The female actors John Wayne worshipped: “My kind of woman”
As an actor who built their entire persona on the back of oozing masculinity, John Wayne showering his female co-stars, colleagues, or contemporaries with high praise was hardly a regular occurrence during a career spent presenting himself as the manliest man on celluloid.
After all, ‘The Duke’ operated under the mindset that there were certain jobs on a production that women either weren’t qualified to carry out or shouldn’t have in the first place, so his personal views were hardly a bastion of progressiveness, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given some of his more unsavoury perspectives.
By extension, the face of the ‘Golden Age’ western was very rarely found falling over himself to celebrate the merits of the women he shared the screen with or travelled in the same circle as, but as always tends to be the case, there were several notable exceptions to the rule.
One of his favourite female performers was Elizabeth Taylor, and the feeling was mutual. The two-time Academy Award winner once described ‘The Duke’ as “tough as an old nut and as soft as a yellow ribbon,” making her one of the rare stars to see the softer side of cinema’s most stoic and rugged leading man.
They never shared the screen together in a film, but Wayne did front a segment of the television special All-Star Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, which aired in December 1977. The telethon was used to raise money to build a new wing at a children’s hospital, and ‘The Duke’ was quick to answer the call when his close friend reached out to gauge his interest in lending an assist.
Another of Wayne’s favourite women in Tinseltown was Katharine Hepburn, even though she called him a bastard. The pair co-starred in the sequel to Oscar-winning western True Grit, but the insults between the Rooster Cogburn sparring partners were made in jest after she passed comment on his penchant for losing his temper on set and making director Stuart Millar’s life a misery.
Part of Wayne’s admiration for Hepburn stemmed from the fact that she never seemed intimidated by him. At a time when many actors deferred to Wayne’s towering presence on set, Hepburn treated him like any other colleague, happily firing insults back at him and refusing to indulge his ego. That dynamic created a genuine sense of chemistry between the pair in Rooster Cogburn, with their constant bickering becoming one of the film’s greatest strengths.
Wayne also respected performers who could match his professionalism. Whatever his personal politics or outdated attitudes may have been, he took moviemaking seriously and expected the same commitment from those around him. O’Hara, Taylor and Hepburn each possessed a confidence and resilience that appealed to him, which perhaps explains why they stood apart from many of the other actresses he worked with throughout his career. Even someone as notoriously stubborn as Wayne seemed to appreciate people who were capable of standing their ground against him.
None of them can hold a candle to the real apple of Wayne’s eye, however, and the actor he called his only female friend. Over the course of a working relationship that spanned more than two decades, ‘The Duke’ and Maureen O’Hara shared the screen in Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, McLintock!, and Big Jake.
Their chemistry was palpable, and one of the reasons why they worked together was because O’Hara was much more than another co-star for Wayne; she was a member of his inner circle when the cameras weren’t rolling, too. “She’s big, lusty, and absolutely marvellous,” he said. “Definitely my kind of woman. She’s a great guy. I’ve had many friends and I prefer the company of men. Except for Maureen O’Hara.”
By the process of elimination, that puts O’Hara right at the top, with Taylor and Hepburn rounding out Wayne’s trio of all-time favourite female actors.
John Wayne’s favourite female actors:
- Maureen O’Hara
- Katharine Hepburn
- Elizabeth Taylor
