“You had to prove yourself with the Duke”: the actor who called John Wayne a “son of a bitch”
While there was a clear distinction between the person born Marion Morrison and the persona that became John Wayne, the man and the mythology nonetheless became increasingly intertwined the longer the legendary star’s career wore on.
When he first adopted his stage name, the actor hadn’t yet perfected the art of being John Wayne. He got there eventually, of course, with his precision-engineered set of quirks, foibles, and characteristics bringing him to the Hollywood mountaintop, an area he only vacated upon his death.
‘The Duke’ regularly turned down roles because they weren’t in keeping with that persona he’d so painstakingly crafted, and as much as he faced accusations of growing too comfortable and embracing being typecast, it can never be said it wasn’t incredibly advantageous for an extended period of time.
There was Wayne the actor, Wayne the myth, and Wayne the legend, all of which were well and truly one and the same by the 1960s. Now, one of cinema’s elder statesmen, anywhere he went, an instant air of respect was commanded. It wasn’t reciprocated easily, though, with The Duke a hard man to win over.
Younger actors, in particular, regularly felt overawed standing in the presence of such a formidable force both on-camera and off, but the easiest way to get on his good side was to play him at his own game. On the set of Howard Hawks’ 1966 western El Dorado, James Caan knew he had his work cut out for him.
It was only his fourth credited role in a picture, and taking third billing behind Wayne and Robert Mitchum in a genre the former had made his own was a daunting prospect, never mind the fact the production was being steered by one of America’s greatest-ever directors.
Wayne didn’t make it easy for the newcomer, going out of his way to intimidate Caan as a test of sorts to find out whether he was made of strong enough stuff to share the screen with someone of his stature. For all intents and purposes, he passed the test with flying colours, even if he revealed his scene partner wasn’t above a little skullduggery during their downtime.
“I was 27, and this was the Duke,” Caan recalled to Rolling Stone. “You had to prove yourself with the Duke, and then it was OK.” Once he’d proven himself, Wayne began warming to the rising star, but not so much that he’d play by the rules.
“He taught me to play chess,” Caan added. “And the son of a bitch always cheated.”
Getting on Wayne’s good side was a very different thing to being allowed to beat him at chess, clearly, but Caan didn’t want to argue and call him out for his underhanded tactics on the board, even if he knew fine well he’d have the icon’s number if it was a fair match.
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