John Wayne’s major disappointment and how John Mitchum made Duke very emotional – My Blog
The movie was based on the Lincoln County War of 1878 with John Wayne starring as John Simpson Chisum, a wealthy cattle baron of the American West. The 62-year-old actor was playing a 54-year-old man, so had to go out of his way to hide his advancing age, having cosmetic surgery in September 1969 – a month before filming began. As usual, Duke wore his hairpiece and had make-up applied to appear more youthful than he was.
Meanwhile, Patric Knowles, who played Henry Tunstall, was labelled as the older man in the movie, even though at 58 he was four years younger than Wayne.
