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John Wayne

John Wayne regretted turning down iconic role ‘Big mistake’

Everyone, that is apart from The Duke. Wayne was a famously very loud and proud bastion of the most conservative views within society and within his own beloved Westerns. He was outraged by High Plains Drifter and told Eastwood so in the bluntest terms when the chance came for them to work together.
Although Eastwood was primarily working in television on the western Rawhide from 1959 to 1966 while Wayne was riding across the big screen, there was a golden opportunity to share the screen in 1973. By then, the younger star was an acclaimed movie star himself, thanks to the The Good, The Bad and The Ugly franchise.

Eastwood had struck gold by teaming up with Sergio Leone for his Dollars Trilogy. The third and final movie – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, came out in 1966 and was an instant commercial smash.
Five years later, Eastwood directed his first film, Play Misty For Me, and also launched the Dirty Harry saga. Wayne had actually been offered 1971’s Dirty Harry first. He turned it down, something he later regretted, admitting, “I made a mistake with that one.”
Apparently, Wayne was offended that he had been offered a role that Frank Sinatra had been cast in and then walked away from.
John Wayne rejected Steven Spielberg offer


John Wayne rejected Steven Spielberg offer (Image: GETTY)

Eastwood, meanwhile, had become very hot Hollywood property and in 1973 directed his first western, High Plains Drifter. The challenging portrayal of morally ambiguous antihero, something that always attracted Eastwood throughout his career, was a commercial and critical hit – but The Duke hated it.
Wayne was infamously conservative and opposed to anything without a clear moral (in his view) code. He refused to shoot enemies in the back on screen or do anything to dishonour what he saw as the heroic past of his beloved nation.
The veteran star even blasted the ending of iconic Western High Noon as “the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”

Clint Eastwood was rejected by John Wayne
Clint Eastwood was rejected by John Wayne (Image: GETTY )

Similarly, Wayne also famously turned down an offer from Steven Spielberg, blasting his comedic fantasy war film 1941 as “Un-American drivel.”
In 1973 Eastwood sent Wayne the script for a new project, The Hostiles, that he thought would be perfect for the two of them. The film was about a younger man who won half of a ranch, owned by an older cowboy/rancher. Their initial antagonism changes to comradeship when they have to fight off attacks on their land.
After Wayne rejected the script the first time and was sent a revised version, he replied with a personal letter to Eastwood which clarified his rejection and also made some very blunt points about High Plains Drifter.
Eastwood later recalled: “John Wayne once wrote me a letter saying he didn’t like High Plains Drifter. He said it wasn’t really about the people who pioneered the West. I realized that there’s two different generations, and he wouldn’t understand what I was doing.
“High Plains Drifter was meant to be a fable: it wasn’t meant to show the hours of pioneering drudgery. It wasn’t supposed to be anything about settling the West.”
Even so, Eastwood sent the script for The Hostiles to Wayne one last time. Wayne’s son Mike handed it to him while they were out sailing. The star simply grunted “This piece of sh** again” and threw it overboard into the ocean.

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John Wayne

Reveal 7 fascinating facts about John Wayne’s 1963 film ‘McLintock! ‘

A Standout Film In John Wayne’s Catalog . In the immense list that is John Wayne’s filmography, one title stands out among the rest. That movie would be McLintock! which starred Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in the lead roles.

Loosely based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, McLintock! is a Western in which John played the role of cattle, timber, and mining baron George Washington “G.W.” McLintock. Maureen played his estranged wife, Katherine, who moves out East after suspecting that G.W. cheated on her.However, she eventually comes back to his town, and the two find themselves tangled up in a series of messes.

7 Facts About John Wayne's 1963 Film 'McLintock!' – Country Music Family

The film also focuses on the couple’s daughter, Becky, who was played by Stefanie Powers. Once Becky comes back to town after her time away at college, she brings along a suitor named “Junior” Douglas, who was played by Jerry Van Dyke. But eventually, Rebecca ends up falling in love with a young man who lives in her father’s home named Dev, who was played by John’s son Patrick.

If you’re a fan of John’s movies, you’ve definitely seen McLintock! a time or two…or more. But there’s a few facts about the film and its creation that you’re likely clueless about.That’s what we’re here for, to tell you those facts! Are you excited to learn what they are?https://www.youtube.com/embed/VcAzj_b0bIM

1. The Movie Was Produced By John’s Son : John Wayne was always good about including his children in his projects, and ended up launching their careers in the process. While you likely already knew before reading this list that the character Dev was played by John’s son Patrick, did you know that another one of his children was involved in the film as well?

McLintock! / John Wayne / Technicolor 1963 - YouTube

It turns out that John’s eldest son, Michael, served as the sole producer of the film. Although Michael had worked on many other films in the past, McLintock! was the first that he ever fully produced.

2. John Insisted On One Of The Actresses Being Cast : One of the supporting roles in McLintock! was played by the immensely popular and beloved Yvonne De Carlo. She played Louise Warren, a widow who moves in to McLintock’s home with her two children and serves as the housekeeper and cook.https://www.youtube.com/embed/4aF4oGRM9Q0

While Yvonne appeared in a number of starring roles in earlier years, she was forced to accept supporting roles as her career declined. You probably didn’t know this before, but she may not have ever been cast in McLintock! if it wasn’t for John insisting that she be given a part.

McLintock!” – John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara | Katherine loudly… | Flickr

John wanted Yvonne to be cast in the film because her husband, stuntman Bob Morgan, had been seriously injured while working on the movie How the West Was Won, which John also starred in. The injuries put an end to Bob’s career, so why John Yvonne to have a role in McLintock! when it came time to start filming it.

3. John Wanted To Do One Stunt Because It Looked Fun : According to John’s son and the film’s producer, Michael, John really wanted to do one of his own stunts in the film. The stunt required John to jump from a hayloft down into a pile of hay below.

Michael said that his dad thought the stunt looked like a lot of fun, and he declared that he wanted to do it himself. The studio wasn’t too keen on the idea, since John was one of the brightest stars in Hollywood at the time.

John finally won the argument, and he got the chance to perform the stunt himself. However, the studio also shot the scene with a stuntman as well in case something went wrong.

4. There Isn’t A Bit Of Mud To Be Found In The Famous Brawl Scene : Sometimes, films have to substitute other substances for their real-life counterparts, such as blood, or even ice cream. In the case of the famous mudhole brawl scene that takes place in McLintock! the “mud” wasn’t mud at all!

In reality, the substance used in the mudhole brawl scene was a material called bentonite. This material is typically used while drilling oil wells, and resembles chocolate syrup in terms of appearance and consistency. On the movie screen, it stands in as a good substitute for mud, which is usually much thicker.

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John Wayne

The Gunsmoke cast had no idea John Wayne was going to introduce the first episode

The whole cast was at James Arness’ house when the Duke walked out.

Before anybody ever laid eyes on James Arness as Matt Dillon, the first episode of Gunsmoke moseyed out with a face so familiar to Westerns, he really needed no introduction. That didn’t stop him from saying in that sober, serious way of his, “I’m John Wayne. You may have seen me before, or I hope so. I’ve been kicking around Hollywood a long time.”

The introduction went on, but this was really all it took to get any Western fans to stay firmly planted in the saddle for the premiere, and out of all the fans in the audience when that very first episode aired, you should know that perhaps most surprised of all to see Wayne’s face on the front of his own show was Gunsmoke star Arness. He dispelled a myth in an interview with the Archive of American Television, confirming he not only had nothing to do with Wayne’s involvement, he and the rest of the cast didn’t even know it was going to happen!

“I didn’t ask him,” Arness said of John Wayne’s introduction. “Not at all. In fact, I was really surprised when they said that he had done that. He [filmed] that, we didn’t know about it at all. They did that intro some where else on some picture he was doing, and I don’t think actually, that we knew about it until it came on the air that night. I think they were kinda holding it as a surprise.”

Two big western stars meet again as “Gunsmoke” star Jim Arness stopped by to visit his old friend John Wayne. During the visit on the set of Wayne’s current movie the actors recalled that back in 1952 Arness was under contract to Duke. Wayne was asked to a thing called “Gunsmoke” but sold the producers on Jim instead.

Arness then went on to paint a picture of what exactly it was like to see one of his own heroes tipping his hat before the start of Arness’ new show. He said, “We were all actually over at my house, all the gang from Gunsmoke, watching this… and here’s Duke Wayne with this intro.”

Just imagine Amanda Blake, Dennis Weaver and Milburn Stone, sitting shoulder to shoulder on a couch when the screen flickers to reveal John Wayne. It must’ve been quite the surprise, indeed. Arness used a different word to describe the experience: “It was absolutely marvelous.”

In a later interview, he used the same word when discussing his favorite John Wayne movie of all time, The Quiet Man. Arness said, “I watch television all the time, mostly PBS and old movies like The Quiet Man, my favorite Wayne movie. It’s marvelous. I just loved the man and still do.”

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John Wayne

Inside John Wayne’s ‘Wild Goose’ WWII Houseboat

Actor John Wayne loved both land and sea. However, he took his love for the water to another level when he purchased a boat that he spent a lot of time on. The Wayne houseboat is a beautiful piece of history that fans continue to admire long after the actor’s death. Here’s a look inside of Wild Goose.

John Wayne owned a WWII houseboat called ‘Wild Goose’

John Wayne aboard Wild Goose, his houseboat, wearing a collared shirt, captain hat, sitting next to American flag

The Daze with Jordan the Lion YouTube channel takes viewers on a tour inside of the Wayne houseboat. The actor spent a lot of time on the houseboat and owned it for 18 years. However, he sold it shortly before he died in 1979. Jordan explained that Wayne had some of his favorite moments of all time on the Wild Goose. He even convalesced on the boat after he knew that he was going to die.

The Wayne houseboat was a decommissioned World War II Naval minesweeper. However, he wasn’t the original owner. Billionaire Max Wyman purchased the boat, but he wanted to sell it when he grew tired of it. Wayne purchased it off his hands and had to have the ceilings raised to accommodate his height without bumping his head.

Jordan went to the other side of the boat to take a quick look at the kitchen, where the Duke had meals prepared for him. Next, he went into the engine room. The host explained that the ship’s engine was originally a locomotive or train engine that they repurposed when the military had the ship. The ladder at the end of the room leads to the bar area.

The host exited the engine room to head to the second level of the ship, using gold-detailed stairs to get there. He explored a second Bride room, where guests can purchase Wayne and Wild Goose merchandise. Jordan explained that the Wayne houseboat’s captain is still alive and participates in the dinner cruises.

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