John Wayne - Centenary Year

T

topazale

New member
This year marks the 100th year of Marion Robert Morrison, better known as John Wayne

Now I know some people think he played the same character in every movie, and sometimes...he did, but he did it so well.

The Searchers and the Quiet Man are iconic cinema

His daughter is on the James Whale show tommorrow (Wednesday)

A legend that we'll never see the kind of again
 
Yes he was a legend & he did always seem to play the same character, but he was good value.

I noticed in his later years that he walked as if his feet were killing him.
Poor man was falling a part.

If I remember him for one film it was for 'True Grit'

His lowest point was as the centurion at Christ's crucifixion in 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'
 
Mediocre actor.

And ironically given his status as America's tough guy, he was a coward(unlike Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda etc) when it came to ww2.

Evidence shows that he stayed in Mexico after Pearl Harbour until the studio could apply for a draft deferment(this whilst Stewart,Fonda and other stars were volunteering,Fonda was even exempt but did so anyway).AND his famous back injury which kept him out was a fraud too, as historian Garry Wills has shown.

Wayne did everything possible to avoid service whilst millions,inc other stars,volunteered or did not dodge any draft...
 
No matter what the man was like as a person I think it's hard not to like his westerns. Many of them are classics, and even the so so ones are usually good value as straight forward simple entertainment.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
One-dimensional cartoon character style actor. Not worth fussing over. I'd rather more fuss happens for Katherine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, Barbara Stanwyck and Rosalind Russell's 100th birthday instead.
 
Wayne did not claim to be a great actor but he was a great film star.
Movies he made with John Ford and Howard Hawks were among some of the greats.
 
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