“He was so awful”: how John Wayne made one director’s life a living hell
Being one of the biggest and most bankable stars in the business gave John Wayne plenty of input on a number of his projects, which didn’t always work out in the best interest of the director.
The key to forging a winning creative partnership with ‘The Duke’ was to earn his respect, which is why so many of his most memorable movies came at the hand of John Ford and Henry Hathaway, two filmmakers he treated as friends and equals, but weren’t above putting the actor in his place if need be.
For untried, untested, or unproven directors, Wayne could often come across as a prickly presence. After all, he’d reached the summit of the industry in the late 1930s and stayed there for the remainder of his career, so it was impossible to argue with his experience level or know-how on what it took to make a successful picture.
The Shootist will forever be etched into the history books as Wayne’s final contribution to the world of cinema, and the icon was fully aware he was approaching his twilight years. He’d already beaten cancer once before, but his health never truly recovered, and he ultimately passed away from the disease less than three years after his last film was released.
As part of his contract, Wayne exerted a heavy influence over The Shootist, with his deal including script and cast approval. As a result, ‘The Duke’ altered the ending to ensure he didn’t shoot a man in the back, while several former co-stars, including Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Richard Boone, and John Carradine, were drafted in to lend support.
Bacall and Wayne had worked together once before on 1955’s Blood Alley, and while she fondly remembers her own experience, she couldn’t say the same about how Siegel was treated. “Duke Wayne and I got along really well, considering that we didn’t agree about anything,” she told Alex Simon. “It was quite amazing. He was great to work with. He really liked me, and I really liked him.”
Even though Siegel was a known quantity who’d helmed Elvis Presley’s Falling Star, Steve McQueen’s Hell Is for Heroes, and Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, to name but three by that point, Bacall revealed that Wayne wasn’t impressed in the slightest by the director’s credentials or technical proficiency.
“We had great chemistry together, but he was so awful to Don Siegel,” she explained. “He kept saying things like, ‘You call this a setup? What kind of director are you?’ Duke wanted to direct the movie. He was difficult, boy. And Don Siegel was a wonderful director. I like the movie a lot, and after all, Duke was a dying man making that movie. It was quite an experience.”
Technically, Wayne wasn’t terminally ill during the making of The Shootist, but he knew as well as anyone that his health was never going to get any better. Each new picture could have been his last, and that desire to go out on a high note manifested through The Duke making life miserable for Siegel by belittling his abilities and criticising his work and trying to shoehorn his way into an unofficial co-directing credit.
