John Wayne and John Ford worked together on numerous classic Westerns, but the film that catapulted Duke to stardom was 1939’s Stagecoach.
Set in 1880, the story centers on a group of strangers traveling through perilous Apache territory, in a film Orson Welles considered a masterclass in filmmaking.
Stagecoach also featured Wayne wearing the iconic hat he donned in many of his Westerns, until he retired it two decades later, following the filming of Rio Bravo, simply because it was “falling apart”. The 1939 film marked a pivotal moment in Duke’s career, when director Ford finally cast him in one of his productions as the Ringo Kid.
Upon receiving the offer, Wayne felt as though he had been “hit in the belly with a baseball bat” and worried the filmmaker might reconsider and select Lloyd Nolan instead. Yet Ford kept his promise, though he had to vigorously persuade producer Walter Wanger, who repeatedly rejected Wayne as a B-movie actor and preferred Gary Cooper for the role, the Express reports.
Ultimately, Wanger relented since the director refused to proceed with the film otherwise.
Despite this, Ford subjected Duke and his fellow cast members to harsh treatment on the set of what would become his first Western of the sound era. The filmmaker had a reputation for intimidating his actors, partly to elicit superior performances.
During the filming of Stagecoach, he lashed out at Buck actor Andy Devine in an angry tirade, declaring: “You big tub of lard! I don’t know why the hell I’m using you in this picture!” The star responded: “Because Ward Bond can’t drive six horses.”
Ford also confronted Doc Boone actor Thomas Mitchell, who fired back with a sharp reference to one of the director’s recent failures: “Just remember: I saw Mary of Scotland!”
However, Ford’s most severe mistreatment was reserved for Wayne, whom he would call “a big oaf and dumb b—–d.”
Ford relentlessly criticized Wayne’s line delivery, his gait, and even the way he washed his face on camera. According to Dallas star Claire Trevor, the director once seized Duke by the chin and rattled him, declaring: “Why are you moving your mouth so much? Don’t you know you don’t act with your mouth in pictures? You act with your eyes.”
The filmmaker’s harsh treatment of actors to extract superior performances persisted throughout his career, with some performers actually abandoning the set.
Nevertheless, Wayne put up with it largely because he recognized deep down that Ford had transformed him into a star with Stagecoach.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
