Who was JOHN WAYNE'S lifelong BUDDY AND BEST MAN, Ward Bond? A look into the great character actor and best friend of JOHN WAYNE, WARD BOND. How the friendship they shared was on a special level!
Did John Wayne know he was dying while shooting the Shootist?
It is unknown if John Wayne was aware that he was dying of cancer when he agreed to film The Shootist; whatever the case, the film is a powerful valedictory to a remarkable man and a fabulous career.
In an interview with Patrick McGilligan (as featured in the 1999 book "Clint Eastwood: Interviews"), Eastwood acknowledged that while he liked John Wayne as a young man ("depending on the film"), his favorite actor was James Cagney.
Roxanne Tunis and Clint Eastwood were involved in a 14-year-long romantic relationship while both were married to different people. She is considered 'one of Clint Eastwood's true loves', they were in a relationship from 1959 to 1973. It is also said that Eastwood is devastated currently after her demise.
Following The Shootist, he planned to star in a new film with Ron Howard called Beau John, but health problems intervened. In January of 1979, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, which led to his death in June of the same year.
John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart were friends to the end. “As a friend, well, you just wouldn't want a better one... He portrayed on screen the values he lived off screen.
Eastwood's film High Plains Drifter was criticized by Wayne for its dark and satanic depiction of the Old West, which went against Wayne's traditional view of Western protagonists.
Tom Mix. Tom Mix was a real-life cowboy and rodeo performer before he became an actor. He was one of the biggest stars of the silent film era, and his westerns were some of the most popular of the time.
Wayne never enlisted and even filed for a 3-A draft deferment, which meant that if the sole provider for a family of four were drafted, it would cause his family undue hardship. The closest he ever came to World War II service was portraying the actions of others on the silver screen.
This is the same gravesite as some other incredible artists from over the years - including basketball player Kobe Bryant and singer Bobby Hatfield. Before his death, Wayne requested his gravestone have the words "Feo, Fuerte y Formal" etched on it - a Spanish epitaph which means "ugly, strong, and dignified".
Henry Fonda and James Stewart were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood for forty years. They became friends and then roommates as stage actors in New York, and when they began making films in Hollywood, they roomed together again.
Prior to their relationship, Eastwood had been married twice; to model Maggie Johnson from 1953 to 1987 and to news anchor Dina Ruiz from 1996 to 2004.
