He was studying at Beloit College when the war broke out. His ambition was to become a navy pilot, but his height, six feet and seven inches, disqualified him. His Anzio wounds landed him in the hospital for 18 months, and during that time he became involved with an acting group.
Discharged with a bronze medal and Purple Heart, he enrolled at a radio announcing school in Minneapolis, and he worked as a disc jockey and announcer at a local station. On a lark, he and a buddy drove to Los Angeles. His mother predicted he would never return. She was right.
An appearance at a little theatre led to an RKO contract and his first movie, The Farmer’s Daughter, as one of Loretta Young’s three brothers. More featured roles followed, including the horror classic The Thing.
Then came the fateful interview with John Wayne at his Republic Studio office.
“He asked me a couple of questions about my acting,” Arness recalled. “Then he said, ‘The main thing I have to know, is — do you drink?’ I didn’t want to say, because I didn’t know him at the time; maybe he was a teetotaler. I said, ‘Well, I have been known to take one occasionally.’ We got a laugh out of that, and he put me on the picture, Big Jim McLain.”
Arness appeared in four Wayne films during three years under contract to him.
http://www.jamesarness.com/interview.html
A very touching posthumous message from Mr. Arness just went up at that website...
For some reason our security software terminated my session when I clicked on your link and sent me a msg that it was dangerous. First time that’s ever happened.