John Wayne was well-known for his robust and gristly persona on and off-screen, not holding again on what he actually considered friends he clashed with.
He lambasted Crimson River co-star Montgomery Clift as “an boastful little bas**rd” and blasted Gene Hackman as “one of many worst actors in Hollywood.”
Duke was a part of a conservative interior circle that included his long-time collaborator John Ford and it seems Wayne’s exceptionally impolite dismissal of a Gone with the Wind star was rooted in a feud with the director.
Again in 1953, Clark Gable – lead of Gone with the Wind which is on Channel 5 right now – starred reverse Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly in Ford’s romantic journey Mogambo.
The director was a notoriously bad-tempered character who usually humiliated and baited his forged to get higher performances out of them.
In the course of the African manufacturing, he would make remarks about Gable’s age and weathered look. The actor even walked off set in protest of the filmmaker’s therapy of Gardner. The scene of the latter being pushed right into a mud pool by a child elephant was solely captured as a result of Ford ignored the actress’ cries for assist as he inspired the crew to maintain capturing.
In keeping with Turner Basic Motion pictures: “Gable and Ford had recognized one another for years, however their personalities clashed when working collectively. Ford misplaced endurance with what he thought had been Gable’s pointless requests for retakes and by the top of the capturing Ford and Gable weren’t even talking to one another. And so they by no means labored collectively once more.”
Wayne’s daughter has beforehand shared particularly why this grated on her father. In her ebook John Wayne: My Father, Aissa wrote: “In the course of the filming of Mogambo, Ford and Gable had clashed time and again and the next feud had simmered for years. In my father’s mind-set, disloyalty to allies, assist in any vogue for his or her enemies, was expressly forbidden. If Clark Gable took on John Ford, my father’s code demanded that John Wayne stand by his previous pal.”
On account of his loyalty to Ford, Duke made some extraordinarily impolite feedback about Gable: “[He’s] extraordinarily good-looking in particular person. That’s one man that doesn’t want Hollywood to make him look good. However Gable’s an fool. You understand why Gable’s an actor? It’s the one factor he’s good sufficient to do.”
His daughter additionally shared why her father thought the Gone with the Wind star wouldn’t be capable of have one other profession exterior of appearing.
Wayne noticed himself as extra of a star than an actor, which was in distinction to Gable’s view of being a thespian.
Duke stated: “I don’t act in any respect, I react. In a nasty image, you see them appearing all over. In a superb image, they react in a logical solution to a scenario they’re in, so the viewers can establish with them. All I do is promote sincerity, and I’ve been promoting the hell out of that since I began. I used to be by no means one of many little theatre boys. That arty crowd has solely floor brilliance anyway. Actual artwork is primary emotion. If a scene is dealt with with simplicity – and I don’t imply easy – it’ll be good and the general public will comprehend it.”