John Wayne: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:55, 28 October 2006

Revision as of 07:24, 28 October 2006

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In his own lifetime, John Wayne rose far beyond recognition as a famous actor to that of an enduring American icon. Wayne sought to maintain his idealized image off screen by what he did on screen. In his last film ''[[The Shootist]]'' (1976), Wayne refused to allow his character to shoot a man in the back as was scripted, since this countered his lifetime's work of film portrayals as a more honorable hero.[http://imdb.com/title/tt0075213/trivia] This contrasts with other famous actors including [[Clint Eastwood]] and [[Humphrey Bogart]] who willingly played hero and anti-hero roles.

Wayne's rise to a quintessential icon of a patriotic war hero began to take shape five years after World War II when ''[[Sands of Iwo Jima]]'' (1949) was released and for which Wayne got a Best Actor nomination. His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese [[Emperor Hirohito]] visited the United States in 1975 he asked to meet John Wayne. However, Wayne never actually served in the military and in 1941 was given a deferral rating of 3-A for family dependency (Wayne was 34 and had 4 children at the time), and this was later changed in 1944 to 2-A deferral based on national interest. This decision was unlike many famous Hollywood actors who did enlist including [[Henry Fonda]], [[Jimmy Stewart]] (Thethe only actor to see [[active duty)]]), [[Clark Gable]] (Waswho was forced to make war documentatiesdocumentaries)], and [[Tyrone Power]], as well as many less established actors including [[Eddie Albert]] (who was not an actor at the time)], [[Lee Marvin]] (who was not an actor at the time but was wounded by enemy fire in the Pacific) and [[John Agar]] (not an actor at the time)]. John Wayne however was held in great respect by many servicemen as he was one of the few stars to support troops throughout his life.[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_004.html] <ref>William Manchester, "The Bloodiest battle of All", New York Times Magazine, June 14, 1987, pg 84</ref>[http://www.virtuousempire.com/paper.html]

John Wayne's iconic status as a war hero served in rallying support during the Vietnam War where he contributed his acting and co-direction to the popular box-office hit ''[[The Green Berets]]'' (1968), although the film was critically panned for its highly idealized, fictionalized depiction of war. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063035/amazon]