When war broke out, John Wayne tried to enlist but was rejected because of an old football injury to his shoulder, his age (34), and his status as a married father of four. He flew to Washington to plead that he be allowed to join the Navy but was turned down. So he poured himself into the war effort by making inspirational war films - among them The Fighting Seabees, Back to Bataan and They Were Expendable. (R.Reagan)
As one of the true innovators of the film industry, Duke tossed aside the model of the white-suited cowboy/good guy, creating instead a tougher, deeper-dimensioned western hero. He discovered Monument Valley, the film setting in the Arizona - Utah desert where a host of movie classics were filmed. He perfected the choreographic techniques and stuntman tricks which brought realism to screen fighting. At the same time he decried pornography, and blood, and gore in films. "That's not sex and violence," he would say. "It's filth and bad taste." (R.Reagan)
Duke went to Vietnam in the early days of the war. He scorned VIP treatment, insisting that he visit the troops in the field. Once he even had his helicopter land in the midst of a battle. When he returned, he vowed to make a film about the heroism of Special Forces soldiers. (R.Reagan)
Duke's generosity and loyalty stood out in a city rarely known for either. When a friend needed work, that person went on his payroll. When a friend needed help, Duke's wallet was open. He also was loyal to his fans. One writer tells of the night he and Duke were in Dallas for the premiere of Chisum. Returning late to his hotel, Duke found a message from a woman who said her little girl lay critically ill in a local hospital. The woman wrote, "It would mean so much to her if you could pay her just a brief visit." At 3 o'clock in the morning he took off for the hospital where he visited the astonished child and every other patient on the hospital floor who happened to be awake. (R.Reagan)
I saw his loyalty in action many times. I remember that when Duke and Jimmy Stewart were on their way to my second inauguration as governor of California they encountered a crowd of demonstrators under the banner of the Vietcong flag. Jimmy had just lost a son in Vietnam. Duke excused himself for a moment and walked into the crowd. In a moment there was no Vietcong flag. (R.Reagan)
Fifteen years ago when Duke lost a lung in his first bout with cancer, studio press agents tried to conceal the nature of his illness. When Duke discovered this, he went before the public and showed us that a man can fight this dread disease. He went on to raise millions of dollars for private cancer research. Typically, he snorted: "We've got too much at stake to give government a monopoly in the fight against cancer."
Earlier this year, when doctors told Duke there was no hope, he urged them to use his body for experimental medical research, to further the search for a cure. He refused painkillers so he could be alert as he spent his last days with his children. (R.Reagan)
John Wayne was probably the biggest star in the world...yet he retained the qualities of a small boy. He had the enthusiasm for life that would make a high school football star envious.
And through it all, Duke never changed. As a man he was exactly the boy he started out. And as a friend...well, you just wouldn't want a better one.
In his lifetime, Duke stamped AMERICA across the face of the motion picture industry. Few other men, living or dead, have ever portrayed the fine, decent, and generous American qualities as Duke did.
He portrayed on screen the values he lived off screen. Gentle...so much so, it would have surprised his critics. Loyal...once your friend, always your friend. Courageous...if you doubt it, remember his fight against cancer, or the way he faced heart surgery. And decent. Above all, Duke was a decent man.
He was also far from perfect. He made his mistakes as I have made mine and you have made yours. All in all, I would say they were unintentional. Mistakes of the heart, I would say.
Let me say this about the John Wayne I knew. He was an Original. He was the Statue of his Times.
All in all, I think it was the man's integrity that speaks most of him. His principles never varied. Nor did his ideals. Nor did his faith in mankind."
........... Jimmy Stewart
JOHN WAYNE...
On His Political Philosophy
"I have found a certain type calls himself a Liberal...Now I always thought I was a Liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a Right-Wing Conservative Extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new Liberal group, Jesus, they never listen to your point of view..."
Buddy Ebsen:
"He was a big man. He had a big generous heart and a big soul."
John Wayne made more than one trip to South Vietnam to entertain the troops. Often he would travel to the hot zones, regardless of the danger surrounding him.
Duke hated war but loved the American GI. He entertained them, inspired them, and they touched his life. Marine Capt. Steve Hanson sent his wife and little boy a picture the day before his aircraft was shot down in Laos. It showed him bare chested, wearing a helmet. On the back was written, "Me as John Wayne."
John Wayne wore Capt. Hanson's POW bracelet. Duke kept in touch with Hanson's wife and son, sending the boy presents and letters. One letter Duke wrote to Hanson's says, "I wish you wonderful life. Just don't expect too much out of it and you'll have some wonderful years. That's my sermon from the mount this year, Todd. Give 'em hell."
The Green Berets was John Wayne's tribute to the fighting men who came back, and to those, like Steve Hanson, who didn't.
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If the ABOVE tid-bits make the Duke a 'poser', then what exactly are YOU?
A veteran.
Thanks for the info, though. I didn't know all that about him. Your's and other responses have provided some new insight. But I always thought his movies (and his acting) sucked, and I suppose I always will.
On this board, you can't dislike John Wayne without being called a RINO, commie, or worse. But he was just an actor. It doesn't really matter.