John Wayne _ The Man Behind the Myth - Michael Munn [45]
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JOHN WAYNE
James Stewart was an exception. He joined the air force and risked his life in thirty bombing raids, rising to the rank of colonel and emerging as a brigadier general. Clark Gable enlisted in the army air force in a state of grief after he lost his wife Carole Lombard in an airplane crash during a tour to raise war bonds. His job, like the Hollywood directors’, was to film actual combat, and this he did from American bombers in action, earning himself the rank of major.
Because Wayne had four children, he was exempt from the draft, but that wouldn’t have prevented him from enlisting if he’d volunteered. So why did he stay out of uniform? Wayne insisted that he did try to enlist but was rejected because he was unfit due to the old shoulder injury, a chronic inner-ear problem from working underwater for so long when making Reap the Wild Wind, and a bad back from doing so many of his own stunts.
Another reason given was that Herbert Yates, knowing that Reap the Wild Wind was going to make Wayne a bigger star at his studio—
in fact, the only big star at his studio—refused to release him from his contract. All the other stars who enlisted had to have approval from their studios.
Henry Hathaway, who was never one for diplomacy, said,
“Frankly, I think the excuse that he didn’t enlist because of a shoulder injury was a story the studio put out to justify their own reasons for keeping Wayne to his contract and preventing him from enlisting. I think, knowing Duke as I have for a long time, he would have enlisted if he were able.”
George Sherman said, “It frustrated Duke like hell that he couldn’t join up. Despite his screen image of being a tough guy who couldn’t be beaten in a fistfight, he was, by 1941, in pretty bad shape. There were times around 1939 when we were working and he’d do a stunt and really hurt himself. His back had taken so much beating that he suffered for many years, but he never complained about it and still insisted on doing many of his own stunts. In the end, I was one of a number of people who said to him that he could serve his country best by making films to boost public morale. And that’s what he did.
But I know he felt tremendous guilt about not serving. It’s plagued him all his life.”
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THE WAR YEARS
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To try to feel useful, Wayne became an air-raid warden in Los Angeles alongside Ward Bond. But that didn’t ease his conscience because Los Angeles was never bombed. While John Ford was away in service, Wayne and Bond made regular visits to the Ford house to keep Mary company.
In March 1942, Reap the Wild Wind opened to good reviews and even better business. The film was, in Hollywood terms, a blockbuster, and although Wayne was billed second after Ray Milland, it was enough to inspire Wayne to write to DeMille, saying, “My appearance in Reap the Wild Wind was the highlight of my career.”
Shortly after The Spoilers was released in April 1942, Wayne and Josephine finally separated and he moved in for a while with Paul Fix. Said Fix, “It was very painful for Duke to leave his kids. He felt terribly guilty about not being there for them that I think it nearly killed him, he drank so much to ease the pain.”
When the separation was made public, Wayne told reporters, “I didn’t really do anything wrong except stay away from home too much maybe. I was working so damn hard, and I thought I was doing the right thing then. Jo and I just drifted apart.”
Wayne was back at Republic making another Western, In Old California. He played a pharmacist and based his character on his father. It was a big-budget film by Republic’s standards, but it offered little excitement, and Wayne’s enthusiasm for the film was minimal. It didn’t help that he wanted to