John Wayne _ The Man Behind the Myth - Michael Munn [64]
Wake of the Red Witch was a sort of cross between Reap the Wild Wind and Wuthering Heights, with Wayne purposely wrecking ships, losing the love of his life to another man, holding her in his 21184_ch01.qxd 12/18/03 1:43 PM Page 119
STARDOM AT LAST
119
arms when she dies, and then losing his life when he dives to the wreck of the Red Witch. It’s even got a giant octopus.
Although Wayne did not produce Wake of the Red Witch, he still had the power to approve the casting, and he gave the role of ship’s mate to Paul Fix, and the role of the girl he loves to Gail Russell. He also found a small role for Grant Withers. The film’s director, Edward Ludwig, and the producer, Edmund Grainger, chose Gig Young to play Wayne’s good-natured partner.
Gig Young told me in 1970, “It was one of those quick, relatively cheap action films Republic specialized in, although I think they thought they were making an epic by their standards. I didn’t develop any great particular bond with Wayne as he was already surrounded by many of his friends like Fix and Withers, and of course Gail.
“Now Gail was absolutely perfect for that part because she had such a fragile quality. Well, she was fragile, very nervous, and unsure of herself, and I admired the way Wayne nurtured her and was very protective of her. I asked Paul Fix if there was anything going on between Wayne and Gail, and he said there wasn’t. But I do know that Wayne’s Mexican wife thought there was, and she gave Wayne hell about it.”
As his marriage was falling apart, Duke’s relationship with Josephine had improved, and he often stopped by at her house to see her and the children. He was impressed with the dignity she displayed. “She never criticized me for what had happened between us,” Wayne said. “And she never made any attempt to make the children hate me. I came to realize that it was me who destroyed our marriage. I was much too selfish. But I believe I got along better with my children after the divorce. I wanted to do what was right by them.”
Patrick Wayne recalled, “We were able to see our father a lot. We were really just crazy about him. He instilled in us all an appreciation for hard work and other good solid values which his own father had instilled in him.”
Fort Apache opened in March 1948 and did well. Then came Red River in July which took a whopping $4.5 million at the domestic box office, a sizable sum for 1948. In fact, in 1983, an inflation-adjusted 21184_ch01.qxd 12/18/03 1:43 PM Page 120
120
JOHN WAYNE
list based on Variety’s All-Time Western Champs put Red River at number eleven.
Three Godfathers and Wake of the Red Witch both followed in December, giving Wayne four films released in one year. They were all crowd pleasers but, of them all, it was Red River that really put John Wayne on the map. It took everyone in the business and the media by surprise. Ben Johnson, who had a small role in Three Godfathers and would become a regular in Wayne’s films and a lifelong friend, remembered, “There was John Ford, putting Duke into secondary roles and telling him what a lousy actor he was, and all of a sudden, the critics were raving about Duke’s performance in Red River. People were suddenly asking, why was it that John Wayne had been in the business for two decades and that instead of going into decline, he had suddenly become a major attraction?
“Ford suddenly comes up with the answer which he claims he knew all along. He said, ‘Duke is the best actor in Hollywood, that’s why.’ He suddenly puts Duke into the starring role in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon which again proved that Duke was a really fine actor.
I can tell you that the reason he had been so successful, and became even more successful, was because he was the hardest-working actor I ever knew. He worked damned hard to prove himself.
“But still, even