A fire and a circus: The movie that almost killed John Wayne
The tough guy image was almost impossible for the actor John Wayne to shake off. In truth, one would imagine he rarely attempted to. His willingness to cast himself as the all-American hero is what made him an icon of cinema for decades. Whether in his usual comfortable cowboy boots or donning the helmet of a military man, Wayne usually had his roles positioned towards stern heroics and unshakable valour.
However, despite a litany of performances that posited he was America’s ultimate knight in shining armour, like everybody else, Waybne the actor was not infallible. Succumbing to lung cancer, which many believe to be linked to his most disastrous role, Wayne also escaped another near-death experience while on set.
Sharing a set with John Wayne often meant trouble. The actor was known for being somewhat of a bruiser with his acting partners and the crew. Unwilling to compromise or diminish what he believed to be a valiant cause — making movies — Wayne was a near-unstoppable force. While disagreeable to most ears, there is a good argument that Wayne had earned his somewhat gorilla-like demeanour.
Not only was the actor considered one of the biggest box office draws of the era, but he had also climb a long and lonely mountain in order to do so. With dozens of movies under his belt and a penchant for completing his own stunts, Wayne operated as a bulldozer of a performer under the studio lights. However, one role, and one stunt, almost cost Wayne his life.
Circus World isn’t often considered one of Wayne’s finest efforts, but his turn as Matt Masters, taking his travelling circus show to disappointing event after disappointing event, left a mark on Wayne’s life he would never forget. The picture shows Masters taking his circus to Europe in a thinly veiled attempt to recover his financial situation and woo his old flame, Lili Alfredo, played by Rita Hayworth.
The script had several big moments that required massive sets. Firstly, Masters’ circus equipment is sunk in the ocean following a shipwreck. Finally, the film concludes with a huge pyrotechnic scene where Masters is trapped in his tent and surrounded by flames. Our hero is forced to save his caged animals and his audience by chopping through the tent poles and seating.
It’s a tense piece of cinema that would have seen directors, by today’s standards, have never even considered endangering their star. However, Wayne was convinced that he should be the one to complete the stunt.
“For five straight days, my father ate smoke from artificial fires and real fires, set and put out and set again.,” Aissa Wayne, the star’s daughter, wrote in her book John Wayne: My Father. “‘I’ll be fine,’ he promised my mother each night. ‘Once the fire scene is finished, I’ll be fine. This is what they pay me for.'”
However, the movie almost cost Wayne his life. “An unexpected breeze fanned the blaze even closer to his turned back,” his daughter wrote. “Fragments of glowing wood swirling around him, he kept swinging his axe through the black smoke rather than do the dangerous take again. He could not see that everyone else had fled, including Henry Hathaway, his director, as the fire exceeded their control.”
The situation was more than dangerous but while Wayne struggled to see through the smoke, the rest of the crew had assumed he had already made his way out of the scene. Aissa Wayne explained: “Assuming John Wayne would run, too, no one screamed ‘Cut!’ and my father stayed where he was, he and the fire until he could not withstand the smoke and heat. Seeing that he was alone, he angrily hucked down his axe and raced from the blistering tent.”
Wayne wouldn’t die in a tragic on-set accident, but he would be forever marred by the experience, enduring a vicious cough for the rest of his life.
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