Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne starred in three classic film together, and formed a lifelong friendship. The letter is written on Stewart's personal headed stationery. Although undated, it's believed Stewart sent this letter to Wayne on his birthday in May 1979.
Ernie Saftig was one of John Wayne's longest and closest friends. Ernie was there for many big life events including when Duke met his wife, Pilar, acquiring the Wild Goose, filming the Alamo, and raising their children together. Today, we have the pleasure of sitting down with Ernie's son, Tom Saftig.
Caan declared: “He knew what he was doing, he was having a good time at my expense!” From then on they became good pals who would go out of their way to try and screw each other's scenes up. The Mississippi actor remembered putting off Wayne by mouthing “You snake!” at Duke, which made him laugh.
None of John Wayne's show-business friendships were as enduring, or as entertaining, as the kinship he forged with two men he met around the same time—character actor Ward Bond and director John Ford.
John Wayne and Clint Eastwood never shared the screen in a Western film due to an off-screen feud initiated by Wayne, who did not hold favorable opinions of Eastwood.
Ward Bond. From their days on the gridiron at USC to the sets of John Ford films, John Wayne and Ward Bond were destined to become the best of friends.
In fact, Wayne's most beloved co-star wasn't even a human being but was, in fact, a horse by the name of Dollor. Dollor starred with Wayne in each of his final movies, beginning with 1971's Big Jake and ending with his final ever film appearance in The Shootist by Don Siegel, released in 1976.
They followed this up with the 1965 western The Sons of Katie Elder, playing two brothers in the flick. And after these two films, the pair became close, and it led to Wayne once roasting Martin in a speech.
John Ford gave Wayne another career break in 1939 by casting him as the Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach," thus rescuing the actor from a life in serials and cheap action pictures. The role propelled Wayne into the top ranks of box-office stars and during the 1940s his legend began to take shape.
Besides being good friends Wayne and Mitchum were both known for being able to drink just about anyone else in the film business under the table and still report to work in the morning, lines letter perfect.
Although the cowboy genre made him a household name, he had several important non-Western roles including Pittsburgh with Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne, Go West, Young Man with Mae West, and even musicals such as Roberta' and Follow the Fleet with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
John Wayne Rode His Own Horse Named Dollar in 7 Movies - IMDb. Western movie star John Wayne frequently rode a horse to complete his cowboy image. However, he grew an affinity for one animal in particular. Wayne went out of his way to ensure that he could ride the same horse named Dollar across seven of his movies.
A controversial school of thought suggests they never actually met. The public wanted to believe the romantic notion of the famous lawman meeting the young Western actor, but it was also claimed Wayne learned about Earp's life second-hand from Ford and not in person.
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".
"A big mouth don't make a big man." 10. "I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either."
The cold reality is that he studiously avoided military service. He decided that his career was a higher priority. It was a decision that would haunt him the rest of his life and would damage his relationships with some of his friends, most notably his principal mentor, film director John Ford.
