The two actors who refused to work with John Wayne: “A real bastard”
Looking down the long line of cinematic legacy, some names stand out more than others. Whether it is the fact that those names are punched onto the figurative parchment with particularly heavy ink or that they shimmer with a gentle joy as one’s finger quizzically drags itself down the page, for one reason or another, some actors become legendary where others fail. This is something John Wayne was all too aware of.
The truth is, you don’t have to be a particularly good actor to be regarded as iconic in a world of icons. While we might hope for our most cherished performers to also be our best, the reality is a little more hazy and some of the most well-known actors in the history of cinema can be not only considered wooden in their profession but splinter-inducing in their personal lives too.
John Wayne is one such actor, and his run of incredibly gifted co-stars who have ended up either on the wrong end of his temper or finding themselves disgusted by his outlook on life was a long one. This, though, is comparatively short when we consider the current outpouring of distrust and disdain held for the man known as ‘The Duke’. During the early days of Hollywood’s mainstream boom, Wayne could be considered one of its icons, despite a lack of truly credible acting talent.
Swaggering with a superhero-like morality, Wayne proceeded to encapsulate a vision of America that it deeply needed to hold on to following the Second World War. But as time went on, and Wayne’s outlook on life, including racial outbursts and an increasingly uncomfortable viewpoint on almost any minority, his star lost its shine, dimming to the point of oblivion. But this wasn’t a particularly new idea.
The co-stars who refused to work with John Wayne
Countless actors struggled to get along with Wayne, and two icons completely rejected the idea of ever working with him again. Considering the size of the steaks that could be cut from this particular cash cow, this was a big decision, but actors like Katharine Hepburn weren’t afraid of making big decisions.
Hepburn was a noted opponent to Wayne’s uber-conservative position in Hollywood. The man who had once set himself up as one of the ringleaders of a gang of individuals known as the House Un-American Activities Committee, hellbent on ridding Hollywood of what he deemed to be communists, was never likely to fall in line with Hepburn’s more liberal outlook on life. She rebuffed his movie advances, turning down Hondo in 1953.
It took two decades for her to finally concede and be a part of his 1975 movie Rooster Cogburn, a picture which would put her off ever working with the western star again. Wayne was his abrasive worst on set, and reportedly said to director Stuart Millar: “God damn it, Stuart, there’s only so many times we can say these awful lines before they stop making any sense at all!”
Hepburn had heard enough and thought Wayne’s descent into an unwanted terror on set was a bad example of being a veteran actor; she exclaimed after filming had closed: “I’m glad I didn’t know you when you had two lungs; you must have been a real bastard. Losing a hip has mellowed me, but you!” Hepburn would refuse to work with Wayne from then on.
Another actor who saw fit to dodge the advances of Wayne was the legendary Charlton Heston. The hero of Ben-Hur and Planet of the Apes was deft at escaping the clutches of Wayne as the actor tried his hand at becoming a director for 1960’s The Alamo. A committed Democrat, a vocal Civil Rights supporter, and an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, Charlton Heston was never going to see eye to eye with John Wayne. By the early 1960s, the distance between them was more than political—it was personal.
“There seemed good reasons for me not to do the film,” Heston later told biographer Michael Munn. When pressed on whether sharing the screen—and the director’s chair—with Wayne had anything to do with it, his answer was pointed in its understatement: “It might be.”
To be considered problematic in a new era is something a large chunk of artists will face in their careers, but to be considered problematic by a huge swathe of your peers and still be thought of as a Hollywood legend proves you don’t have to be a nice guy to be an icon.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out John Wayne Newsletter
All the latest stories about John Wayne from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.