The Oscar nominee John Wayne thought “lost his audience”
John Wayne was never one to phone in any of his performances. Throughout every era of his career, the acting legend was known to put everything he had into playing the hardened American badass, whether that was going to bat against those on the wrong side of the law or going after someone who had wronged him. Although Wayne may have known how to get audiences into seats in movie theatres, he was just as savvy to know when an actor had destroyed their career.
Then again, Wayne knew he never needed to change his traditional style that often. Even when his contemporaries like Clint Eastwood began making waves around the same time in films like Dirty Harry, Wayne knew that he could work his magic throughout every movie he starred in.
As Wayne started to gain some experience working with industry types, he remembered feeling sorry for the career of Robert Montgomery. An early influence on Wayne, Montgomery was known as a fixture of the comedic circuit, working in films such as Private Lives and When Ladies Meet.
Although Montgomery never shied away from dramas at the time, it was never his strong suit to appear as the hardened man onscreen, instead favouring the roles that he knew fans would love him for. While he may have had a stable career throughout the 1930s, Wayne felt a sudden shift happen in his idol’s career when working on the movie Night Flight.
Telling the story of pilots flying various mail routes throughout South America, Montgomery starred as Augustes Pellerine, who had been stricken with infantile paralysis before conquering his fear at a later age. While the film may have been applauded by critics in its time and contained a phenomenal cast with the likes of Clark Gable, Wayne thought this was the beginning of the end of Montgomery’s career.
Despite being nominated for an Oscar, Wayne thought Montgomery had forever tarnished his reputation, recalling in John Wayne: The Life and Legend, “He lost his audience. He was wonderful in the film, but he fooled the people who had been going to his movies because he was ‘a nice, bright young kid.’ Suddenly they said, ‘No, he’s a dirty, miserable killer, a maniac.’ Audiences become accustomed to you as an actor as they would a friend, and … you can surprise them, but you can’t fool them”.
While Wayne may have liked the idea of his contemporaries staying in their lane, he wasn’t prone to making a few inroads into other genres. Throughout his time onscreen, Wayne didn’t always have the reputation of the hardened badass, either, working in the comedy world and even dipping his toes into musicals on projects like Words and Music before finding his true calling.
Rather than the dramatic push into dramatic roles like Montgomery, Wayne knew how to balance the roles he played throughout his acting career, gently toeing the line to keep in the good graces of his audiences. It might be interesting for actors to show viewers a different side of themselves, but Wayne always knew the difference of making a dramatic pivot too soon.
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