The Times - Arch Duke

Nearly three decades dead, but John Wayne remains larger than life Was there ever a US citizen who more persuasively bottled the bold, brash, bullish spirit of America than John Wayne?

So much larger than just another movie star, Wayne – unashamedly conservative and patriotic – became the embodiment of American values and ideals. He looked like he was born in a saddle and wore leather chaps when other babies were swaddled in romper suits. He was a man who seemed so headstrong and so invincible, both on and off screen, that many might be jolted to discover that he hasn’t survived to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday today.

Although known for his laconic dialogue (his advice to actors was: “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t talk too much”), and for a forward-leaning gait which made it look like he was being pulled forward by two invisible strings attached to his shoulders, Wayne also established himself as a fount of folksy, frontiersman wisdom that resonated with a nation bruised by such setbacks as Vietnam. “Courage,” he said in his five-packs-a-day growl, “is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway” – not that he himself ever wore a US army uniform that hadn’t been given to him by a Hollywood wardrobe hand.

Late in life, Wayne summarised his can-do philosophy as: “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.” To Wayne, life didn’t need fancy frills: “If everything isn’t black and white. I say, ‘Why the hell not?’ ” Stalin wanted him killed. Emperor Hirohito made sure he met him when he visited America in 1975. Wayne famously drawled: “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” Today what a man’s gotta do is, surely, tip his hat to “The Duke”.

I never liked him much.

Date: May 26th, 2007 · Comments RSS · Tags: Entertainment