John Wayne _ The Man Behind the Myth - Michael Munn [182]
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JOHN WAYNE
they used to, and the ones he read he detested. I told him, ‘Duke, put your feet up and take a break.’ He said, ‘I am taking a break. I’ve got no choice.’ ”
But Wayne wasn’t as well as he looked. He went into the hospital in December 1976 to have corrective surgery on his prostate gland, which, fortunately, was only a minor operation. But what had still gone undetected was a problem with a mitral valve in his heart. And he was still prone to terrible coughing fits.
With no films on offer, he accepted a series of TV commercials extolling the virtues of a substitute aspirin substance called Datril, produced by the Bristol-Myers Company. It was the six-figure sum they offered him that persuaded him to do it, and since he was allowed to make suggestions, he said the first commercial should be shot in Monument Valley.
“He felt he had lost his way,” said Claire Trevor. “He had been the biggest film star in the world, and he was humiliated by having to make money doing TV commercials. But he never gave up hope that he’d work again. In fact, he had a script that was being worked on called Beau John, and he wanted Ron Howard to be in it with him.
But as time went on, his health deteriorated, and still he made plans to make his film.”
In 1977, Howard Hawks died. At the funeral, it was Duke who delivered the eulogy.
Throughout 1977 his only film work was making TV commercials for the Great Western Savings and Loan Association. As the year went by, his voice grew weak. Thinking he simply had bronchitis, he checked into a local hospital in February 1978. His problem, they discovered, was the faulty mitral valve. In March, he flew to Boston to have the valve replaced with a valve from a pig’s heart. The operation lasted twelve hours, during which time his heart was literally removed and his life maintained by a pump.
It was a major operation for anyone, let alone a man of seventy with one lung. During Wayne’s three-week stay in the hospital, Bob Hope delivered a message from the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony, saying, “We want you to know, Duke, we miss you tonight. We expect you to amble out here in person next year, because there is no one who can fill John Wayne’s boots.”
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THE ABSOLUTE ALL-TIME MOVIE STAR
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“That message from Bob,” said Claire Trevor, “made Duke determined he would be there the following year.” Speaking after Duke’s death, Claire said, “When he was in hospital to have that pig valve put in his heart, none of us who loved him dared to believe he wouldn’t come out of that hospital alive. But I know in my heart of hearts, I feared the worst. So when he did come out it seemed like a miracle. He was definitely looking older and thinner, but we all thought he’d put weight back on and be back to his old self. We all felt better when he joked, ‘Now I can oink with the best of them.’ But Duke later told me he was scared because he had always feared the cancer would return, and every time he was unwell, and especially when he had to go to the hospital for his prostate and then for his heart, he was truly scared it was cancer.
“He lived with that fear probably every day for the two years left of his life, but he never let it show except to those closest to him.”
Not all of those closest to him seemed to be aware how afraid he was— or they simply didn’t want others knowing. Such as Andy McLaglen. Shortly after Duke had returned home from the hospital, I met McLaglen and his daughter Mary at Pinewood Studios. Over lunch, most of the conversation was about Wayne.
“He looks thin, but I’m sure he’s in pretty good shape,” McLaglen said optimistically. “Duke is Mary’s godfather, and even though we might go months without communicating—because he lives in Newport and I’m in Europe a lot—we are very, very close.
“When he was in Boston having his heart operation, I decided to go back and see him. The first day after the operation