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John Wayne: The Life and Legend
Drawing on interviews that author Scott Eyman conducted with John Wayne before his death and more than 100 interviews with the actor’s family, co-stars, and close associates, this revelatory biography shows how both the facts and fictions about Wayne illuminate his singular life.
John Wayne was one of Hollywood’s most famous and most successful actors, but he was more than that. He became a symbol of America itself. He epitomized the Western film, which for many people epitomized America. He identified with conservative political causes from the early 1930s to his death in 1979, making him a hero to one generation of Americans and a villain to another. But unlike fellow actor Ronald Reagan, Wayne had no interest in politics as a career. Like many stars, he altered his life story, claiming to have become an actor almost by accident when in fact he had studied drama and aspired to act for most of his youth. He married three times, all to Latina women, and conducted a lengthy affair with Marlene Dietrich, as unlikely a romantic partner as one could imagine for the Duke. Wayne projected dignity, integrity, and strength in all his films, even when his characters were flawed, and whatever character he played was always prepared to confront injustice in his own way. More than thirty years after his death, he remains the standard by which male stars are judged and an actor whose morally unambiguous films continue to attract sizeable audiences.
Scott Eyman interviewed Wayne, as well as many family members, and he has drawn on previously unpublished reminiscences from friends and associates of the Duke in this biography, as well as documents from his production company that shed light on Wayne’s business affairs. He traces Wayne from his childhood to his stardom in Stagecoach and dozens of films after that. Eyman perceptively analyzes Wayne’s relationship with John Ford, the director with whom he’s most associated and who made some of Wayne’s greatest films, among them She Wore a Yellow Ribbon , The Quiet Man , and The Searchers . His evaluation of Wayne himself is a skilled actor who was reluctant to step outside his comfort zone. Wayne was self-aware; he once said, “I’ve played the kind of man I’d like to have been.” It’s that man and the real John Wayne who are brilliantly profiled in Scott Eyman’s insightful biography of a true American legend.
John Wayne was one of Hollywood’s most famous and most successful actors, but he was more than that. He became a symbol of America itself. He epitomized the Western film, which for many people epitomized America. He identified with conservative political causes from the early 1930s to his death in 1979, making him a hero to one generation of Americans and a villain to another. But unlike fellow actor Ronald Reagan, Wayne had no interest in politics as a career. Like many stars, he altered his life story, claiming to have become an actor almost by accident when in fact he had studied drama and aspired to act for most of his youth. He married three times, all to Latina women, and conducted a lengthy affair with Marlene Dietrich, as unlikely a romantic partner as one could imagine for the Duke. Wayne projected dignity, integrity, and strength in all his films, even when his characters were flawed, and whatever character he played was always prepared to confront injustice in his own way. More than thirty years after his death, he remains the standard by which male stars are judged and an actor whose morally unambiguous films continue to attract sizeable audiences.
Scott Eyman interviewed Wayne, as well as many family members, and he has drawn on previously unpublished reminiscences from friends and associates of the Duke in this biography, as well as documents from his production company that shed light on Wayne’s business affairs. He traces Wayne from his childhood to his stardom in Stagecoach and dozens of films after that. Eyman perceptively analyzes Wayne’s relationship with John Ford, the director with whom he’s most associated and who made some of Wayne’s greatest films, among them She Wore a Yellow Ribbon , The Quiet Man , and The Searchers . His evaluation of Wayne himself is a skilled actor who was reluctant to step outside his comfort zone. Wayne was self-aware; he once said, “I’ve played the kind of man I’d like to have been.” It’s that man and the real John Wayne who are brilliantly profiled in Scott Eyman’s insightful biography of a true American legend.
673 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2014
231 people are currently reading
3744 people want to read
About the author
Scott Eyman
27 books120 followersScott Eyman has authored 11 books, including, with Robert Wagner, the New York Times bestseller Pieces of My Heart.
Among his other books are "Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer," "Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford," "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise," and "The Speed of Sound" (all Simon & Schuster) and "John Ford: The Searcher" for Taschen.
He has lectured extensively around the world, most frequently at the National Film Theater in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Moscow Film Theater. He's done the commentary tracks for many DVD's, including "Trouble in Paradise," "My Darling Clementine," and Stagecoach.
Eyman has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as practically every film magazine extinct or still extant.
He's the literary critic for the Palm Beach Post; he and his wife Lynn live in Palm Beach.
Among his other books are "Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer," "Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford," "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise," and "The Speed of Sound" (all Simon & Schuster) and "John Ford: The Searcher" for Taschen.
He has lectured extensively around the world, most frequently at the National Film Theater in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Moscow Film Theater. He's done the commentary tracks for many DVD's, including "Trouble in Paradise," "My Darling Clementine," and Stagecoach.
Eyman has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as practically every film magazine extinct or still extant.
He's the literary critic for the Palm Beach Post; he and his wife Lynn live in Palm Beach.
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July 3, 2018
“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”
― John Wayne
The first movie I went to see by myself in the theater was War Wagon with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. It was an afternoon matinee and was either free or cheap because there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. I remember I had enough money for a pop or a popcorn and opted for neither thinking it would be nice to keep some money in my pocket. An unusual feeling for most of my childhood. The movie was first released in 1967 which was the year I was born. This was a reissue sometime in the mid-1970s.
I’ve never seen that movie again and probably never will because it is forever trapped in the amber of my memories in one summer of my childhood.
I never met Marion Morrison or Duke Morrison (like Indiana Jones he was named after his own dog) as he preferred to avoid the use of the perceived feminization of his first name, so it was nice to get a chance to meet this younger man in the pages of this biography. His family was lower middle class, living in Glendale, California. He was a big strong kid, a talented high school football player who turned out to be good enough to make the team at UCLA. He needed cash to pay for his schooling so he started helping moving sets around for the movies. He also occasionally stepped in as an extra. He got hurt playing football and soon found himself demoted to the practice squad, but the movies were beckoning.
He got what seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime when he was cast as the lead in The Big Trail (1930) by director Raoul Walsh. I watched this movie for the first time while reading this biography. Wayne is lean, muscular with a great mass of hair that he reveals at every opportunity, whipping his hat off, whenever the camera swings over to him. He is young and moves like a cat. There is one scene early in the movie where he comes up behind this young woman playing at a piano. He picks her up, flips her around, and presses her against his chest. The dexterity and the strength that he had to possess to make that look so easy was impressive. I had to go back and see it again.
Unfortunately the movie tanked at the box office. It is one of those baffling things about the public. It is not a bad movie, maybe too long, but epic and majestic. I kept thinking as I was watching it that if I taught history I’d show this movie with frequent pauses to make sure the audience was seeing what I was seeing. It shows the dust of a wagon train, the hazards small and large that frequently thinned out travelers trying to find a new life out West. There were many moments during the film where Walsh has framed everyone up so nicely that it would make an authentic picture for any museum. As a bonus Tyrone Powers Sr. plays the rascally, evil villain. This is a must see of fans of Wayne because they will never see him looking so young in any other A-list film.
If this were baseball, what happened to Wayne in the industry would be the same as being sold for $1 to the Pecos League. The only work he could find was shooting hour long westerns that were considered B-List, but were really C-List or Z-List films. They were shot in three to six days and used a lot of stock film. They were profitable and Wayne worked for peanuts, but it was still better pay than just about anything else. He didn’t give up. He kept working. He kept petitioning producers and studio owners. Finally it was John Ford who cast him as Ringo Kid in the wonderful, must see, Western, Stagecoach. Of course even if you haven’t seen the film you have probably seen the scene of Wayne firing into the air to stop the stage. He is standing there with nothing but desert around him with his rifle in one hand and his saddle in the other. The camera pans in and if you weren’t paying attention to the film...you are now.
The role that resurrected Wayne’s A-List career.
Wayne never forgot what Ford did for him. Whenever Ford called, Wayne came running. Ford may have been a father figure to Wayne, but he was an abusive father. He screamed and belittled Wayne on every set they worked together on. Wayne just took it as his costars cringed around him embarrassed at the level of abuse he was receiving. Wayne didn’t take abuse from no one; and yet, he took all Ford could dish out without a murmur of protest. For this to make sense I had to remember that John Wayne was on the verge of just being Duke Morrison for the rest of his life until Ford made him JOHN WAYNE.
I’ve went through a series of varying relationships with Wayne. I started out in awe of his screen presence. His one liners, his way of talking, his courage, his convictions. As Bob Shelton said: ”I would have to say that John Wayne was what every young boy wants to be like, and what every old man wishes he had been.” Every time a John Wayne picture was showing, on one of the three channels I had on the farm, it was a treat. A lesson in how to be a man, how to be an American, and how to be stubborn enough to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming odds.
I suffered from high fevers as a child accompanied by hallucinations of attacking Indians and Duke led cavalry charges playing out on the landscape of my bedroom.
As I got older and started to form more opinions about things I discovered I was tired of the formulaic “comfort westerns” that Wayne was making for the middle and later part of his career. As I read more about the star I also discovered that I didn’t agree with him politically. He was an ardent conservative Republican. ”He was far right, anti-Roosevelt, anti-spending taxpayers’ money for welfare, education, public health or practically anything,” wrote Barzman. “And he was staunchly anti-women’s rights when women were Wacs and Waves overseas and doing hard, often dangerous work in war factories.” He was to say the least “rigid” in his politics and working with a lot of liberal democrats. He was not shy about sharing his views with his co-workers.
One thing I like about Wayne that was revealed to me in the Eyman book was that if you had a real reason for believing something, or you had a real reason for say voting for Kennedy or other Democrats Wayne would leave you alone. He respected that you had opinions based on reason. If you didn’t have convictions backed up by facts you were fair game for conversion to the Republican party. He had an ongoing political sparring match with Paul Newman for the rest of his life. They would exchange articles that each knew would irritate the other. Generally people found if they knew Wayne long enough, eventually, despite major disagreements with his views, they would learn to like him. There was an innocence about him that was endearing.
Wayne wasn’t a boy scout, but was always protective of his image. When Pilar, his eventual third wife, became pregnant before they were married he explained the fall out to his career, but that he would take the hits if she wanted to keep the baby. Pilar did have an abortion and regretted it for the rest of her life. Another fact that flies in the face of all he stands for is that he never served during World War Two. This haunted him his whole career. He made some half hearted attempts to join, but really he was more concerned about being an opportunistic capitalist. With so many major actors away to war it certainly opened up more chances to build the John Wayne image with roles that in a normal year he would have had stiff competition to overcome.
Marlene Dietrich can’t kid me. She was crazy about Wayne...for a while.
He had affairs. Long, ongoing ones with his co-stars Maureen O’Hara and Marlene Dietrich. He didn’t really fit the image of the literary lovers that Dietrich had throughout the rest of her life. She always downplayed the three years she spent in and out of bed with Wayne. She has been quoted as saying that she dumped him because he didn’t read. Not exactly true, but certainly true that he didn’t read the things that she found most interesting. He was an ardent reader of western novels and western histories and actually accumulated a fine library of such volumes. Just to throw another wrench in the traditional image of Wayne he also frequently quoted John Milton and William Shakespeare. Even though Dietrich’s memories of Wayne were being revised Wayne kept some rather fond memories of his time with Dietrich. When pressed by Cecilia Presley for his ”most exciting sexual episode.” He tried to put her off but finally she wore him down.
”Rome. The Excelsior Hotel. Dietrich. I took her on the staircase.”
A man of few words, but WOW he can paint a picture.
Critics have been dismissive of Wayne’s acting ability, but Ron Howard who starred with him in the classic movie, The Shootist, (that was so symbolic of the shadow of death stalking Wayne in the late 1970s) had a few thoughts on Wayne’s style.
”When we ran lines, and he was sorting out his performance, sometimes there would be an awkward moment that was a little stilted--a speech that wasn’t quite landing. And he would say, ‘Let me try again.’ And he would put that hitch in, that pause that he had in his speeches, and the line would suddenly take on power. He understood how to work with the rhythms of speech, to find a surprising nuance in the moment of the dialogue.
I had always thought those hitches were him forgetting his lines. Not at all. The opposite. It was a very particular tool--it was a way of putting the focus on an aspect of a verbal moment. And it worked in different ways. When I saw more movies of his in later years, sometimes it made him funny, and sometimes it made him vulnerable.
It was interesting and it was art.”
The Shootist, John Wayne’s final film role.
Scott Eyman did recommend some films to watch that I hadn’t seen before. One of them being Island in the sky (1953) which also starred a very young, gangly James Arness. Wayne is still working in the framework of his standard character, but displayed a vulnerability that showed his ability to tap emotions that rarely are available to him as John Wayne.
I watched Rio Grande(1950) which also starred Maureen O’Hara. This was a western that was part of a deal to get The Quiet Man(1952) made. Western first and then the studio would finance the, in their mind, looming financial disaster of The Quiet Man. Both movies did extremely well turning out to be a winning proposition for all involved. Rio Grande is shot in B&W to save money which was fine by me. I find that B&W adds some majestic elements to a film that somehow becomes lost in color. This movie focuses on the estranged relationship between a wife, an absent father, and a son. It was enjoyable, more so for me for knowing why it was being made, but the movie is somewhat marred by too much singing by The Sons of the Pioneers.
John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River
I also watched Red River (1948) with director Howard Hawks and the debut of Montgomery Clift. Wayne gave him a hard time on the set, but ended up showing him a lot of tricks in handling horses and guns. Clift’s performance is superb. Wayne plays this harder, more stubborn version of the John Wayne character, but the conflict with Wayne opens up a wonderful role for Clift. I was surprised how much I ended up liking this one.
I’m also going to rewatch The Searchers(1956), directed by John Ford. A movie that shows a John Wayne with a ”profound psychological weakness--The Searchers is a Conradian tale in which an outward quest is really a metaphor for inner definition.” It was certainly a film that Wayne should have a least been nominated for an academy award.
With the adaptation of the Charles Portis’s book True Grit(1969) directed by Henry Hathaway Wayne finally played a role that allowed him to receive one of those coveted golden statues. Mia Farrow and Sally Fields were first choices to play the fourteen year Mattie, but for various reasons both women were unable to accept the role. Kim Darby was eventually signed to play the part. I have to admit I never warmed to her in that role. Eyman writes that she had a lot of issues on set including a pathological fear of horses. A stuntwoman had to play her on horseback wearing a Darby mask for most of the movie. I do wish that Farrow or Fields would have been available, either one would have certainly made the role more memorable for me.
John Wayne showing True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
After spending 574 pages with Wayne I have to admit that I was able to lay aside my disagreements with the man and embrace the things I liked about him. He was hardworking, helpful to young actors, always generous with money for friends, family or causes, and always as true as he could be to the image he’d built of himself for the public. I had tears in my eyes by the end as cancer took that legendary strength and turned him into a helpless shell of his former self. A bad hand to be dealt by probaby one of the most loved actors of all time. My relationship with Wayne has improved with reading this book. Maybe my view has become more realistic, realizing the man after all was just a man. He believed what he believed. He tried to shape the world to his idea of who we should all try to be. He left a lasting impression on the world and ever so often I even catch myself displaying some of the self-assurance, Duke style, “Talk low, Talk slow, and Don't say too much.”
You might also enjoy my review of The Searchers by Alan LeMay
ADDENDUM added August 7th, 2014
I had the opportunity on a business trip to Des Moines to deviate slightly from my itinerary and drive over to Winterset, Iowa to visit the birthplace of Marion Morrison. Winterset is in Madison County and is so famous for the covered bridges. I wanted to share a couple of pictures with everyone.
The thirteen pound Duke was born in this house. The family lived there for three years then moved to a nearby town for four years before making the move to the dryer climate in California for the health of his father.
This is the seven foot John Wayne Statue donated to the site by the Wayne family. The statue was created by David Manuel.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
― John Wayne
The first movie I went to see by myself in the theater was War Wagon with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. It was an afternoon matinee and was either free or cheap because there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. I remember I had enough money for a pop or a popcorn and opted for neither thinking it would be nice to keep some money in my pocket. An unusual feeling for most of my childhood. The movie was first released in 1967 which was the year I was born. This was a reissue sometime in the mid-1970s.
I’ve never seen that movie again and probably never will because it is forever trapped in the amber of my memories in one summer of my childhood.
I never met Marion Morrison or Duke Morrison (like Indiana Jones he was named after his own dog) as he preferred to avoid the use of the perceived feminization of his first name, so it was nice to get a chance to meet this younger man in the pages of this biography. His family was lower middle class, living in Glendale, California. He was a big strong kid, a talented high school football player who turned out to be good enough to make the team at UCLA. He needed cash to pay for his schooling so he started helping moving sets around for the movies. He also occasionally stepped in as an extra. He got hurt playing football and soon found himself demoted to the practice squad, but the movies were beckoning.
He got what seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime when he was cast as the lead in The Big Trail (1930) by director Raoul Walsh. I watched this movie for the first time while reading this biography. Wayne is lean, muscular with a great mass of hair that he reveals at every opportunity, whipping his hat off, whenever the camera swings over to him. He is young and moves like a cat. There is one scene early in the movie where he comes up behind this young woman playing at a piano. He picks her up, flips her around, and presses her against his chest. The dexterity and the strength that he had to possess to make that look so easy was impressive. I had to go back and see it again.
Unfortunately the movie tanked at the box office. It is one of those baffling things about the public. It is not a bad movie, maybe too long, but epic and majestic. I kept thinking as I was watching it that if I taught history I’d show this movie with frequent pauses to make sure the audience was seeing what I was seeing. It shows the dust of a wagon train, the hazards small and large that frequently thinned out travelers trying to find a new life out West. There were many moments during the film where Walsh has framed everyone up so nicely that it would make an authentic picture for any museum. As a bonus Tyrone Powers Sr. plays the rascally, evil villain. This is a must see of fans of Wayne because they will never see him looking so young in any other A-list film.
If this were baseball, what happened to Wayne in the industry would be the same as being sold for $1 to the Pecos League. The only work he could find was shooting hour long westerns that were considered B-List, but were really C-List or Z-List films. They were shot in three to six days and used a lot of stock film. They were profitable and Wayne worked for peanuts, but it was still better pay than just about anything else. He didn’t give up. He kept working. He kept petitioning producers and studio owners. Finally it was John Ford who cast him as Ringo Kid in the wonderful, must see, Western, Stagecoach. Of course even if you haven’t seen the film you have probably seen the scene of Wayne firing into the air to stop the stage. He is standing there with nothing but desert around him with his rifle in one hand and his saddle in the other. The camera pans in and if you weren’t paying attention to the film...you are now.
The role that resurrected Wayne’s A-List career.
Wayne never forgot what Ford did for him. Whenever Ford called, Wayne came running. Ford may have been a father figure to Wayne, but he was an abusive father. He screamed and belittled Wayne on every set they worked together on. Wayne just took it as his costars cringed around him embarrassed at the level of abuse he was receiving. Wayne didn’t take abuse from no one; and yet, he took all Ford could dish out without a murmur of protest. For this to make sense I had to remember that John Wayne was on the verge of just being Duke Morrison for the rest of his life until Ford made him JOHN WAYNE.
I’ve went through a series of varying relationships with Wayne. I started out in awe of his screen presence. His one liners, his way of talking, his courage, his convictions. As Bob Shelton said: ”I would have to say that John Wayne was what every young boy wants to be like, and what every old man wishes he had been.” Every time a John Wayne picture was showing, on one of the three channels I had on the farm, it was a treat. A lesson in how to be a man, how to be an American, and how to be stubborn enough to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming odds.
I suffered from high fevers as a child accompanied by hallucinations of attacking Indians and Duke led cavalry charges playing out on the landscape of my bedroom.
As I got older and started to form more opinions about things I discovered I was tired of the formulaic “comfort westerns” that Wayne was making for the middle and later part of his career. As I read more about the star I also discovered that I didn’t agree with him politically. He was an ardent conservative Republican. ”He was far right, anti-Roosevelt, anti-spending taxpayers’ money for welfare, education, public health or practically anything,” wrote Barzman. “And he was staunchly anti-women’s rights when women were Wacs and Waves overseas and doing hard, often dangerous work in war factories.” He was to say the least “rigid” in his politics and working with a lot of liberal democrats. He was not shy about sharing his views with his co-workers.
One thing I like about Wayne that was revealed to me in the Eyman book was that if you had a real reason for believing something, or you had a real reason for say voting for Kennedy or other Democrats Wayne would leave you alone. He respected that you had opinions based on reason. If you didn’t have convictions backed up by facts you were fair game for conversion to the Republican party. He had an ongoing political sparring match with Paul Newman for the rest of his life. They would exchange articles that each knew would irritate the other. Generally people found if they knew Wayne long enough, eventually, despite major disagreements with his views, they would learn to like him. There was an innocence about him that was endearing.
Wayne wasn’t a boy scout, but was always protective of his image. When Pilar, his eventual third wife, became pregnant before they were married he explained the fall out to his career, but that he would take the hits if she wanted to keep the baby. Pilar did have an abortion and regretted it for the rest of her life. Another fact that flies in the face of all he stands for is that he never served during World War Two. This haunted him his whole career. He made some half hearted attempts to join, but really he was more concerned about being an opportunistic capitalist. With so many major actors away to war it certainly opened up more chances to build the John Wayne image with roles that in a normal year he would have had stiff competition to overcome.
Marlene Dietrich can’t kid me. She was crazy about Wayne...for a while.
He had affairs. Long, ongoing ones with his co-stars Maureen O’Hara and Marlene Dietrich. He didn’t really fit the image of the literary lovers that Dietrich had throughout the rest of her life. She always downplayed the three years she spent in and out of bed with Wayne. She has been quoted as saying that she dumped him because he didn’t read. Not exactly true, but certainly true that he didn’t read the things that she found most interesting. He was an ardent reader of western novels and western histories and actually accumulated a fine library of such volumes. Just to throw another wrench in the traditional image of Wayne he also frequently quoted John Milton and William Shakespeare. Even though Dietrich’s memories of Wayne were being revised Wayne kept some rather fond memories of his time with Dietrich. When pressed by Cecilia Presley for his ”most exciting sexual episode.” He tried to put her off but finally she wore him down.
”Rome. The Excelsior Hotel. Dietrich. I took her on the staircase.”
A man of few words, but WOW he can paint a picture.
Critics have been dismissive of Wayne’s acting ability, but Ron Howard who starred with him in the classic movie, The Shootist, (that was so symbolic of the shadow of death stalking Wayne in the late 1970s) had a few thoughts on Wayne’s style.
”When we ran lines, and he was sorting out his performance, sometimes there would be an awkward moment that was a little stilted--a speech that wasn’t quite landing. And he would say, ‘Let me try again.’ And he would put that hitch in, that pause that he had in his speeches, and the line would suddenly take on power. He understood how to work with the rhythms of speech, to find a surprising nuance in the moment of the dialogue.
I had always thought those hitches were him forgetting his lines. Not at all. The opposite. It was a very particular tool--it was a way of putting the focus on an aspect of a verbal moment. And it worked in different ways. When I saw more movies of his in later years, sometimes it made him funny, and sometimes it made him vulnerable.
It was interesting and it was art.”
The Shootist, John Wayne’s final film role.
Scott Eyman did recommend some films to watch that I hadn’t seen before. One of them being Island in the sky (1953) which also starred a very young, gangly James Arness. Wayne is still working in the framework of his standard character, but displayed a vulnerability that showed his ability to tap emotions that rarely are available to him as John Wayne.
I watched Rio Grande(1950) which also starred Maureen O’Hara. This was a western that was part of a deal to get The Quiet Man(1952) made. Western first and then the studio would finance the, in their mind, looming financial disaster of The Quiet Man. Both movies did extremely well turning out to be a winning proposition for all involved. Rio Grande is shot in B&W to save money which was fine by me. I find that B&W adds some majestic elements to a film that somehow becomes lost in color. This movie focuses on the estranged relationship between a wife, an absent father, and a son. It was enjoyable, more so for me for knowing why it was being made, but the movie is somewhat marred by too much singing by The Sons of the Pioneers.
John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River
I also watched Red River (1948) with director Howard Hawks and the debut of Montgomery Clift. Wayne gave him a hard time on the set, but ended up showing him a lot of tricks in handling horses and guns. Clift’s performance is superb. Wayne plays this harder, more stubborn version of the John Wayne character, but the conflict with Wayne opens up a wonderful role for Clift. I was surprised how much I ended up liking this one.
I’m also going to rewatch The Searchers(1956), directed by John Ford. A movie that shows a John Wayne with a ”profound psychological weakness--The Searchers is a Conradian tale in which an outward quest is really a metaphor for inner definition.” It was certainly a film that Wayne should have a least been nominated for an academy award.
With the adaptation of the Charles Portis’s book True Grit(1969) directed by Henry Hathaway Wayne finally played a role that allowed him to receive one of those coveted golden statues. Mia Farrow and Sally Fields were first choices to play the fourteen year Mattie, but for various reasons both women were unable to accept the role. Kim Darby was eventually signed to play the part. I have to admit I never warmed to her in that role. Eyman writes that she had a lot of issues on set including a pathological fear of horses. A stuntwoman had to play her on horseback wearing a Darby mask for most of the movie. I do wish that Farrow or Fields would have been available, either one would have certainly made the role more memorable for me.
John Wayne showing True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
After spending 574 pages with Wayne I have to admit that I was able to lay aside my disagreements with the man and embrace the things I liked about him. He was hardworking, helpful to young actors, always generous with money for friends, family or causes, and always as true as he could be to the image he’d built of himself for the public. I had tears in my eyes by the end as cancer took that legendary strength and turned him into a helpless shell of his former self. A bad hand to be dealt by probaby one of the most loved actors of all time. My relationship with Wayne has improved with reading this book. Maybe my view has become more realistic, realizing the man after all was just a man. He believed what he believed. He tried to shape the world to his idea of who we should all try to be. He left a lasting impression on the world and ever so often I even catch myself displaying some of the self-assurance, Duke style, “Talk low, Talk slow, and Don't say too much.”
You might also enjoy my review of The Searchers by Alan LeMay
ADDENDUM added August 7th, 2014
I had the opportunity on a business trip to Des Moines to deviate slightly from my itinerary and drive over to Winterset, Iowa to visit the birthplace of Marion Morrison. Winterset is in Madison County and is so famous for the covered bridges. I wanted to share a couple of pictures with everyone.
The thirteen pound Duke was born in this house. The family lived there for three years then moved to a nearby town for four years before making the move to the dryer climate in California for the health of his father.
This is the seven foot John Wayne Statue donated to the site by the Wayne family. The statue was created by David Manuel.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
May 3, 2024
“John Wayne’s story is about many things – it’s about the construction of an image, the forging of a monumental career that itself became a kind of monument. It’s about a terribly shy, tentative boy reinventing himself as a man with a command personality, of a man who loved family but who couldn’t sustain a marriage, and of a great friendship that resulted in great films. And it’s also about a twentieth-century conservatism considered dangerously extreme that became mainstream in the twenty-first century. It is, in short, a life that could only have been lived by one man…”
- Scott Eyman, John Wayne: The Life and Legend
Growing up, my dad worked a lot – even on weekends – meaning I didn’t see him that often. As a result, when there were windows of opportunity for him to share his own passions, I tended to embrace them wholeheartedly. Two of these loves were baseball and John Wayne.
Baseball has endured for me, through all the years.
My feelings for Wayne, on the other hand, have wavered.
Though I never actually shared the world with Wayne, I did come of age during the infancy of the TBS cable station, which seemed to have a “Duke” themed movie-marathon every month. With my dad’s encouragement, I ended up taping nearly a hundred of his movies, which moldered in storage until my mom – within the last couple years – disposed of the collection. In a very real sense, Wayne’s voice, walk, and catch-phrases truly dominated a formative period my life.
But then I grew up, and my perceptions changed.
Many of Wayne’s movies – including a lot of pre-revisionist westerns – are interchangeable oaters, with titles, character-names, and premises so familiar that they blur together. There is also the issue of his outspoken politics, especially a full-throated embrace of the controversial war in Vietnam that – given Wayne’s own reluctance to join the “Greatest Generation” of World War II – has left him wide-open to charges of hypocrisy. Finally, while I love movies, I despise celebrity, and the idea of idolizing or heroizing a person who pretends to be a hero does not interest me.
For all these reasons, I went through long stretches of never thinking about my one-time favorite actor, even though I had a painting of him as a cowboy – true story – hanging on my bedroom wall for a decade.
Upon the publication of Scott Eyman’s John Wayne, though, something sparked within me. Not just nostalgia, but genuine curiosity.
***
Right off the bat I can say this about Eyman’s work: it is thorough. John Wayne runs to well over five-hundred pages, and seems to cover – at varying depth-levels – every aspect of his life and work.
Things start slowly – as biographies often do – with around 50 pages devoted to Wayne’s childhood. Eyman highlights the hardscrabble aspects, but all things considered, it seemed pretty average for a child born near the turn of the century. The Morrison family – Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison – was certainly not rich; that said, he didn't make his way to Hollywood from a log cabin either.
***
Things pick up once Wayne starts working in pictures. Eyman devotes a good deal of space to Wayne’s early work on “six-day westerns,” so called because they were made on the cheap in less than a week. These pictures utilized boilerplate scripts, stock photography, and single takes, meaning that mistakes and goofs often ended up in the finished product. Though extremely profitable, the movies themselves are absolute garbage – though unintentionally hilarious. If you don’t believe me, I will lend you my VHS copy of Riders of Destiny, in which Wayne played a singing cowboy with some of the worst dubbing you’ve ever seen. Oh wait, I can’t lend you my copy because my mom threw it away without telling me.
***
Wayne’s big break – actually, his second big break, after the failure of The Big Trail – came in John Ford’s Stagecoach. Eyman describes the scene with particularity, when Ford’s camera zooms in for a close-up of Wayne’s character, Ringo. It’s a bravura entrance that marked a bravura career, and helped establish one of Hollywood’s great director-actor tandems.
From this point, Eyman settles into a comfortable rhythm in his writing. He moves chronologically through Wayne’s movies, utilizing his filmography as the biography’s narrative backbone. While not literally true, at times, it really does seem like a picture-by-picture approach, with almost every major title getting at least a paragraph, and certain films – like the misbegotten The Alamo – receiving the better part of a chapter.
When Eyman does branch out, incorporating other aspects of Wayne’s life, it almost feels digressionary. Several non-movie topics, however, do receive significant space.
***
First, Eyman explores the haziness that surrounds Wayne’s non-service in World War II. His failure to participate has often been attributed to a vague “football injury” he suffered while at USC. This is not the case. Wayne received several deferments because the film industry was given status as vital to the war effort. At one point, he did attempt to join the OSS, though he never got past the resume stage. Eyman tries to spin this by pointing out that Wayne participated in a USO tour. Still, the defense rings hollow. In reality, it seemed that Wayne didn’t want to sacrifice his career, just as it began to take off. This is only blameworthy to the extent that Wayne later used his moral presence to support an amorphously-defined war in Southeast Asia that claimed the lives of thousands of young men who couldn’t get deferments. Director John Ford, for one – who saw combat at Midway despite his age and one eye – gave Wayne hell for not joining the service.
***
A second major thread that winds its way throughout the book is Wayne’s politics. An unabashed Republican – at the time on the far right, though the spectrum has shifted – he incorporated his values into many of his films, as well as those he refused to make. According to Eyman, Wayne took his views seriously without letting them affect his working relationships with people who disagreed. This is mostly borne out in many reminisces quoted by Eyman. Wayne also had a sense of humor about himself and his public persona, even making a good-natured appearance before the Harvard Lampoon.
To me, the troubling aspect of John Wayne’s politics stems from his associations. Wayne served a term as president of the livelihood-destroying Motion Picture Alliance, which helped create the Hollywood blacklist. More than that, he hung out with bigots, racists, and anti-Semites like the horrid Ward Bond, whose presence in It’s a Wonderful Life has now ruined Christmas for me. It’s difficult to imagine Wayne spending so much time drinking and smoking with such hateful men without sharing at least some of their views. Eyman believes it possible. Human nature being what it is, I am not convinced.
***
Another topic that kept reappearing throughout this biography is Wayne’s love life. He married three times, with varying degrees of failure. He remained on good terms with his first wife; his second wife cost him a lot of money; and his third marriage sort of sputtered out, as Wayne spent the last years of his life living rather openly with a mistress.
The descriptions of Wayne’s marriages are treated rather cursorily, and the women – Josephine, Pilar, and Esperanza (Chata) – never given any dimension or personality. Frankly, I was fine with Eyman skating past this subject. I hate tabloids, and these parts – however short – felt too dish-y. Wayne had an affair with Marlene Dietrich! Wayne hated it when Chata didn't shave her legs! I’m going to throw up now!
***
Eyman is at his best when he sticks to the movies. Indeed, this structure makes for a book that’s hard to put down at times. It moves fast, and there’s something interesting on every page, as Eyman hops along Wayne’s extensive backlist. Unfortunately, however, Eyman seldom recaps the plots of these films, abstracting many of the anecdotes. He would have been well-served in giving these movies a bit more context, especially for Wayne’s lesser titles.
***
This is not an elegantly written biography, and at times it suffers from too much information. Eyman seems to have interviewed every living person who ever met Wayne. Many of these people had only a passing acquaintance with the Duke, and their memories – dutifully reprinted by Eyman – are often superficial. Eyman also tends to excerpt these remembrances at length, leading to many meandering, unfocused, only tangentially-connected block-quotes. Tighter editing would certainly have helped.
While I found this book’s movie-centric-style of storytelling to be entertaining, Eyman’s best work as a writer comes after Wayne’s movie career ends. His detailing of Wayne’s last days, as he is dying of cancer, is this biography’s most powerful and lasting section.
***
When I was a kid, my mom – probably already plotting to deep-six my VHS collection – bought me a magazine celebrating Wayne’s career, which had descriptions of every one of his films. Depending on how you’re counting – cameos; a role as a corpse – he made around two-hundred. Of this massive output, only a handful are classics. Yet that’s saying something. Even the most financially successful actors and actresses might never have one. More than that, his strongest role – as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers – helps propel one of the best films in history.
By the end of Eyman’s John Wayne, however, you recognize that Wayne’s greatest performance was as “John Wayne,” a creation that endured far beyond anything dreamt up by a screenwriter. It’s a role that still resonates to this day.
- Scott Eyman, John Wayne: The Life and Legend
Growing up, my dad worked a lot – even on weekends – meaning I didn’t see him that often. As a result, when there were windows of opportunity for him to share his own passions, I tended to embrace them wholeheartedly. Two of these loves were baseball and John Wayne.
Baseball has endured for me, through all the years.
My feelings for Wayne, on the other hand, have wavered.
Though I never actually shared the world with Wayne, I did come of age during the infancy of the TBS cable station, which seemed to have a “Duke” themed movie-marathon every month. With my dad’s encouragement, I ended up taping nearly a hundred of his movies, which moldered in storage until my mom – within the last couple years – disposed of the collection. In a very real sense, Wayne’s voice, walk, and catch-phrases truly dominated a formative period my life.
But then I grew up, and my perceptions changed.
Many of Wayne’s movies – including a lot of pre-revisionist westerns – are interchangeable oaters, with titles, character-names, and premises so familiar that they blur together. There is also the issue of his outspoken politics, especially a full-throated embrace of the controversial war in Vietnam that – given Wayne’s own reluctance to join the “Greatest Generation” of World War II – has left him wide-open to charges of hypocrisy. Finally, while I love movies, I despise celebrity, and the idea of idolizing or heroizing a person who pretends to be a hero does not interest me.
For all these reasons, I went through long stretches of never thinking about my one-time favorite actor, even though I had a painting of him as a cowboy – true story – hanging on my bedroom wall for a decade.
Upon the publication of Scott Eyman’s John Wayne, though, something sparked within me. Not just nostalgia, but genuine curiosity.
***
Right off the bat I can say this about Eyman’s work: it is thorough. John Wayne runs to well over five-hundred pages, and seems to cover – at varying depth-levels – every aspect of his life and work.
Things start slowly – as biographies often do – with around 50 pages devoted to Wayne’s childhood. Eyman highlights the hardscrabble aspects, but all things considered, it seemed pretty average for a child born near the turn of the century. The Morrison family – Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison – was certainly not rich; that said, he didn't make his way to Hollywood from a log cabin either.
***
Things pick up once Wayne starts working in pictures. Eyman devotes a good deal of space to Wayne’s early work on “six-day westerns,” so called because they were made on the cheap in less than a week. These pictures utilized boilerplate scripts, stock photography, and single takes, meaning that mistakes and goofs often ended up in the finished product. Though extremely profitable, the movies themselves are absolute garbage – though unintentionally hilarious. If you don’t believe me, I will lend you my VHS copy of Riders of Destiny, in which Wayne played a singing cowboy with some of the worst dubbing you’ve ever seen. Oh wait, I can’t lend you my copy because my mom threw it away without telling me.
***
Wayne’s big break – actually, his second big break, after the failure of The Big Trail – came in John Ford’s Stagecoach. Eyman describes the scene with particularity, when Ford’s camera zooms in for a close-up of Wayne’s character, Ringo. It’s a bravura entrance that marked a bravura career, and helped establish one of Hollywood’s great director-actor tandems.
From this point, Eyman settles into a comfortable rhythm in his writing. He moves chronologically through Wayne’s movies, utilizing his filmography as the biography’s narrative backbone. While not literally true, at times, it really does seem like a picture-by-picture approach, with almost every major title getting at least a paragraph, and certain films – like the misbegotten The Alamo – receiving the better part of a chapter.
When Eyman does branch out, incorporating other aspects of Wayne’s life, it almost feels digressionary. Several non-movie topics, however, do receive significant space.
***
First, Eyman explores the haziness that surrounds Wayne’s non-service in World War II. His failure to participate has often been attributed to a vague “football injury” he suffered while at USC. This is not the case. Wayne received several deferments because the film industry was given status as vital to the war effort. At one point, he did attempt to join the OSS, though he never got past the resume stage. Eyman tries to spin this by pointing out that Wayne participated in a USO tour. Still, the defense rings hollow. In reality, it seemed that Wayne didn’t want to sacrifice his career, just as it began to take off. This is only blameworthy to the extent that Wayne later used his moral presence to support an amorphously-defined war in Southeast Asia that claimed the lives of thousands of young men who couldn’t get deferments. Director John Ford, for one – who saw combat at Midway despite his age and one eye – gave Wayne hell for not joining the service.
***
A second major thread that winds its way throughout the book is Wayne’s politics. An unabashed Republican – at the time on the far right, though the spectrum has shifted – he incorporated his values into many of his films, as well as those he refused to make. According to Eyman, Wayne took his views seriously without letting them affect his working relationships with people who disagreed. This is mostly borne out in many reminisces quoted by Eyman. Wayne also had a sense of humor about himself and his public persona, even making a good-natured appearance before the Harvard Lampoon.
To me, the troubling aspect of John Wayne’s politics stems from his associations. Wayne served a term as president of the livelihood-destroying Motion Picture Alliance, which helped create the Hollywood blacklist. More than that, he hung out with bigots, racists, and anti-Semites like the horrid Ward Bond, whose presence in It’s a Wonderful Life has now ruined Christmas for me. It’s difficult to imagine Wayne spending so much time drinking and smoking with such hateful men without sharing at least some of their views. Eyman believes it possible. Human nature being what it is, I am not convinced.
***
Another topic that kept reappearing throughout this biography is Wayne’s love life. He married three times, with varying degrees of failure. He remained on good terms with his first wife; his second wife cost him a lot of money; and his third marriage sort of sputtered out, as Wayne spent the last years of his life living rather openly with a mistress.
The descriptions of Wayne’s marriages are treated rather cursorily, and the women – Josephine, Pilar, and Esperanza (Chata) – never given any dimension or personality. Frankly, I was fine with Eyman skating past this subject. I hate tabloids, and these parts – however short – felt too dish-y. Wayne had an affair with Marlene Dietrich! Wayne hated it when Chata didn't shave her legs! I’m going to throw up now!
***
Eyman is at his best when he sticks to the movies. Indeed, this structure makes for a book that’s hard to put down at times. It moves fast, and there’s something interesting on every page, as Eyman hops along Wayne’s extensive backlist. Unfortunately, however, Eyman seldom recaps the plots of these films, abstracting many of the anecdotes. He would have been well-served in giving these movies a bit more context, especially for Wayne’s lesser titles.
***
This is not an elegantly written biography, and at times it suffers from too much information. Eyman seems to have interviewed every living person who ever met Wayne. Many of these people had only a passing acquaintance with the Duke, and their memories – dutifully reprinted by Eyman – are often superficial. Eyman also tends to excerpt these remembrances at length, leading to many meandering, unfocused, only tangentially-connected block-quotes. Tighter editing would certainly have helped.
While I found this book’s movie-centric-style of storytelling to be entertaining, Eyman’s best work as a writer comes after Wayne’s movie career ends. His detailing of Wayne’s last days, as he is dying of cancer, is this biography’s most powerful and lasting section.
***
When I was a kid, my mom – probably already plotting to deep-six my VHS collection – bought me a magazine celebrating Wayne’s career, which had descriptions of every one of his films. Depending on how you’re counting – cameos; a role as a corpse – he made around two-hundred. Of this massive output, only a handful are classics. Yet that’s saying something. Even the most financially successful actors and actresses might never have one. More than that, his strongest role – as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers – helps propel one of the best films in history.
By the end of Eyman’s John Wayne, however, you recognize that Wayne’s greatest performance was as “John Wayne,” a creation that endured far beyond anything dreamt up by a screenwriter. It’s a role that still resonates to this day.
Want to read
March 29, 2014I will be getting this book soon, and I can't wait.. I know it's hard to believe for some folks, but I adore John Wayne.. I love watching him in every frame of film he's in..
The Searchers
The Man WHo Shot Liberty Valance
The Quiet Man
The Shootist
Rooster Cogburn
True Grit....... he's at his most charismatic and mysterious in The Quiet Man.
A movie star. Knows his way around a camera. Humble on screen. Graceful, in a manly way.. anyway, can't wait to read this book. I hope it's good.
The Searchers
The Man WHo Shot Liberty Valance
The Quiet Man
The Shootist
Rooster Cogburn
True Grit....... he's at his most charismatic and mysterious in The Quiet Man.
A movie star. Knows his way around a camera. Humble on screen. Graceful, in a manly way.. anyway, can't wait to read this book. I hope it's good.
August 2, 2014
While JOHN WAYNE: AMERICAN, by Randy Roberts and James Olson, remains for me the definitive biography of John Wayne, being fastidiously and intricately researched and wonderfully and clearly written, Scott Eyman's new biography of Wayne is an extremely close contender. A few minor errors and some surprising but largely insignificant omissions are all that stand between it and the Olson/Roberts book, which continues to be one of the two best actor biographies I've ever read (Patricia Bosworth's Montgomery Clift book is the other). Eyman knows this territory, having written extensively about it, notably in a fairly recent biography of Wayne's mentor and father-figure, John Ford. What Eyman does better than any other author tackling the subject (much, much better than most) is to make Wayne a truly well-rounded and multi-faceted character in his own life story. Eyman shows why considering Wayne either an iconic patriotic symbol or a reactionary Neanderthal is an egregious error. He not only posits that Wayne was largely beloved not just by his friends but even by his political enemies (at least the ones who actually knew him), he provides the evidence to make that dichotomy understandable and relatable. And, of course, like any intelligent examiner of Wayne's work, Eyman understands that Wayne was a brilliant screen actor whose thespic limitations were of range, not skill. He helps the reader understand how a man mythologized for his independence and strength could be continuously cowed by a cruel mentor like Ford. He also helps (though not as clearly as Roberts and Olson did in their book) make clear how Wayne's failure to serve in World War II was, if not admirable, at least understandable, and how his overweening patriotic fervor after the war stemmed not from hypocrisy but from shame at his own failings and a desperate attempt to make up for them. Eyman gives enormously detailed coverage to most of Wayne's films, even ones usually deemed too unimportant for individual analysis, so it's odd that he allows one or two fairly significant films to go completely undiscussed. All in all, though, this is an exemplary biography of a man much more complex and admirable than many people might presume.
March 23, 2018
When I was young, John Wayne was everywhere. His new movies were in theaters, and his old ones were on television. I remember him primarily as the quintessential cowboy—his most oft-played role—and particularly as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, for which he won the Academy Award. I also remember him as the first big celebrity to announce on television that “I licked the Big C.” And then, oh damn, he died of it anyway…but not for some time. And I read this biography to fill in the gaps, since I actually knew very little.
Thanks go to Net Galley for letting me read it free.
There are two popular assumptions made about Wayne, I think, that this biography does a thorough job of smacking down in the dirt where they belong. The first is that he was playing himself in those movies, a big, dumb galoot of some sort. In fact, he was very bright and well read. A journalist makes the error of talking to down to him, asking if he is familiar with the work of Eugene O’Neil. Wayne says that he has been to college, and yes, he has read O’Neil.
The second popular notion is that he emerged from nowhere as this enormous star, as some indeed did. Wayne did nothing to suppress such tales; in fact, he liked to pretend, our author says, that he was just doing props work and sort of fell into acting. But nothing could be farther from the truth. He wanted to act very much, and he put up with ten years of very hard work, in dust and heat and all kinds of environments, required to expend immense amounts of physical energy and strength (which he fortunately had). Ford, who most often directed him, was nasty and abusive toward most of the actors with whom he worked, including Wayne, who just took it. There was no stunt so dangerous that if his double was not available, he would not do it. But once he was in a position to do so, he went after the scoundrels in the business that underpaid him or cheated him in percentages that he was supposed to receive, but which they held onto for unconscionably long time periods.
His love life was as awful as his work was excellent. He was married three times, and all turned out badly. Like many people, he was married to his work, and the acting talent and magnetism that drew women toward him turned out to be one of the things that later alienated them. Hey, he was always at work!
I have to say I really enjoyed reading this biography, and I am glad someone did exhaustive research to get the facts straight. I can’t imagine anyone doing a finer job.
Having said that, I must caution the reader that this is one long book, and it takes a similar attention span. That’s the joy of a well-researched biography: there’s a lot to put in it. It is well paced, with a zillion fascinating anecdotes, though I can’t share all of them. But that’s all right; if you have the attention span to dive in and immerse yourself, it’s better to find those little treats along the way as you do so.
For the serious reader, highly recommended.
Thanks go to Net Galley for letting me read it free.
There are two popular assumptions made about Wayne, I think, that this biography does a thorough job of smacking down in the dirt where they belong. The first is that he was playing himself in those movies, a big, dumb galoot of some sort. In fact, he was very bright and well read. A journalist makes the error of talking to down to him, asking if he is familiar with the work of Eugene O’Neil. Wayne says that he has been to college, and yes, he has read O’Neil.
The second popular notion is that he emerged from nowhere as this enormous star, as some indeed did. Wayne did nothing to suppress such tales; in fact, he liked to pretend, our author says, that he was just doing props work and sort of fell into acting. But nothing could be farther from the truth. He wanted to act very much, and he put up with ten years of very hard work, in dust and heat and all kinds of environments, required to expend immense amounts of physical energy and strength (which he fortunately had). Ford, who most often directed him, was nasty and abusive toward most of the actors with whom he worked, including Wayne, who just took it. There was no stunt so dangerous that if his double was not available, he would not do it. But once he was in a position to do so, he went after the scoundrels in the business that underpaid him or cheated him in percentages that he was supposed to receive, but which they held onto for unconscionably long time periods.
His love life was as awful as his work was excellent. He was married three times, and all turned out badly. Like many people, he was married to his work, and the acting talent and magnetism that drew women toward him turned out to be one of the things that later alienated them. Hey, he was always at work!
I have to say I really enjoyed reading this biography, and I am glad someone did exhaustive research to get the facts straight. I can’t imagine anyone doing a finer job.
Having said that, I must caution the reader that this is one long book, and it takes a similar attention span. That’s the joy of a well-researched biography: there’s a lot to put in it. It is well paced, with a zillion fascinating anecdotes, though I can’t share all of them. But that’s all right; if you have the attention span to dive in and immerse yourself, it’s better to find those little treats along the way as you do so.
For the serious reader, highly recommended.
May 30, 2014
True confession time – I didn’t read this book it its entirety. While there is nothing more I like than a good, juicy biography this book read more as a history of film making and not a biography. I found myself scanning page upon page with intricate details of production/direction of many movies from days past. The actual parts relating to John Wayne on a personal level were far and few. So, if you are a film history buff, read this book – you’ll love it. If you are looking for a good, detailed biography of the Duke, you might want to pick up one of the other excellent books that have been written about him.
May 31, 2014
Lots of detail, but the author does not do well in conveying the essence of the man or his times. I read the biographies of old Hollywood as a way to catch hold of the past--the flavor and the characters of the times. This bio leaves a lot to be desired in capturing the life and the character of John Wayne, his failed marriages and regrets over his family life, as well as the journey that led him to convert to Catholicism later in his life. Detailed, but dry.
August 27, 2014
Many people have commented that this will become the definitive biography of John Wayne and I would agree. Eyman interviewed John Wayne when Wayne was old and Eyman was a young man researching the director John Ford, Wayne's mentor. After writing well received biographies of John Ford, Cecil B. DeMille and others, he decided to write about Wayne. He took four years doing research talking to Wayne's children and grandchildren, his business partners, and those who worked on his films.
Wayne was the most popular actor in America for a 25 year period from the 1940s to the 1960s. He was a committed conservative in an industry filled with liberals, socialists, and communists. Those who did not know him well considered him to be an uneducated, simple-minded reactionary. In truth he was a college graduate that probably would have become a lawyer had his acting career not worked out. He was very well read and a fanatic chess player. His peers, even those of a liberal bent, all liked him and praised him for his work ethic and professionalism.
I was surprised to find out some of the roles that Wayne turned down. He was offered the role of Patton, but turned it down. George C. Scott got an academy award for playing the part. He turned down the script to Dirty Harry, which Clint Eastwood mined in multiple movies during his career. Mel Brooks offered Wayne the role of the Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles. He turned it down and the role went to Gene Wilder. He also turned down another role in another Gene Wilder western and the role was taken by Harrison Ford. Larry McMurtry wanted to do a screenplay for a movie with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. After Wayne turned it down, McMurty rewrote it as a book, Lonesome Dove, which was later made into a mini-series with Robert Duvall in the Wayne role and Tommy Lee Jones in the Eastwood role.
I was also surprised to read that Wayne considered James Gardner, who recently died, to be the best actor of his generation. He liked how Gardner could communicate with the audience without resorting to dialogue.
He was a bad businessman with two managers who stole fortunes from him. He was also generous in giving money to friends down on their luck. He had to make at least two movies a year to maintain his lifestyle. Although he has a reputation as America's most famous cowboy, he said he only rode horses when he was being paid to do it. He much preferred spending his free time on his yacht, a converted minesweeper.
Wayne was always friendly and accessible to his fans. He wasn't a prima dona movie star, hanging around with the stunt men and film crew when not doing a scene. His vices were cards, smoking, and especially drinking.
He remains an icon of conservatives for his unabashed love of America and disdain for intrusive government.
Wayne was the most popular actor in America for a 25 year period from the 1940s to the 1960s. He was a committed conservative in an industry filled with liberals, socialists, and communists. Those who did not know him well considered him to be an uneducated, simple-minded reactionary. In truth he was a college graduate that probably would have become a lawyer had his acting career not worked out. He was very well read and a fanatic chess player. His peers, even those of a liberal bent, all liked him and praised him for his work ethic and professionalism.
I was surprised to find out some of the roles that Wayne turned down. He was offered the role of Patton, but turned it down. George C. Scott got an academy award for playing the part. He turned down the script to Dirty Harry, which Clint Eastwood mined in multiple movies during his career. Mel Brooks offered Wayne the role of the Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles. He turned it down and the role went to Gene Wilder. He also turned down another role in another Gene Wilder western and the role was taken by Harrison Ford. Larry McMurtry wanted to do a screenplay for a movie with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. After Wayne turned it down, McMurty rewrote it as a book, Lonesome Dove, which was later made into a mini-series with Robert Duvall in the Wayne role and Tommy Lee Jones in the Eastwood role.
I was also surprised to read that Wayne considered James Gardner, who recently died, to be the best actor of his generation. He liked how Gardner could communicate with the audience without resorting to dialogue.
He was a bad businessman with two managers who stole fortunes from him. He was also generous in giving money to friends down on their luck. He had to make at least two movies a year to maintain his lifestyle. Although he has a reputation as America's most famous cowboy, he said he only rode horses when he was being paid to do it. He much preferred spending his free time on his yacht, a converted minesweeper.
Wayne was always friendly and accessible to his fans. He wasn't a prima dona movie star, hanging around with the stunt men and film crew when not doing a scene. His vices were cards, smoking, and especially drinking.
He remains an icon of conservatives for his unabashed love of America and disdain for intrusive government.
January 17, 2015
Very good book, picked up some nice insights in his movies, the people he worked with, and the movie making process..
September 18, 2014
This book is all about John Wayne - The Life and Legend. The author stayed the course and didn't stray from the John Wayne ---that I didn't know but now I do know. Many of the movie stars from 'way back when' are interesting to a point. This book seems to reveal quite a bit. It's a looooong read but worth the while.
If you're a John Wayne fan ---- then this is YOUR book. If not - well, it's still a good book to read.
AND yes I did receive this Free book from Goodreads.com AND glad I did. THANK YOU!!!!
If you're a John Wayne fan ---- then this is YOUR book. If not - well, it's still a good book to read.
AND yes I did receive this Free book from Goodreads.com AND glad I did. THANK YOU!!!!
October 30, 2014
First of all I have always liked John Wayne and his Movies. But this goes in to his childhood, family and how he got started in Show business.
Eyman's book is very good and really goes into his relationship with his Mother and Father, his political views and showed he was pretty close to his characters in the movies and how he didn't like to try to many new roles. This is a very good read. Good Job, Scott Eyman.
Eyman's book is very good and really goes into his relationship with his Mother and Father, his political views and showed he was pretty close to his characters in the movies and how he didn't like to try to many new roles. This is a very good read. Good Job, Scott Eyman.
August 28, 2014
I must first preface this review with the admission that I’ve always been a die-hard John “Duke” Wayne fan. So much so that a bust of Wayne sits in my home office and my Dad took to calling my “Duke” as a boy, which evolved into “Duker.” (With Dad having passed in 2011, no one has called me “Duker” in a long time, and I’d kill to hear him say it just one more time).
In reviewing a book about John Wayne, I suffer from the same problem I have reviewing a biography of The Beatles, either as a group or individually; I’ve read so many, that there really isn’t anything new the author can tell me. As such, while this was an easy read and informative, I was tempted to give it a three star rating, having enjoyed James S. Olson and Randy Roberts, John Wayne – American better. But, then, once I realized the world didn’t revolve around me, I gave this biography a deserved four out of five stars in that it is well written, necessary, and will provide insights about Wane to those who enjoy reading biographies, and who all ready have a preconceived notion of who John Wayne is.
John Wayne suffers from the same problem Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe suffer from – they have all reached iconic status since their deaths, and in that iconic designation, the real person, who they were, has been lost to myth. And this is where Scott Eyman’s biography serves a huge purpose; it brings John Wayne back down to earth and focuses on the man as opposed to the, often, much maligned image in this day and age.
What Eyman accomplishes is a respectfully and insightful biography telling Wayne’s story, from growing up poor in a household with a mother who favored his younger brother over him, even in later years when Wayne was the number one movie star in the world. We follow his struggles to succeed, working for ten years in the wasteland of low budget ‘B’ westerns before his friend, mentor and father figure, director John Ford rescued him from possible obscurity by hiring him to play the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach in 1939.
In telling Wayne’s story, Eyman keeps things balanced. In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, Wayne’s politics threatened to alienate him from a younger audience. What Eyman clarifies is that for one thing, Wayne showed courage in that he was willing to speak his mind and stand by his convictions, but he also respected others who did the same, even if their beliefs ran counter to his. The book is filled with quotes from certain individuals, who based on their beliefs, should have been gladly attacking Wayne’s character, but instead were defending him and talking about the respect they felt for the man after having met him. What you get is a very reasonable man who loved life, cherished friends and family, and just attempted to be the best individual he could be – and, really, that’s all any of us could hope to accomplish in life.
The only new aspect here is Eyman’s perspective on Wayne’s years during World War II; unlike a lot of other actors, Wayne didn’t serve in the armed forces, and that has been used to attack him by non-fans over the decades; we discover that Wayne actually attempted quite actively to join and participate, but may have been caught up in the fact that his films, as propaganda and patriotism, served a powerful purpose on the home front during that conflict as well.
John Wayne – The Life and Legend humanizes John Wayne, and I dare anyone to read it that is not a fan, to finish it without having a newfound respect for the man and actor. John Wayne was a lot more complex, educated, and articulate than he’s given credit for these days, and has created a body of work, with many true classics, that deserve to be discovered and celebrated by movie lovers.
For many, John Wayne – The Life and Legend will offer beautiful discovery, and for those of us, who all ready appreciate the man and his work, it’s a simple reminder of why we became fans in the first place. And, while Eyman hopes this will be a definitive biography of Wayne, I think that’s still to come, and is going to encompass a scholarly work like author Peter Guralnick’s two-volume, definitive biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. I look forward to reading something like that in the future.
In reviewing a book about John Wayne, I suffer from the same problem I have reviewing a biography of The Beatles, either as a group or individually; I’ve read so many, that there really isn’t anything new the author can tell me. As such, while this was an easy read and informative, I was tempted to give it a three star rating, having enjoyed James S. Olson and Randy Roberts, John Wayne – American better. But, then, once I realized the world didn’t revolve around me, I gave this biography a deserved four out of five stars in that it is well written, necessary, and will provide insights about Wane to those who enjoy reading biographies, and who all ready have a preconceived notion of who John Wayne is.
John Wayne suffers from the same problem Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe suffer from – they have all reached iconic status since their deaths, and in that iconic designation, the real person, who they were, has been lost to myth. And this is where Scott Eyman’s biography serves a huge purpose; it brings John Wayne back down to earth and focuses on the man as opposed to the, often, much maligned image in this day and age.
What Eyman accomplishes is a respectfully and insightful biography telling Wayne’s story, from growing up poor in a household with a mother who favored his younger brother over him, even in later years when Wayne was the number one movie star in the world. We follow his struggles to succeed, working for ten years in the wasteland of low budget ‘B’ westerns before his friend, mentor and father figure, director John Ford rescued him from possible obscurity by hiring him to play the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach in 1939.
In telling Wayne’s story, Eyman keeps things balanced. In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, Wayne’s politics threatened to alienate him from a younger audience. What Eyman clarifies is that for one thing, Wayne showed courage in that he was willing to speak his mind and stand by his convictions, but he also respected others who did the same, even if their beliefs ran counter to his. The book is filled with quotes from certain individuals, who based on their beliefs, should have been gladly attacking Wayne’s character, but instead were defending him and talking about the respect they felt for the man after having met him. What you get is a very reasonable man who loved life, cherished friends and family, and just attempted to be the best individual he could be – and, really, that’s all any of us could hope to accomplish in life.
The only new aspect here is Eyman’s perspective on Wayne’s years during World War II; unlike a lot of other actors, Wayne didn’t serve in the armed forces, and that has been used to attack him by non-fans over the decades; we discover that Wayne actually attempted quite actively to join and participate, but may have been caught up in the fact that his films, as propaganda and patriotism, served a powerful purpose on the home front during that conflict as well.
John Wayne – The Life and Legend humanizes John Wayne, and I dare anyone to read it that is not a fan, to finish it without having a newfound respect for the man and actor. John Wayne was a lot more complex, educated, and articulate than he’s given credit for these days, and has created a body of work, with many true classics, that deserve to be discovered and celebrated by movie lovers.
For many, John Wayne – The Life and Legend will offer beautiful discovery, and for those of us, who all ready appreciate the man and his work, it’s a simple reminder of why we became fans in the first place. And, while Eyman hopes this will be a definitive biography of Wayne, I think that’s still to come, and is going to encompass a scholarly work like author Peter Guralnick’s two-volume, definitive biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. I look forward to reading something like that in the future.
June 17, 2015
When you have an actor with over a hundred and fifty screen credits, there's little hope that any biographer can squeeze all of them into a single book and still have room for the subject's personal life, but Scott Eyman does his damnedest, even finding space to discuss the most notable films Wayne produced but didn't star in, such as the glorious disaster of Ring of Fear (a murder mystery set at a circus, with the cast being 90% circus performers and crime novelist Mickey Spillane as the detective, assisted by the real-life NYC cop who inspired Spillane's Mike Hammer!). To be sure, Eyman has to give short shrift to Wayne's early work on poverty row pictures, just covering the highlights (mainly serials) and even some of his early post-breakout work. Only after WWII does Eyman settle down into discussing every film Wayne touched, but that's okay because that's where the bulk of Wayne's classics lie. Oddly, though, he keeps this up all the way through the end of Wayne's life, going into detail on late, programmatic works like Cahill and The Big Jake, which only the most hardcore Wayne fans ever sit through. These late films all had similar productions, with Wayen running roughshod over directors and bewildering his younger costars. Combined with the depressing reality of Wayne's declining health, this makes the last part of the book a depressing slog. There's really no getting around the problem, but given the repetitive nature of the material, I kinda wish Eyman had sped through the films between True Grit and The Shootist, The Cowboys excepted.
August 2, 2014
I love westerns and adore John Wayne. I grew up with old movies and specially western. For me John Wayne was greatest of them all, imbodiment of pioneer, frontier sherif, with John Ford in combination, they made cult, classic movies I prefare watching even today before blockbusters.
This book is one of the best biography, memoairs I red, with great combination of facts about movies and personal life of John Wayne. There are so many things I didn't know about him, so interesting and when you read about him and watching the movies it's a great difference between those two men. Wayne actor and Wayne the man. One of my favorite movise is The Searcherers...and many more.
I recomend this biography to read and to have fun.
This book is one of the best biography, memoairs I red, with great combination of facts about movies and personal life of John Wayne. There are so many things I didn't know about him, so interesting and when you read about him and watching the movies it's a great difference between those two men. Wayne actor and Wayne the man. One of my favorite movise is The Searcherers...and many more.
I recomend this biography to read and to have fun.
March 21, 2020
John Wayne was bigger than life shrouded in many myths. The well written book captures the man, warts and all. You will still admire him, maybe more, but you will see him as a human being and not just as a matinee idol. Great job.
July 17, 2021
A celebrity biography written the way I like it.
November 25, 2024
I stopped at the John Wayne birthplace museum this summer and thought I would read this. I use the Searches in my creative writing class. I was always waiting for confirmation of stories I had heard of the years and feel this is not a complete story of the Duke. This was not so much his story as a work of film history. That was what was interesting it details all of his films. But to understand him better there are other bios. If I had one complaint, I think the book needs an addendum. One that Rentals meant movies released in theaters and not from blockbuster and sometimes I’d of like to know about the earned money and what it was worth in today’s money. For certain we know every penny Duke Wayne earned for every movie. It was an interesting read but if you want to know more about Duke’s non movie story you won’t find it here.
December 10, 2024
I've seen some of the Ford and Hawks films. I've seen TRUE GRIT. And because I'm a British man of a certain age, I've seen BRANNIGAN a number of times (it's something of a fixture of TV over here even today), but to be honest, I hadn't given Wayne much thought in a while. I think I had the cliched version of him fixed in my brain. Even though I've seen THE SEARCHERS. The walk slow, talk low and have very right wing views version of the man.
So, I was surprised at how much I liked this book. At how intrigued I was by the man I found within. A more well read and contradictory figure than I'd been led to believe. (There are even points when Wayne is viewed as not right wing enough by those in his ideological camp, which given how right wing he undoubtedly was, seems bonkers to me.) It made me want to seek out more of his films to watch, and I think I'd now watch every performance in a new light.
So, I was surprised at how much I liked this book. At how intrigued I was by the man I found within. A more well read and contradictory figure than I'd been led to believe. (There are even points when Wayne is viewed as not right wing enough by those in his ideological camp, which given how right wing he undoubtedly was, seems bonkers to me.) It made me want to seek out more of his films to watch, and I think I'd now watch every performance in a new light.
December 17, 2025
Is it a bit overly-sympathetic at times? Perhaps...but there's also no denying it's an exhaustive piece of work, and it doesn't shy away (for the most part) from John Wayne's less-than-salubrious characteristics. There is no denying he had more layers to his persona than many may give him credit...naturally, whether or not you like those layers is a matter of personal choice. I'll assess him as "complicated" and leave it at that.
October 18, 2017
Exhaustive. Author Scott Eyeman had written an earlier biography of John Ford, Wayne’s mentor. Here, he had access to Wayne’s family and to his business papers, and he interviewed about 100 of the people who lived and worked with him, ranging from Yakima Canutt to Dennis Hopper to Angie Dickenson to Peter Bogdanovich to Ron Howard, to the curator of his birthplace. He seems to have viewed every one of Wayne’s 100+ movies. The book is a bit tedious in places for all the detail (we get the negative cost and rental receipts on almost every movie). But wholly worth the trouble.
The resulting portrait is surprising. I think this book will revise the general opinion of Wayne much the same way that David McCulloch’s “Truman” revised the general opinion of the President.
First, the most consistent assessment by everyone—yes, everyone—is “pure professional.” He was always early on the set, always knew not only his own lines but everyone else’s as well. He worked harder than anyone.
Second, he was, 90% of the time, upbeat, joyous, encouraging. He hated snobbery. “If he liked you, he didn’t care if you were a busboy or the President.” The star sets the tone, and his sets were almost always happy ones. A few exceptions—he disliked the director of “The Shootist” and groused continually. But this was rare. Even those who feared the worst were won over by his graciousness and good cheer.
Third, contrary to the general view of him as a dim jock, he was intelligent, educated, and cultured. His letters are crisp and expressive. He was an expert bridge player and an ardent chess player. He could recite Milton and Shakespeare at length. His spacious but unpretentious Newport Beach house was tastefully filled with European, Mexican, and Asian art.
Within his profession, he often understood his character better than the director. He would cut lines from his own dialogue that he deemed superfluous. Conversely, in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” John Ford wanted to cut the famous “steak scene” where, early in the movie, Wayne stands down Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valence. Valence had tripped Jimmy Stewart, who was serving Wayne’s steak. Ford thought the scene did nothing to move the narrative, but Wayne understood that it was essential to establish Wayne’s character, and he was right.
Finally, Eyeman insists, and argues forcefully, that Wayne was a truly great actor. He points to the portrayals of Ethan Edwards in “The Searchers”, Tom Dunson in “Red River”, Tom Donophon in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence”, and Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit”, each a person of distinctive character and philosophy. Wayne was not, as some find it easy to say, simply playing the same character over and over. “Don’t they have eyes? Can’t they see?” Eyeman asks exasperatedly.
Part of the reason Wayne is patronized by critics is that most of them are political liberals and Wayne was famously and outspokenly conservative. He would argue from time to time, but he never bullied or insulted. Liberals like Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck were good friends.
The book does not stint on Wayne’s weaknesses. All three of his marriages were failures. He was a poor businessman, and lost millions on ill-advised deals. In his later years, he was prone to take over direction from the assigned director. He had a temper, and would lash out from time to time, but usually apologized later. He smoked four packs of Camels a day, and continued to smoke and inhale cigars after a cancerous lung was removed in 1964. He was a heavy drinker, although it never interfered with his work or, apparently, his relationships (his first wife Josephine didn’t like it, but mainly because it would keep him out late with his buddies).
Wayne was uneasy all his life about his non-service in World War II, when many of his profession went (James Stuart flew 25 missions over Germany; Lee Marvin was wounded on Saipan). But he did genuinely try to enlist and was turned down. Few veterans held it against him.
Eyeman gives a capsule review of dozens of the movies, including many of the stinkers, of which there were a lot. Wayne was impelled by his work ethic and his endless need for money to work, work, work. In the 1930s, he would earn $1000 a movie, shot in six days. But he kept at it for 50 years and, in the end, his impact on the movie industry, and on American culture, was massive. And by the time you finish the book, you will really like the big lug.
The resulting portrait is surprising. I think this book will revise the general opinion of Wayne much the same way that David McCulloch’s “Truman” revised the general opinion of the President.
First, the most consistent assessment by everyone—yes, everyone—is “pure professional.” He was always early on the set, always knew not only his own lines but everyone else’s as well. He worked harder than anyone.
Second, he was, 90% of the time, upbeat, joyous, encouraging. He hated snobbery. “If he liked you, he didn’t care if you were a busboy or the President.” The star sets the tone, and his sets were almost always happy ones. A few exceptions—he disliked the director of “The Shootist” and groused continually. But this was rare. Even those who feared the worst were won over by his graciousness and good cheer.
Third, contrary to the general view of him as a dim jock, he was intelligent, educated, and cultured. His letters are crisp and expressive. He was an expert bridge player and an ardent chess player. He could recite Milton and Shakespeare at length. His spacious but unpretentious Newport Beach house was tastefully filled with European, Mexican, and Asian art.
Within his profession, he often understood his character better than the director. He would cut lines from his own dialogue that he deemed superfluous. Conversely, in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” John Ford wanted to cut the famous “steak scene” where, early in the movie, Wayne stands down Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valence. Valence had tripped Jimmy Stewart, who was serving Wayne’s steak. Ford thought the scene did nothing to move the narrative, but Wayne understood that it was essential to establish Wayne’s character, and he was right.
Finally, Eyeman insists, and argues forcefully, that Wayne was a truly great actor. He points to the portrayals of Ethan Edwards in “The Searchers”, Tom Dunson in “Red River”, Tom Donophon in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence”, and Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit”, each a person of distinctive character and philosophy. Wayne was not, as some find it easy to say, simply playing the same character over and over. “Don’t they have eyes? Can’t they see?” Eyeman asks exasperatedly.
Part of the reason Wayne is patronized by critics is that most of them are political liberals and Wayne was famously and outspokenly conservative. He would argue from time to time, but he never bullied or insulted. Liberals like Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck were good friends.
The book does not stint on Wayne’s weaknesses. All three of his marriages were failures. He was a poor businessman, and lost millions on ill-advised deals. In his later years, he was prone to take over direction from the assigned director. He had a temper, and would lash out from time to time, but usually apologized later. He smoked four packs of Camels a day, and continued to smoke and inhale cigars after a cancerous lung was removed in 1964. He was a heavy drinker, although it never interfered with his work or, apparently, his relationships (his first wife Josephine didn’t like it, but mainly because it would keep him out late with his buddies).
Wayne was uneasy all his life about his non-service in World War II, when many of his profession went (James Stuart flew 25 missions over Germany; Lee Marvin was wounded on Saipan). But he did genuinely try to enlist and was turned down. Few veterans held it against him.
Eyeman gives a capsule review of dozens of the movies, including many of the stinkers, of which there were a lot. Wayne was impelled by his work ethic and his endless need for money to work, work, work. In the 1930s, he would earn $1000 a movie, shot in six days. But he kept at it for 50 years and, in the end, his impact on the movie industry, and on American culture, was massive. And by the time you finish the book, you will really like the big lug.
August 9, 2015
Tremendous biography that makes clear that the smart, and well-read "Duke" Morrison transformed himself into a screen personality through hard-work, self-reliance, and some help from director John Ford, who "printed the legend." He was lucky in women, unlucky in marriage (kept marrying not-so-bright, non-actresses), but a Jacksonian rebel to the core.
___
"Late one afternoon, Wayne and his leading lady were about to shoot a scene that called for them to walk across a porch and down a couple of steps. Before the director called "Action," Wayne leaned over to Gray and said, "I'm going to stumble over a nail. Then I'm going to do it a couple of times. Pay no attention."
He stumbled over the nail, and George Sherman reset the camera and he tripped a couple of more times, and I wondered why he was doing this--it was a simple scene. And then I realized that he was stalling to kill the five minutes it would take for the extras to go into overtime. That's the kind of man he was--a wonderful man."
__
"The first time Dietrich saw Wayne was in the commissary at Universal. She leaned over to director Tay Garnett, and said, "Daddy, buy me that."
Wayne had been trying to be a better husband, but he made an exception for Dietrich, as many did. It seems that Dietrich made the first move by inviting him into her dressing room. Wayne looked around nervously and said, "I wonder what time it is?" Dietrich lifted her skirt to reveal a garter with a watch attached. She looked at the watch, then moved toward Wayne, saying, "It's early, darling. We have plenty of time.""
___
""You never started a picture by saying "I'm boing to be such-and-such a character with John Ford." Your character changes with the mood of the players and the effect of the elements. . . . You couldn't just walk in and read the farewell speech of Cardinal Wolsely. Ford might decide not to kill you."
___
"There is always a sense with most commenters on Wayne, even the favorable ones, that his politics are regarded as an embarrassment in relation to the power of his acting. But Wayne's acting is not a thing apart; it is, rather, constantly informed by his politics. Wayne's personal stubbornness and the authority of his belief system are the foundation for the obstinance essential to [the characters he played in Red River, Searchers, and the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance].
Wayne is the anti-Brando--the latter's knack for the unconventional choice, and his welcoming of the potential chaos of the improvisational moment indicate his deeply antiauthoritarian bent as much as ten labored biographies. As early as The Big Trail, Wayne's character almost always has a sure and certain knowledge of the right thing to do, and is indifferent to or impatient with the squabbling that goes on all around him. Indeed, the central dramatic conflict of the last half of Wayne's career was between his character's rigid belief system and a society that rejects it."
___
___
"Late one afternoon, Wayne and his leading lady were about to shoot a scene that called for them to walk across a porch and down a couple of steps. Before the director called "Action," Wayne leaned over to Gray and said, "I'm going to stumble over a nail. Then I'm going to do it a couple of times. Pay no attention."
He stumbled over the nail, and George Sherman reset the camera and he tripped a couple of more times, and I wondered why he was doing this--it was a simple scene. And then I realized that he was stalling to kill the five minutes it would take for the extras to go into overtime. That's the kind of man he was--a wonderful man."
__
"The first time Dietrich saw Wayne was in the commissary at Universal. She leaned over to director Tay Garnett, and said, "Daddy, buy me that."
Wayne had been trying to be a better husband, but he made an exception for Dietrich, as many did. It seems that Dietrich made the first move by inviting him into her dressing room. Wayne looked around nervously and said, "I wonder what time it is?" Dietrich lifted her skirt to reveal a garter with a watch attached. She looked at the watch, then moved toward Wayne, saying, "It's early, darling. We have plenty of time.""
___
""You never started a picture by saying "I'm boing to be such-and-such a character with John Ford." Your character changes with the mood of the players and the effect of the elements. . . . You couldn't just walk in and read the farewell speech of Cardinal Wolsely. Ford might decide not to kill you."
___
"There is always a sense with most commenters on Wayne, even the favorable ones, that his politics are regarded as an embarrassment in relation to the power of his acting. But Wayne's acting is not a thing apart; it is, rather, constantly informed by his politics. Wayne's personal stubbornness and the authority of his belief system are the foundation for the obstinance essential to [the characters he played in Red River, Searchers, and the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance].
Wayne is the anti-Brando--the latter's knack for the unconventional choice, and his welcoming of the potential chaos of the improvisational moment indicate his deeply antiauthoritarian bent as much as ten labored biographies. As early as The Big Trail, Wayne's character almost always has a sure and certain knowledge of the right thing to do, and is indifferent to or impatient with the squabbling that goes on all around him. Indeed, the central dramatic conflict of the last half of Wayne's career was between his character's rigid belief system and a society that rejects it."
___
December 22, 2014
I won John Wayne: The life and Legend, published by Simon and Schuster, written by Scott Eyman, after entering a giveaway on Goodreads. I was raised on John Wayne movies and was excited to get the chance to read and review this book.
This is a lovely hardcover book, with a black and white photo of a young, strong, John Wayne on the cover. The cover is inviting. It is a wonderful, well designed cover. Kudos to Simon and Schuster for a great outside product.
The book begins with a prologue in which the author tells the reader the 'best' Wayne movies. This comes across more of an opinion of the author, than as fact and is insulting to the reader.
Anyone who is a fan of John Wayne, has a favorite movie. By having the author say that out of the over 169 movies, only 15 movies are the "best", was irritating. I muttered "who says?" while I was reading this.
The first few chapters held my attention with detailed information covering John Wayne's childhood and school years, including, his stint in college. After that, with each chapter, I found less and less of the information interesting.
Each chapter has a black and white photo of Wayne, along with a quote from someone at the bottom before the text on the following page. I enjoyed viewing the photographs and reading the quotes.
Most of the time, the writing is muddled with opinions by the author, on just about every subject, from movies, to Wayne's thoughts and deeds. There are a ton of long-winded, detailed reviews of movies by the author. I rushed over them, just to get it over with. I, for one, did not want to read an opinion or critic review of a movie, in a book about John Wayne. I wanted to read more about his life and less about what the author thought about his movies. The constant reviewing caused me to start and stop the novel several times. I found myself sifting through the text to find the facts about his life and leaving the rest.
This book had the potential to be so much more.
Scott Eyman, appears to have done his research. He has included letters and interviews with several famous directors, actors and family. There are snippets of information about John Wayne's life which are amazing to read. It is because of these and the wonderful cover, I gave it two stars. If only the author had left out his personal opinion, I believe this would have been a great read.
This is a lovely hardcover book, with a black and white photo of a young, strong, John Wayne on the cover. The cover is inviting. It is a wonderful, well designed cover. Kudos to Simon and Schuster for a great outside product.
The book begins with a prologue in which the author tells the reader the 'best' Wayne movies. This comes across more of an opinion of the author, than as fact and is insulting to the reader.
Anyone who is a fan of John Wayne, has a favorite movie. By having the author say that out of the over 169 movies, only 15 movies are the "best", was irritating. I muttered "who says?" while I was reading this.
The first few chapters held my attention with detailed information covering John Wayne's childhood and school years, including, his stint in college. After that, with each chapter, I found less and less of the information interesting.
Each chapter has a black and white photo of Wayne, along with a quote from someone at the bottom before the text on the following page. I enjoyed viewing the photographs and reading the quotes.
Most of the time, the writing is muddled with opinions by the author, on just about every subject, from movies, to Wayne's thoughts and deeds. There are a ton of long-winded, detailed reviews of movies by the author. I rushed over them, just to get it over with. I, for one, did not want to read an opinion or critic review of a movie, in a book about John Wayne. I wanted to read more about his life and less about what the author thought about his movies. The constant reviewing caused me to start and stop the novel several times. I found myself sifting through the text to find the facts about his life and leaving the rest.
This book had the potential to be so much more.
Scott Eyman, appears to have done his research. He has included letters and interviews with several famous directors, actors and family. There are snippets of information about John Wayne's life which are amazing to read. It is because of these and the wonderful cover, I gave it two stars. If only the author had left out his personal opinion, I believe this would have been a great read.
July 12, 2014
ARC provided by NetGalley
John Wayne. The “Duke.” A legend. Even more than thirty years after he died, he still remains one of the five favorite movie stars of all time. But does anyone really know the story of The “Duke?” Now they do. Drawing on interviews conducted before John Wayne’s death and more than 100 other interviews with the actor’s family, co-stars, and associates, Scott Eyman writes a 500 plus page tome to illuminate the Duke’s life.
Scott Eyman has written the most thorough biography possibly on Wayne. Checking in at over 500 plus pages, I’m not sure that he left any part of Wayne’s life uncovered. And while I’m a fan of Wayne’s films, it’s much more difficult to read about the man himself in such depth. Eyman tells us about Wayne’s early childhood and how his parents may have played a part in his strong politically conservative nature to how before his big break Wayne would work on as many movie sets as possible to his later life after the stars had faded. It is primarily in discussing his movie roles that Eyman is the strongest, describing how Wayne was a perfectionist and a master at knowing what was needed to make the audience believe what was on the camera. He details how Wayne got his start in small roles, what led to his big break, and what he was like during his later roles. Where Eyman falters though is when he veers away from discussing Wayne’s movie life, as he has a habit of romanticizing or whitewashing what happened, such as Wayne’s avoidance of serving in World War II. Or his three disastrous marriages and love life. It’s clear that Eyman is a huge fan of Wayne and wants the world to remember him fondly. But perhaps it would have been better if the truth were a bit more evident.
If you’re a fan of Wayne, Westerns, or movie history then this is the book for you and you’ll love it. If you want to know about Wayne, but not so much in depth, then this is still a good book, just skip around a few chapters. Overall though I give the book 3 out of 5 stars.
John Wayne. The “Duke.” A legend. Even more than thirty years after he died, he still remains one of the five favorite movie stars of all time. But does anyone really know the story of The “Duke?” Now they do. Drawing on interviews conducted before John Wayne’s death and more than 100 other interviews with the actor’s family, co-stars, and associates, Scott Eyman writes a 500 plus page tome to illuminate the Duke’s life.
Scott Eyman has written the most thorough biography possibly on Wayne. Checking in at over 500 plus pages, I’m not sure that he left any part of Wayne’s life uncovered. And while I’m a fan of Wayne’s films, it’s much more difficult to read about the man himself in such depth. Eyman tells us about Wayne’s early childhood and how his parents may have played a part in his strong politically conservative nature to how before his big break Wayne would work on as many movie sets as possible to his later life after the stars had faded. It is primarily in discussing his movie roles that Eyman is the strongest, describing how Wayne was a perfectionist and a master at knowing what was needed to make the audience believe what was on the camera. He details how Wayne got his start in small roles, what led to his big break, and what he was like during his later roles. Where Eyman falters though is when he veers away from discussing Wayne’s movie life, as he has a habit of romanticizing or whitewashing what happened, such as Wayne’s avoidance of serving in World War II. Or his three disastrous marriages and love life. It’s clear that Eyman is a huge fan of Wayne and wants the world to remember him fondly. But perhaps it would have been better if the truth were a bit more evident.
If you’re a fan of Wayne, Westerns, or movie history then this is the book for you and you’ll love it. If you want to know about Wayne, but not so much in depth, then this is still a good book, just skip around a few chapters. Overall though I give the book 3 out of 5 stars.
February 14, 2014
I was interested in this book because I liked a couple of John Wayne's movies, and thought I might like to learn more about him. After finishing the book, I can say I not only learned more about him as an actor, but as a person.
As I read the pages, I feel that I knew the actor, whose given name was not John Wayne. I felt as each page passed along, I was living his life with him, and I think that is one sign of a strong book. Not knowing his history all that well gave the storyline some suspense, because I did not really know what to expect next.
John Wayne acted in hundreds of movies, and while not universally liked, it seems he was very respected. As described in this book, he was staunchly conservative, and his politics had a way of effecting some of the movies he made, for instance, "The Green Berets". However, one of the things that stood out for me while reading this was that he and many of his coworkers were able to look past politics to work together, and on varying levels, become friends. He even respected some liberal politicians. This is something that in the 21st century is almost unheard of.
The reader learns about some of the other people in the life of John Wayne, such as his children, wives, and friends such as John Ford, Ward Bond, Henry Fonda, amongst others. It is an entertaining story about a complex man who had many admirers, and who it seems, was in general a kind and giving actor. It is not a "tell all" book, so if you are looking for lots of gossip, this will not satisfy your needs. He was a human being, and like the rest of us, accomplished good things in life and yet was far from perfect. It is the story of an actor who, for better or worse, personified certain qualities of a bygone time. If you are interested in movies, actors, or how a character became such a force in a man's life that it ended up overlapping who he was, you will like this book.
As I read the pages, I feel that I knew the actor, whose given name was not John Wayne. I felt as each page passed along, I was living his life with him, and I think that is one sign of a strong book. Not knowing his history all that well gave the storyline some suspense, because I did not really know what to expect next.
John Wayne acted in hundreds of movies, and while not universally liked, it seems he was very respected. As described in this book, he was staunchly conservative, and his politics had a way of effecting some of the movies he made, for instance, "The Green Berets". However, one of the things that stood out for me while reading this was that he and many of his coworkers were able to look past politics to work together, and on varying levels, become friends. He even respected some liberal politicians. This is something that in the 21st century is almost unheard of.
The reader learns about some of the other people in the life of John Wayne, such as his children, wives, and friends such as John Ford, Ward Bond, Henry Fonda, amongst others. It is an entertaining story about a complex man who had many admirers, and who it seems, was in general a kind and giving actor. It is not a "tell all" book, so if you are looking for lots of gossip, this will not satisfy your needs. He was a human being, and like the rest of us, accomplished good things in life and yet was far from perfect. It is the story of an actor who, for better or worse, personified certain qualities of a bygone time. If you are interested in movies, actors, or how a character became such a force in a man's life that it ended up overlapping who he was, you will like this book.
April 29, 2014
You probably knew John Wayne was born Marion Morrison, had a long affair with Marlene Dietrich, and others, and was both a man’s man and a ladies’ man.
Did you also know...”Duke” got that nickname as a child from firemen on his route to school who applied the name of his dog to him...that he rode a horse to school in grade school...always thought of himself as “Duke Morrison”...starred on a California state championship high school football team... was president of about everything his senior year...came in third in California testing for Annapolis...was an avid surfer...partied with the best of them at USC...apprenticed in just about every function on a movie lot...was made a “star” for his first role in “The Big Trail” before he was an “actor” and the failure of that first movie haunted his career for ten years thereafter...despite being well liked was shy, lacked self-confidence, and learned to play the persona of “John Wayne”...that he could physically lift an adult man or woman over his head...that he was an avid, life-long sailor, chess player, and poker player...that he spoke fluent Spanish...that he read very widely, his favorite novels being “The White Company” and “Sir Nigel” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...or that he could quote at length from John Milton, Byron, Keats, Shakespeare, and even Churchill...?
Here you get full saturation with Wayne’s movie career: it apparently discusses each movie Duke ever made but deals less with his personal life. Well researched, it contains thousands of quotations from people who were there. Although the author needlessly separates his own views from Wayne’s conservative philosophy as though anyone is interested in the author, it’s a reasonably fair exposition of Wayne’s views, something not always given. Probably the definitive work on maybe the greatest movie career ever, it is well worth reading.
Did you also know...”Duke” got that nickname as a child from firemen on his route to school who applied the name of his dog to him...that he rode a horse to school in grade school...always thought of himself as “Duke Morrison”...starred on a California state championship high school football team... was president of about everything his senior year...came in third in California testing for Annapolis...was an avid surfer...partied with the best of them at USC...apprenticed in just about every function on a movie lot...was made a “star” for his first role in “The Big Trail” before he was an “actor” and the failure of that first movie haunted his career for ten years thereafter...despite being well liked was shy, lacked self-confidence, and learned to play the persona of “John Wayne”...that he could physically lift an adult man or woman over his head...that he was an avid, life-long sailor, chess player, and poker player...that he spoke fluent Spanish...that he read very widely, his favorite novels being “The White Company” and “Sir Nigel” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...or that he could quote at length from John Milton, Byron, Keats, Shakespeare, and even Churchill...?
Here you get full saturation with Wayne’s movie career: it apparently discusses each movie Duke ever made but deals less with his personal life. Well researched, it contains thousands of quotations from people who were there. Although the author needlessly separates his own views from Wayne’s conservative philosophy as though anyone is interested in the author, it’s a reasonably fair exposition of Wayne’s views, something not always given. Probably the definitive work on maybe the greatest movie career ever, it is well worth reading.
October 21, 2014
This book is brilliant not just for what it says about John Wayne, but also for what it says about the actors, directors and other people who inhabited his world. The iconic John Wayne was the well-thought out construct of an actor named Duke Morrison. He began as a go-fer running errands for directors and worked his way up through B-movie Westerns and became a world-wide phenomenon, symbolizing to a world-wide audience what it meant to be an "American".
Scott Eyman uses private interviews with John Wayne as well as interviews with many of the extended Wayne family to construct this biography. He draws on previously unpublished reminiscence from the Duke's friends and associates as well as documents from his production company Batjac to shed light on Wayne's tangle business affairs. Eyman traces Wayne through his childhood to this stardom in STAGECOACH and dozens of films after that.
I was originally drawn to this book because of a nebulous connection between my father and the Duke. My father was the captain of PT-149 in WWII. On his way to the Pacific, his squadron was sidetracked to the Florida Keys to help in the making of THEY WERE EXPENDABLE. As a child, I remember my father and I sitting on the couch watching TWE every time it came on TV and him telling me the names of the men in the background in several of the scenes and whether they lived through the war or died off the coast of New Guinea or in the Philippines. Every time I see the movie, I like to think that John Wayne is standing at the helm of my father's boat. (Dad was not in the movie because the .50 caliber gunner dropped the machine-gun on his foot breaking it and Dad was on the tender on crutches during the filming.)
Film buffs -- movie history fanatics -- John Wayne fans -- This book belongs on your bookshelves.
Scott Eyman uses private interviews with John Wayne as well as interviews with many of the extended Wayne family to construct this biography. He draws on previously unpublished reminiscence from the Duke's friends and associates as well as documents from his production company Batjac to shed light on Wayne's tangle business affairs. Eyman traces Wayne through his childhood to this stardom in STAGECOACH and dozens of films after that.
I was originally drawn to this book because of a nebulous connection between my father and the Duke. My father was the captain of PT-149 in WWII. On his way to the Pacific, his squadron was sidetracked to the Florida Keys to help in the making of THEY WERE EXPENDABLE. As a child, I remember my father and I sitting on the couch watching TWE every time it came on TV and him telling me the names of the men in the background in several of the scenes and whether they lived through the war or died off the coast of New Guinea or in the Philippines. Every time I see the movie, I like to think that John Wayne is standing at the helm of my father's boat. (Dad was not in the movie because the .50 caliber gunner dropped the machine-gun on his foot breaking it and Dad was on the tender on crutches during the filming.)
Film buffs -- movie history fanatics -- John Wayne fans -- This book belongs on your bookshelves.
January 7, 2016
This was an especially effective biography of Duke Morrison, probing with thoroughness every aspect of the man who played John Wayne for almost 50 years. While my sense is that the author, Scott Eyman, does not share the Duke's political philosophy; if true, then he was abundantly fair to his subject in all matters. Nothing obstructs Eyman's clear sense of Duke Morrison's superb quality as an actor and place in film history, a truth that many seem unwilling to acknowledge. But there is a reason why John Wayne, 36 years after his final battle with cancer, is so firmly lodged in the American consciousness in a way that no other actor can match.
Perhaps the most influential history I have read is Mr. Daniel Boorstin's The Americans: The Colonial Experience, who proceeded to lay out how so many of the key institutions in American life (education, agriculture, politics, medical treatment,etc) in most cases broke from European norms to adopt more pragmatic forms because of the challenges of forming communities in a wilderness. It was this pragmatism that largely informs the American character, along with self-reliance, independence, and a few other key traits. Whether it was in his nature or nurtured by Duke Morrison's early life experiences, he became a striver who came to reflect those traits that were so important to the development of an American society. And when he figured out early that John Wayne was not a malleable character actor, but rather a man of principles reflecting the American experience. I believe the public instinctively understood this, and the rest is movie history.
Perhaps the most influential history I have read is Mr. Daniel Boorstin's The Americans: The Colonial Experience, who proceeded to lay out how so many of the key institutions in American life (education, agriculture, politics, medical treatment,etc) in most cases broke from European norms to adopt more pragmatic forms because of the challenges of forming communities in a wilderness. It was this pragmatism that largely informs the American character, along with self-reliance, independence, and a few other key traits. Whether it was in his nature or nurtured by Duke Morrison's early life experiences, he became a striver who came to reflect those traits that were so important to the development of an American society. And when he figured out early that John Wayne was not a malleable character actor, but rather a man of principles reflecting the American experience. I believe the public instinctively understood this, and the rest is movie history.
December 18, 2020
I have read other books about John Wayne, and I have to say that this is yet the most detailed one. You not only learn about Wayne himself, but many other friends and acquaintances. The book relates how young Marion Morrison grew up, his relationships with both parents and how it shaped his life. His youth was difficult and, in my opinion, somewhat sad, yet he managed to grow with honesty, generosity and grace.
John Wayne was a complex human being, not the person seen on the screen, yet everything he did was for his family; and every movie he made was for his fans. We are shown the triumphs in his life and the regrets; the happiness and the sorrow he went through, and the deep, abiding love for his family and his friends.
We are given not only details regarding the movies Mr.Wayne made, but what was going on in his personal life at the same time, and those of the people he worked with. I learned many things I never knew - and I read a lot of biographies. Some were understandable; others, not so much (in the fact that while his actions were generous, I felt he was ill-used). There are also quite a few anecdotes regarding several actors, including Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum and Ward Bond that I found fascinating at the least.
In all, this book is well worth reading, not only for the fans of westerns and John Wayne, but for anyone who wants to know how he became an American icon, and still remains so today.
John Wayne was a complex human being, not the person seen on the screen, yet everything he did was for his family; and every movie he made was for his fans. We are shown the triumphs in his life and the regrets; the happiness and the sorrow he went through, and the deep, abiding love for his family and his friends.
We are given not only details regarding the movies Mr.Wayne made, but what was going on in his personal life at the same time, and those of the people he worked with. I learned many things I never knew - and I read a lot of biographies. Some were understandable; others, not so much (in the fact that while his actions were generous, I felt he was ill-used). There are also quite a few anecdotes regarding several actors, including Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum and Ward Bond that I found fascinating at the least.
In all, this book is well worth reading, not only for the fans of westerns and John Wayne, but for anyone who wants to know how he became an American icon, and still remains so today.
July 17, 2014
Thank you Simon & Schuster.
‘The Life and Legend’ is certainly recommended reading for all fans of the character and work of John Wayne
Scott Eyman managed to make a good overview of Wayne’s life using records of many conversations he had with actor himself, but also with his friends such as Henry Fonda or John Ford, his children and wives, and rest of Wayne’s family. Though I didn’t read any other Wayne’s biographies, Eyman stated he used many previously unpublished documents of people who worked with him or were his friends which both more precisely describe his private and business life.
For a fairly long book of some 600 pages, this is a rapid read and I really enjoyed the book quite a bit. The book not only gives a view of the actor, but also details on his less that sanguine personal life with his several wives, and his political wrap with alternately opposite stars and the changing era he encompassed in Hollywood from the 30's where he was a mainstream figure to his almost 'radical' right identity by the end of his career. Fascinating. The details on how this movie star lived in Encino and Newport Beach (in Southern California) were terrific and very insightful into the man.
In all, this book is well worth reading, not only for the fans of westerns and John Wayne, but for anyone who wants to know how he became an American icon, and still remains so today.
‘The Life and Legend’ is certainly recommended reading for all fans of the character and work of John Wayne
Scott Eyman managed to make a good overview of Wayne’s life using records of many conversations he had with actor himself, but also with his friends such as Henry Fonda or John Ford, his children and wives, and rest of Wayne’s family. Though I didn’t read any other Wayne’s biographies, Eyman stated he used many previously unpublished documents of people who worked with him or were his friends which both more precisely describe his private and business life.
For a fairly long book of some 600 pages, this is a rapid read and I really enjoyed the book quite a bit. The book not only gives a view of the actor, but also details on his less that sanguine personal life with his several wives, and his political wrap with alternately opposite stars and the changing era he encompassed in Hollywood from the 30's where he was a mainstream figure to his almost 'radical' right identity by the end of his career. Fascinating. The details on how this movie star lived in Encino and Newport Beach (in Southern California) were terrific and very insightful into the man.
In all, this book is well worth reading, not only for the fans of westerns and John Wayne, but for anyone who wants to know how he became an American icon, and still remains so today.
December 25, 2015
Superlative biography of John Wayne, one of Hollywood's most famous and successful actors.
Born Marion Robert Morrison in May 26, 1907 (and weighing in at an impressive 13 lbs.!), Wayne's childhood nickname was "Duke" (fun fact: as a child, Marion's family had an Airedale, Big Duke - named so after cowboy/movie star Tom Mix's large hound).
Some of Wayne's most famous movies/roles: Stagecoach (Ringo Kid), The Quiet Man (Sean Thornton), The Alamo (Col. Davy Crockett), El Dorado (Cole Thornton), The Searchers (Ethan Edwards), True Grit (Rooster Cogburn), Big Jake (Jacob McCandles), and The Shootist (J. B. Books).
Scott Eyman did a wonderful job of giving readers a balanced, honest, and clear picture of the often larger-than-life John Wayne: the actor, the businessman, and the family man. This is a lengthy (well over 500 pages) biography that is addictively readable!
An interesting fact (page 5): Thirty five years after his death in 1979, John Wayne was still listed as one of America's five favorite movie stars!
Born Marion Robert Morrison in May 26, 1907 (and weighing in at an impressive 13 lbs.!), Wayne's childhood nickname was "Duke" (fun fact: as a child, Marion's family had an Airedale, Big Duke - named so after cowboy/movie star Tom Mix's large hound).
Some of Wayne's most famous movies/roles: Stagecoach (Ringo Kid), The Quiet Man (Sean Thornton), The Alamo (Col. Davy Crockett), El Dorado (Cole Thornton), The Searchers (Ethan Edwards), True Grit (Rooster Cogburn), Big Jake (Jacob McCandles), and The Shootist (J. B. Books).
Scott Eyman did a wonderful job of giving readers a balanced, honest, and clear picture of the often larger-than-life John Wayne: the actor, the businessman, and the family man. This is a lengthy (well over 500 pages) biography that is addictively readable!
An interesting fact (page 5): Thirty five years after his death in 1979, John Wayne was still listed as one of America's five favorite movie stars!
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