John Wayne _ The Man Behind the Myth - Michael Munn [138]
It’ll kill Duke.’ I said, ‘You think I’d let Duke get killed making this picture? He’ll do it himself.’ Then Duke started up with ‘I don’t think I can do the scene, Henry,’ so I said, ‘Duke, you gonna be a baby now? Afraid of a little cold water?’ I kind of shamed him into doing the scene, and people think I was cruel.
“I knew it was hell for him to do because that water was freezing, but Duke fell into the water like he was supposed to, and he got soaked and frozen through, and when we stopped, he finally climbed out of the water and he had to have oxygen. I knew how hard it was on him. I knew he was suffering. And everyone hated me and thought I was the devil for making him do it. His wife hated me. The other actors hated me. But Duke didn’t. He told me, ‘I thought I was gonna die in that water, but I didn’t. Now I know I can do anything.’
“You watch that picture and what do you see? The same John Wayne he was before the cancer. He knew he had to go on and show the public he hadn’t changed. And here we are, ten years later, talking about a man who beat the odds and, as far as the public is concerned, is as tough and strong as he ever was. He’s not getting any younger, for God’s sake, but he’s still working and pleasing his fans, which I think is the second most important thing in his life. The first most important thing is his family. But even they come second to his work sometimes, and that’s because he’s working for his family. He’s got Michael working as a producer, and Patrick has done well as an actor, but he really gets most of his work with his father. He’s got a son-in-law running his business affairs, and so the boys in his family really kind of need him to keep working. I’m not sure the ladies feel the same . . . but then women don’t feel the same as men about these things.
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“And apart from his family, he’s got a whole load of other people working for him on a regular basis. It was never a problem for me because I made hundreds of films without Duke and I don’t need him. But a lot of other people do need him. He doesn’t want to let those people down. So Duke’ll keep working till he drops, I guarantee it.”
In 1965 Wayne had two films in cinemas. The first was In Harm’s Way, which should have been better than it was, but was nevertheless good enough to do reasonably well at the box office. Audiences were naturally drawn to it by Wayne’s presence more than anything else, especially now that everyone knew that Duke had licked the Big C.
Then came The Sons of Katie Elder, which earned a respectable $12
million worldwide. The two films kept Wayne in the top ten American box-office stars, where he would remain for the next four years.
Early in 1965, Duke surprised his family by announcing he wanted to move out of Encino and live at Newport Beach. And in May 1965, the Waynes left Los Angeles behind and moved into their new home at Newport.
Wayne told me, “I love Newport . . . walking around the bay early in the morning . . . driving to the local store . . . it’s a slower kind of life there than in Hollywood.”
Claire Trevor thought that it did Duke a lot of good moving to Newport Beach. She said, “He loved the water and he loved his Wild Goose, and so it was perfect for him. I live nearby so me and my husband [Milton Bren] saw a lot of Pilar and Duke. I think Pilar was relieved that there wasn’t the endless stream of Duke’s old drinking friends passing through all the time.
“But even back then I could sense that Pilar and Duke were growing apart. He still wanted to keep working more than he had to.
So Pilar had to find other interests. There was her charity work, and she joined a tennis club. When Duke’s not working, he often spent time playing chess or cards at the Big Canyon Country Club.
“I tried talking to Duke sometimes. I’d tell him that Pilar wasn’t happy just to be Mrs. John Wayne, and he’d say, ‘Hell, Claire, I don’t know what to say. I’m a movie actor, and