two biggest legends in the history of Western movies, however, they never worked together. The duo did have the opportunity to work together once in the 1970s. Here’s why the film never came to fruition.
How John Wayne responded when Clint Eastwood tried to work with him
Firstly, a little background. According to the book John Wayne: The Life and Legend, it all starts with Larry Cohen. Though Cohen is not a widely known director like Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino, he’s a huge name to fans of B movies. He directed famous B movies like The Stuff, Q: The Winged Serpent, It’s Alive, and God Told Me To. He also wrote a script called The Hostiles shortly after Eastwood released his classic High Plains Drifter.
The Hostiles was about a gambler who wins half of an estate of an older man. The gambler and the older man have to work together despite the fact that they don’t like each other. Eastwood optioned the screenplay with the intent of playing the gambler alongside Wayne as the older man.
Eastwood sent a copy of the script of The Hostiles to Wayne. Although Eastwood felt the script was imperfect, he saw its potential. However, Wayne was not interested. Eastwood pitched the film to Wayne a second time and Wayne responded with a letter. Wayne’s letter complained about High Plains Drifter. Wayne was offended by the film and its portrayal of the Old West as a cruel, violent place.
John Wayne
Ann-Margret Refused to Call John Wayne ‘Duke’ While Introducing 1 of His Movies
Ann-Margret once starred in one of John Wayne’s lesser-known movies. However, she refused to call him by his popular moniker Duke. Here’s a look at the film they made together — and why she declined to call him by a nickname.
The one time Ann-Margret and John Wayne made a movie together
Ann-Margret is probably most known for her work in musicals, specifically Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, and The Who’s Tommy. However, she also dabbled in the Western genre. She starred alongside Wayne in the mostly forgotten movie The Train Robbers.
Wayne was also known as The Duke or just Duke. According to USA Today, the nickname was derived from his childhood dog. It stuck with him for many years. It continues to be used today — even on the box covers of the DVDs for his movies.
John Wayne | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
During an interview with Interview Magazine, Ann-Margret explained why she didn’t refer to the Rio Bravo star by this famous name. “When I came to this country, first of all, mother and I didn’t know English,” she said. “I would curtsey, then say, ‘Thank you,’ and then when I was leaving, curtsey. For example, we went to Dallas to introduce a film I did with John Wayne. And I never called him Duke. I just couldn’t. That’s the way I was raised. When you meet someone, you say either Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. You stand up.”
Ann-Margret revealed she treated other famous people in much the same way. For example, she worked with director George Sidney on Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas. She always called him Mr. Sidney.
What Ann-Margret thought about John Wayne
Ann-Margret refused to use Wayne’s most famous moniker. However, she had a positive view of the actor. During an interview with Fox News, she was asked what she expected when she met Wayne. “Oh, I didn’t know what to expect,” she revealed. “But when he hugged me, it’s like the world was hugging me. He was so big and wide with that booming voice.
“We were shooting in Durango, Mexico and my parents came down to visit me,” she added. “He was so great with my parents. So absolutely welcoming and gentle with them. And anybody who was great to my parents was on a throne in my eyes.”
How the world reacted to ‘The Train Robbers’
Wayne starred in many classic Westerns, including The Searchers, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. However, The Train Robbers is mostly forgotten. It didn’t gain a cult following like Once Upon a Time in the West or Dead Man. It wasn’t a critical success either, garnering a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Ann-Margret had some fond memories of making the film — even if she refused to call Wayne by his famous nickname.
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