Elvis Presley shot to fame as a singing sensation back in 1956, but his manager Colonel Tom Parker also had a vision for his client to become a Hollywood movie star. That same year The King acted in his first film, a Western called Love Me Tender. Among his musical romantic comedies, he starred in … Read more
John Wayne and Kirk Douglas never saw eye-to-eye politically, as the latter once confessed in a TV interview. Duke considered Spartacus to be Marxist propaganda and was infuriated by his liberal co-star when he was once late to set when filming The War Wagon together. It turned out Douglas had been shooting a commercial to … Read more
After decades as a Hollywood star, John Wayne’s Oscars moment finally came when he starred as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Having read Charles Portis’ novel, Duke actively campaigned for the starring role in the 1969 movie, which saw him collaborate once again with director Henry Hathaway. A year later, the 63-year-old picked up his … Read more
John Wayne, real name Marion Morrison, made 170 movies during his incredible Hollywood career from the 1920s silent era to the mid-1970s. A box office king for three decades, Duke dominated the Golden Age of cinema. He quickly became an American icon, best known for his Westerns and war epics. Yet which are the very … Read more
Back in 1963, John Wayne starred in the Western comedy McLintock!, which is loosely based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Duke played an ageing rancher called George Washington McLintock, a wealthy self-made man facing several issues. High-ranking government officials, his own sons and local Native Americans all want a piece of his … Read more
John Wayne’s final movie The Shootist hit cinemas in 1976, three years before he died from stomach cancer. The 69-year-old starred opposite Lauren Bacall, James Stewart and Ron Howard as an old gunslinger dying from the disease, which he didn’t have at the time of filming. During production, Duke struggled with the high altitude at … Read more
In the 1952 Oscar-winning classic, considered by director John Ford to be his sexiest movie, John Wayne’s retired boxer Sean Thornton makes a pilgrimage to his home village in 1920s Ireland to claim his family estate. There he meets his match with Maureen O’Hara’s Mary Kate Danaher and her difficult brother Red, played by Victor … Read more
During his last couple of decades, John Wayne’s health seriously deteriorated. The lifelong heavy smoker and drinker lived without one of his lungs and a couple of his ribs from the mid-1960s onwards, after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Nevertheless, Duke tenaciously battled on, playing roles he was too old, fat and physically challenged for. … Read more
John Wayne’s Rio Bravo remake El Dorado had him co-starring opposite Robert Mitchum, with whom Duke became firm friends on the 1966 movie. When the director of both films Howard Hawks wanted to make the film about a sheriff defending his office from outlaws for the third time, he hoped he could convince his starring … Read more
Back in 1959, critics were already asking if John Wayne was too old to be playing gunslinger leads. Rio Bravo was released that year and the romantic age gap between the 51-year-old and his 27-year-old co-star Angie Dickinson had received negative reactions in reviews. Nevertheless, the Hollywood star found ways to play older cowboys over … Read more
