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John Wayne: Early John Wayne
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While at the university, Wayne began working at the local film studios. Western star Tom Mix got him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets, and Wayne soon moved on to bit parts, establishing a long friendship with director John Ford, who provided most of those bit parts. Early in this period, Wayne appeared with his USC teammates playing on-screen football in The Dropkick, Brown of Harvard, and Salute, and was one of the featured football players in Columbia Pictures' Maker of Men (filmed in 1930 and released in 1931).[8]
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Years of heavy drinking and five-pack-a-day smoking habit began to take a toll on Wayne's health. Just a few months after the debut of Circus World (1964; with Claudia Cardinale and Rita Hayworth), Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer, and his left lung was removed in September 1964. Yet he went back to work soon after, entering a very productive period in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the release of such films as El Dorado (1966), True Grit (1969; Wayne won an Oscar for his role), Rio Lobo (1970), and Big Jake (1971), among others. His final film bow came in The Shootist (1976), in which Wayne portrays a cancer-stricken gunfighter looking to end his days with dignity. The actor fell ill during production but was able to complete the picture. Afterward, his health deteriorated rapidly, and after another bout with cancer, John Wayne died on June 11, 1979, at the age of 72.
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Wayne bounced around Tinseltown doing whatever supporting roles and bit parts that he could scrounge. Hollywood opinion was that his lead role in the big budget (and big screen) THE BIG TRAIL (Fox, 1930) for director Raoul Walsh would bring immediate stardom. But that did not happen. He continued working whenever and wherever, even supporting Buck Jones and Tim McCoy in their early 1930s oaters at Columbia Pictures.
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This web site is meant as a tribute to honor the memory of John Wayne, American. During his film career of almost 50 years, so much has been written about him. From the early days of Hollywood's silent films to the modern era of high tech movie making one thing has remained constant - the love of John Wayne and all he stood for. He was and is truly "one of Hollywood's legendary stars."
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Early John Wayne oater with the Duke as one of the Singing Riders (actually, he lip-syncs a tune), out to avenge his parents' murder. Little does he know the gang involved includes his own brother! Sheila Manners, Yakima Canutt co-star. 61 min.
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The foregoing facts influenced the direction of Wayne's later life. By all accounts, Wayne's failure to serve in the military during World War II was the most painful experience of his life.[26] There were some other stars who, for various reasons, did not enlist. But Wayne, by virtue of becoming a celluloid war hero in several patriotic war films, as well as an outspoken supporter of right-wing political causes and the Vietnam War, became the focus of particular disdain from both himself and certain portions of the public, particularly in later years. While some hold Wayne in contempt for the paradox between his early actions and his later attitudes, his widow suggests that Wayne's rampant patriotism in later decades sprang not from hypocrisy but from guilt. Pilar Wayne wrote, "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."[27]
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Early John Wayne