I'm not so sure about this as far as male actors go. I think Russell Crowe ("Gladiator"), Christian Bale ("3:10 to Yuma"), or even a 1990s-vintage Daniel Day Lewis ("Last of the Mohicans") could step into many of those leading male roles from that era.
#132
Howard Hawks quotes:
Most of the leading men today, the younger men especially, are a little bit effeminate. There’s no toughness. [Steve McQueen] and [Clint Eastwood] don’t compare with [John Wayne].
John Wayne represents more force, more power, than anybody else on the screen
[on John Wayne] He never squawks about anything. He’s the easiest person I ever worked with. Because he never says anything about it, he just goes ahead and does it.
I never made a message picture, and I hope I never do.
If you don’t get a damn good actor with [John Wayne] he’s going to blow him right off the screen, not just by the fact that he’s good, but by his power, his strength.
[John Wayne] is underrated. He’s an awfully good actor. He holds a thing together; he gives it a solidity and honesty, and he can make a lot of things believable.
[on Rio Bravo (1959)] After we finished we found we could have done it a lot better . . . and that’s why we went ahead and made El Dorado (1967).
If I want to have fun at a party I’ll tell The Duke [John Wayne], “See that guy over there? He’s a Red!”