Posted on 02/17/2020 12:24:59 PM PST by Borges
Charles Portis, an El Dorado native best known for his 1968 novel True Grit, died on Monday at a Little Rock hospice facility. He was 86.
The cause was complications from Alzheimers disease and dementia, which was diagnosed in 2012, said his brother, Jonathan Portis.
Portis published five novels Norwood (1966), True Grit (1968), The Dog of the South (1979), Masters of Atlantis (1985), and Gringos (1991) and the non-fiction Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany (2012).
True Grit, the story of fictional 14-year-old Mattie Ross from Yell County, Ark., who recruits U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to avenge the murder of her father, was made into a 1969 movie of the same name starring the legendary John Wayne and fellow Arkansas native Glen Campbell. A remake of the film starring Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges in 2010 was produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen.
Portis, who was uncomfortable with the fame that resulted from his literary success, rarely granted interviews, balked at being photographed and lived quietly in an apartment in Little Rocks Riverdale area.
He had this great amount of success with True Grit. I think it didnt sit well with him, said Jonathan Portis. He didnt like to attract attention. He was comfortable around his friends, but shy around strangers. He preferred to go as an unknown person because he was a people watcher. He would hear snatches of conversations or see people who had a particular look and he would take note of that. Youd see them in his books.
Fill your hands, you Sonofabitch!
One of my favorites!
I loved Kim Darby!....................
The Bridges version was truer to the book. But the John Wayne version had the Duke.
Hate to say it and nothing against John Wayne, but the 2010 movie version was much better.
It also had Glen Campbell. I loved Glen as a musician but his acting was sooooooooo bad it definitely brought down the movie a notch. Had they cast a decent actor in that role it would probably be my favorite western of all time.
“Hate to say it and nothing against John Wayne, but the 2010 movie version was much better.”
Yep, one of the few remakes that is better than the original
We have no rodeo clowns in Yell County.
“Hate to say it and nothing against John Wayne, but the 2010 movie version was much better.”
A matter of taste, I personally preferred the original.
Agree. John Wayne was so good he pretty much carried everyone else in the film. Glen Campbell was bad but didn’t ruin it.
John wayne is one reason I look forward to artificial intelligence making new movies with deceased actors. Go back to the old film look and have Wayne, Bogart, and those guys doing new material.
Glen was the hottest performer in the entertainment world when they cast him for True Grit. His recording career was in the stratosphere with those early hits, and his variety show on CBS was pulling strong ratings as well. Only logical that the producers would want to capitalize on his growing fame—and Campbell’s handlers would try to get him in a John Wayne movie.
Of course, Glen had few rivals as a picker. He made a lot of money as a member of the legendary “Wrecking Crew,” the studio musicians who played on (seemingly) every hit record made in Los Angeles in the early-to-mid 1960s. Campbell played on as many as 300 records in 1963 alone. Not bad for a kid from Delight, Arkansas who never learned to read music. But all a producer or arranger had to do was tell Glen what they were looking for (or run through the song once), and he delivered.
According to what I’ve read, John Wayne thought she was a talentless twerp.
But I admit she stirred my young-lad passions.
She was in two episodes of Star Trek, the original series, before True Grit, and some other movies, later, after True Grit, but never became a big star........................
Honest truth however unbelievable. I’d never watched the movie until last night. I saw about an hour of it and planned to finish it tonight. It’s on Netflix. The guy up and dies when I’m in the middle of my first look at the movie.
Watched the “original” “True Grit” several nights ago, I thought Glen did a pretty good job as an actor for his first time around. He was a one helleva country singer. Miss him.
That last scene of the movie won Wayne the Oscar.
“Well, come see a fat old man sometime !!!”
I like the book and both movies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.