The American hero John Wayne said he’d rather die than play onscreen: “That stupid idiot?”
Everyone knows that John Wayne loved America more than almost any actor, and he loved America more than most people loved anything, to be honest. Even if you didn’t know, just ask the Grammys.
In 1974, ‘The Duke’ made an unexpected foray into the recording arts and ended up with a nomination for ‘Best Spoken Word Album’ for his troubles. What was the album called? America, Why I Love Her, which says it all about the actor’s undying patriotism and devotion to the red, white, and blue.
Wayne projected all-American spirit on the screen for decades, and he tried to uphold its values in his personal life, too, or at least his interpretation of them. Some of his beliefs were contentious then and horribly antiquated now, but few embraced their status as an icon of the United States quite like he did.
However, he drew a career-long line at playing a real-life war hero, although the term ‘hero’ is a lot to unpack in this instance. George Armstrong Custer was one of the most famous figures of the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars, celebrated for his command, bravery, and vital victories in battle.
On the other hand, underestimating the opposition cost him and his troops their lives at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, causing him to be denounced for his arrogance and recklessness. His place in history is a contentious, controversial, and endlessly debated one, but he’s remained fodder for the silver screen.
Dozens of movies and TV shows have been made, either about Custer or featuring him as a character, and having made a few Civil War-era films himself in The Horse Soldiers, The Undefeated, Dark Command, and others, it was almost inevitable that at least one producer would sound out ‘The Duke’ about the role.
Given the crushing nature of Custer’s defeat at Little Bighorn, not to mention the unsavoury elements of his reputation that had calcified as part of his legacy in the time since, it was a no-go. “Custer?” the star once remarked. “That fool, that jerk, that stupid idiot? I wouldn’t be caught dead putting Custer’s story on the screen!”
He did kind of appear in a movie about Custer, though. John Ford’s Fort Apache, and Henry Fonda’s character of Owen Thursday, were clearly inspired by and indebted to the general’s infamous last stand, with Wayne taking top billing as Kirby York, but that’s as close as he got, so he did keep his word.
Like a lot of people, ‘The Duke’ wasn’t the biggest fan of Custer, his exploits, or his place in American history, and he made it perfectly clear that he’d sooner be six feet under than portray him in a picture.
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