One of the very few Twitter feeds I follow is "John Wayne Official"@JohnDukeWayne. I think the feed's name is a bit unwieldy and I suspect Wayne would have agreed.
“I never have really become accustomed to the ‘John.’ Nobody ever really calls me John… I’ve always been Duke or Marion or John Wayne. It’s a name that goes well together, and it’s like one word."
Whoever manages the feed is a fairly regular poster, frequently dropping screenshots from his huge library of movies or candid photos of his personal life with family and friends.
Each time I get a notification from the account, I smile, wondering what the Duke would have thought about having an online presence. Considering the times we live in can be described as a glut of oversharing, I suspect Wayne would heed his own counsel.
“Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.”
The Duke remains one of my childhood heroes. Self-confident, self-starting, and self-assured. Slow to anger, a fiercely loyal friend, and a very determined adversary, his silver screen persona was someone my starry-eyed 6-year-old self could aspire to. A smattering of "Duke-isms" continues to serve as inspiration in my life even today.
"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."
“Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down.”
Wayne was definitely an OG man's man actor whose career began back in the silent movie era. Over the decades, he amassed an extremely prolific 150 screen credits. Despite this, he only garnered three Oscar nominations, winning only one of the statuettes. When asked about his poor showing at the premier awards ceremony, his reply was in character and on point.
“You can’t eat awards. Nor, more to the point, drink them.”
A recent phenomenon, alongside the scourge of oversharing, is the tendency to excoriate historical figures for their words or actions. Wayne, himself, came under scrutiny a few years back.
If Wayne wasn't playing a cowboy, chances are he was portraying a soldier. He would, in fact, go on to depict multiple characters from all branches of the armed forces. Ironically, he never served in the military. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Wayne was 34 years old and was exempted from the draft due to his age. Further, he requested and was granted 3-A status - as the sole source of financial income for his family, drafting him into service would impose an undue economic hardship on his wife and two children. Regardless, many of his Hollywood peers found ways to serve in either a support capacity or even the front lines. Wayne's decision to sit out the war would haunt him for the rest of his life. Close associates postulate it fueled the hyper-patriotic zeal he settled into later in life. While his exemptions were legitimate, it hasn't stopped modern pundits from labeling Wayne a draft dodger.
More damning were Wayne's words during a May 1971 interview with Playboy magazine. The oft-quoted excerpts are derogatory comments Wayne made about African-Americans and Native Americans. This interview is the primary reason for USC, Wayne's alma mater, moving an exhibit dedicated to his achievements to a less prominent location within the school's Cinematic Arts Library.
Recently, Wayne's son, Ethan, defended his late father, portraying him rather as someone who judged all individuals on the merit of their character.
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday."
A common admonition is, "Don't meet your heroes." I don't believe this. Personally, I wish I could share a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle and a couple of aged cigars sitting across from the Duke around the firepit in my backyard. I wish we could share a conversation about his favorite leading lady, Maureen O'Hara, sea stories about his yacht, The Norwester, and what the bloody hell was he thinking taking on the role of Genghis Khan in The Conqueror. I imagine we'd also get around to that Playboy interview. Contrary to learning he had feet of clay, I think I'd be quite relieved that my hero was...human.
“Nobody should come to the movies unless he believes in heroes.”
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