John Wayne

John Wayne Didn’t Understand Why His Walk Gave Him Sex Appeal

Movie star John Wayne had an iconic walk that helped amplify his on-screen presence in Western and war films. He became the face of an entire era of Western filmmaking, entering the popular culture canon in more ways than one. However, Wayne didn’t entirely understand how his walk was much different from any other. Therefore, he didn’t get how that added to the sex appeal that he had earlier in his career.

John Wayne became a masculine icon

John Wayne | Jean Claude Pierdet\INA via Getty Images

Wayne got his big break thanks to his fateful meeting with director John Ford on the Fox lot, where the young eventual actor started working in props. However, he received his first leading role in Raoul Walsh’s 1930 adventure film The Big Trail. Wayne slumped into B-movies for quite some time before he got another shot at fame in 1939’s Stagecoach, which launched him into fame.

Red River, Sands of Iwo Jima, Rio Grande, and The Quiet Man are just a handful of film titles that proved why Wayne was a masculine icon with the help of his walk and talk. He went on to inspire countless actors and motion pictures, bringing his signature style in more ways than one.

John Wayne didn’t understand how his walk was different

In the 1971 Playboy interview, Wayne talked about the image that he nurtured over the course of his career, including his walk. The interviewer noted that much of his stardom was attributed to his sexuality that he exuded. They wanted to know if he believed that he still carried that “sexual authority,” which he only perceived when he was earlier in his career.

“Well, at one time in my career, I guess sexuality was part of my appeal,” Wayne said. “But God, I’m 63 years old now. How the hell do I know whether I still convey that? Jeez. It’s pretty hard to answer a question like, ‘Are you attractive to broads?’”

Wayne continued: “All that crap comes from the way I walk, I guess. There’s evidently a virility in it. Otherwise, why do they keep mentioning it? But I’m certainly not conscious of any particular walk. I guess I must walk different than other people, but I haven’t gone to any school to learn how.”

However, Wayne did have to develop his on-screen presence through his walk. He didn’t entirely understand the “physical side of acting,” which took work. This all came with the help of his The Desert Trail co-star Paul Fix.

John Wayne developed a signature way of talking

Wayne had more than an iconic walk, but also a booming voice that commanded the silver screen. It took some time for him to develop such skills, although it was worth the wait. Wayne once spoke about the importance of speech in motion pictures, which resulted in the slow speech pattern that followed him through his career.

The movie star said an array of iconic quotes, only further amplified by his signature delivery, such as saying “pilgrim” in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

John Wayne

John Wayne sends fans the last message of his life in ”The Shootist”.

John Wayne. What can you say about him? Whether you enjoy the man’s work or not, there’s no denying that he has made a massive impact on film history and pop culture. But even as a fan, I can’t defend every aspect of the Duke, like the guy’s acting. I can’t think of anyone who’s watched a John Wayne film for his acting chops.

The man was more known for his screen persona than his acting abilities, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have some good advice on acting.There are, however, a couple of films in which Duke pull off a pretty good performance . There’s his iconic role as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) where he played a cold-hearted and cynical war veteran searching for his niece.

Then there’s his Oscar-winning performance as the one-eyed, fat, drunken Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn in True Grit (1969). But in this column, I’m going to talk about his last performance in a feature film :Тһе Տһootıѕt (1976), directed by Don Siegel.Based on the Glendon Swarthout novel of the same name, the film tells the story of an aging gunfighter named JB Books, played by Duke, who at the dawn of the 20th century finds out he has terminal cancer.

Per this news, he decided to try and spend his final days in peace. But as rumors spread about him through the tiny town of Carson City, Nevada, more people want to get a piece of him. It eventually climaxes with Books realizing that he’ll never escape his past and going out the only way he knows how.Before I go on about John Wayne in the film, I have to talk about the rest of the cast.

This film boasts an all-star ensemble, many of whom took the role purely as a favor to Wayne. There’s Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart) who delivers the bad news to Books about his health and becomes a closer friend throughout the film. “You know, Books,” he says, “I’m not an especially brave man. But, if I were you and had lived my entire life the way you have, I don’t think that the ԁеаtһ I just described to you is the one I would choose.”

Then there’s the late, great Lauren Bacall as the widowed boarding house owner Bond Rogers and Oscar-winning director Ron Howard as her wide-eyed idolizing son. The film also features a slew of great TV and Western legends — Richard Boone as the vengeance seeking Mike Sweeney, John Carradine as the town’s undertaker Hezekiah Beckum, Bill McKinney as the ill-tempered Jay Cobb, Scatman Crothers as the liver-stable owner Moses Brown, and Harry Morgan as the fast-talking and loud Marshal Thibido.

John Wayne

How Maureen O’Hara Broke Her Hand During Iconic Scene With John Wayne

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara starred in five films together over the course of their impressive movie careers. The only thing greater than their off-screen friendship was their on-screen chemistry.

Even though the pair had undeniable affection for each other, their film takes weren’t always flawless. In fact, one of their most memorable movie scenes resulted in O’Hara breaking her wrist. The scene takes place in The Quiet Man, a movie that was considered to be a passion project for director John Ford…the same man who introduced John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara at a party.

In a 2004 interview with Diane Sawyer, Maureen O’Hara shared a behind-the-scenes details about how filming a scene with John Wayne while she was angry at him resulted in her broken wrist.

“That particular day I was mad at him,” O’Hara recalled of a day on the set of The Quiet Man. “I was hitting him for real and I was intending to break his jaw. As you’ll see, as I hauled off to hit him, he puts his hand up and stops it. In that moment he snaps my wrist back and cracked a bone in my wrist.”

O’Hara finished filming the scene then went to the hospital. She later returned to the set to continue working because “you got no sympathy.”

O’Hara went on to explain in the interview that she was angry because John Wayne and the movie’s director had put down sheep’s dung for the scene where Wayne’s character drags O’Hara’s on the ground.

“Let me tell you, it stinks!” O’Hara said. “They loved tormenting me. Probably because I reacted. If I had had the sense not to even react they probably would have quit tormenting me.”

Hear Maureen O’Hara talk about breaking her hand while taking a swing at John Wayne in the clip below.

John Wayne

Inside John Wayne’s Decades-Long Relationship With Maureen O’Hara

One of cinema’s most beloved pairings was John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Both are legends in their own right, but when paired together, the two made magic on the screen.

They co-starred in five movies throughout their careers: Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963), and Big Jake (1971).

Their chemistry on-screen and close bond off-screen led many to believe that O’Hara and Wayne were an actual couple.

But their friendship was just that…friendship. They couldn’t have though higher of each other, and they made sure everyone knew!

In an interview posted to Wayne’s official Instagram account, a reporter says, “She’s been your wife a great many times,” and O’Hara interjected, “His fighting partner!”

Wayne laughed and when the sam reporter said, “There’s no way to make her not look beautiful,” Wayne revealed, “[Director John] Ford tried to make her unattractive in a few scenes – and it was impossible!”

They remained close friends until The Duke’s death in 1979. O’Hara spent three days with her legendary friend in the hospital trying to raise his spirits. When he wasn’t feeling great about turning 72, about two weeks before his death, O’Hara told him, “So what? Mileage never hurt a Rolls Royce.”