Movie fans around the world celebrate Sophia Loren’s 90th birthday today and it’s incredible to think of the Hollywood Golden Age stars she acted opposite. The Italian sex symbol co-starred with Charlie Chaplin, Gregory Peck, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Peter Sellers, Anthony Quinn, Paul Newman, Richard Burton and John … Read more
This week marks the 75th anniversary of John Wayne Western The Fighting Kentuckian. In the classic movie, Duke played a Kentucky militiaman man returning home from the War of 1812, with Oliver Hardy as his comic sidekick Willie Paine. This was one of just five times that Hardy worked without Stan Laurel, outside of their … Read more
John Wayne made some of the greatest Westerns of all time with his favourite collaborator director John Ford, but without a doubt, their greatest was the highly influential The Searchers. The masterpiece is considered one of the greatest films of all time and saw Duke play a Civil War veteran spending years searching for his … Read more
Back in 1977, two years before his death, John Wayne and all living Academy Award winners were written to by The People’s Almanac. Duke, who won Best Actor for 1969’s True Grit, was asked to list his five favourite movies of all time. In fifth place was his Irish romantic comedy The Quiet Man, followed … Read more
Back in 1951, John Wayne starred in the World War II action movie Flying Leathernecks, which celebrates its 73rd anniversary this week. Bankrolled by billionaire pilot Howard Hughes, the eccentric businessman decided to film the picture in Technicolor, using the colour wartime combat footage. The film follows the adventures of the US Marine Corps aviators … Read more
Back in 1959, John Wayne teamed up with his longtime collaborator and fellow Hollywood conservative John Ford on what would be the filmmaker’s only full American Civil War movie. Duke and his The Horse Soldiers co-star William Holden negotiated a whopping $775,000 (almost $8 million today) each, plus 20 per cent of the overall profits. … Read more
Back in 1946, John Wayne shot the first of his five movies with director Howard Hawks. Red River, a fictional tale of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas, followed a growing feud between Duke’s Texas rancher Thomas and his adopted adult son Matt played by Montgomery Clift in his film debut. And it … Read more
It was 72 years ago this week that The Quiet Man hits US cinemas. John Wayne, who later starred in a D-Day movie, teamed up with director collaborator John Ford once again for the Oscar-winning classic. Considered by the filmmaker to be his sexiest movie, the plot saw Duke’s retired boxer Sean Thornton making a … Read more
John Wayne made over 170 movies across his incredible motion picture career, spanning from the silent era into the New Hollywood of the 1970s. Yet did you know that after filming his final movie The Shootist in 1976, Duke was set to star in another Western? The film in question was a comedy called The … Read more
Following his Oscar-winning role in True Grit, John Wayne returned as his one-eyed US Marshal in 1975’s Rooster Cogburn. This time around his co-star would be fellow Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn, who did not share the same political views as Duke. At times Wayne would have furious outbursts on set due to his serious health … Read more
