The Man Behind The Cowboy: 23 Little-Known Facts About John Wayne

Ladies’ Man

John Wayne’s on-screen persona opposite his cinematic love interests was often shy, bordering on awkward. But when the cameras stopped rolling, Wayne was actually a brazen womanizer. He was married three times and had a total of seven children, but none of his marriages went particularly well. He was consistently and flagrantly unfaithful to all three wives, having long and public affairs with some of the most famous women in Hollywood, most notably Marlene Dietrich and Joanne Woodward.
“Daddy, Get Me That”

Iconic German actress Marlene Dietrich was famous for her beauty, intelligence, and skill in knowing – and getting – exactly what she wanted. When she saw John Wayne for the first time at the Universal commissary, she is said to have nudged her agent and said, “Daddy, get me that.” She was at the height of her popularity when it came time to cast for Seven Sinners, and she demanded that John Wayne play the leading man, setting off their famous three-year affair.
More Than Just Romance

Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne would go on to star in two more movies together, The Spoilers and Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, their affair carried on and intensified, as John fell head over heels for the fascinating actress. More than just a romantic affair, the two became the best of friends, bonding over their shared love of making films and enjoying many of the same hobbies together. They also appeared in public often as co-stars, but this was enough to get people talking and the affair became public.
The Toxic Film Set

In 1956, Howard Hughes made a movie called The Conquerer, starring Wayne as Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan. This was a case in which the filming location might have ended up being more treacherous than a real battlefield. The film was shot in Utah, right near a nuclear weapon test site, exposing the cast and crew to fallout. In 1981, People magazine noted that out of the film’s 220 cast and crew members, 91 had developed cancer and 46 of them had passed away, including John Wayne himself.
“He Had The Magic”

Through his many years of tumultuous romantic affairs, Wayne made no secret of his long love affair with film star, Maureen O’Hara. The two first met at a dinner party at the home of director John Ford in 1941, and O’Hara recalls being instantly taken with the actor. “Wayne would have to sing for his supper which caused great merriment because he couldn’t sing,” Maureen recalled. Despite the humiliation, she claims, “He had credibility. He had manliness. He had the magic.”
Tough Enough For Wayne

It wasn’t only Wayne who found an admirer in O’Hara – the feeling was clearly mutual. The pair’s chemistry read well on the screen, as the pair made five movies together including the classic The Quiet Man. The fiery O’Hara proved a worthy foil to John Wayne’s forceful presence. “I was the only leading lady big enough and tough enough for John Wayne,” she wrote in her memoir. “Duke’s presence was so strong that when audiences saw him finally meet a woman of equal…fire, it was exciting and thrilling.”
His First Wife Tried To ѕһoot Him

Of John Wayne’s three divorces, his most dramatic was probably from Esperanza Baur, a former Mexican actress. She suspected Wayne of having an affair with his co-star from Angel and the Badman, Gail Russell, a claim which both actors denied. The night the film wrapped, Wayne came home very late from the usual wrap party. By the time he reached home, Esperanza was in an intoxicated rage and attempted to ѕһoot him as he walked through the do
A Controversial Interview

Recently, an interview of Wayne that was published in a 1971 Playboy magazine that cast him in a pretty unflattering light has resurfaced, sparking a huge controversy around the star’s legacy. Specifically, Wayne was quoted as saying that he “believed in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility”. Regarding Native Americans, Wayne thought that America did no wrong in “taking this country away from them,” and that they were “selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”
He Never Fought In The War

While Wayne appeared in countless World War II movies portraying fearless heroes, he actually never served in the real war himself. While fellow actors of the era like Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda went off to serve their country, John Wayne deferred his deployment at first so he could get a leg up in Hollywood. But the temporary deferment dragged on as his star-power rose, and by the last couple years of the war, he was so entangled with Marlene Dietrich that he just never ended up serving at all.
The Original Duke

John Wayne was born as Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa in 1907. As a child, he had a best friend – the family dog, an Airedale terrier named Duke. The two were so inseparable that people started calling the young Marion “little Duke.” As he wasn’t exactly a fan of his own name, he began to adopt the name “Duke” as his own, and by the time he was an adult, he practically refused to be called by his given name.
He Stayed Down-To-Earth

The actor known as John Wayne kept his feet on the ground throughout his career, remaining down-to-earth despite his stardom. His secret? He kept his “real self” and his “actor self” divided into two different personas. “The guy you see on the screen isn’t really me. I’m Duke Morrison, and I never was and never will be a film personality like John Wayne. I know him well. I’m one of his closest students. I have to be. I made a living out of him,” he once explained.
It Wasn’t His, But It Was Real

John Wayne might have been the paragon of manliness, but his image took a hit when his hair began to thin in his 30s. He began to wear a hairpiece – a fact that didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, during a visit to Harvard in 1974, one student rudely asked him, “Where did you get that phony toupee?” His response was as calm, cool, and collected as John Wayne could ever be. He backfired, “It’s not phony, it’s real hair. Of course, it’s not mine, but it’s real.”
More Sailor Than Cowboy

Although he was known as America’s favorite film cowboy, the real John Wayne didn’t really enjoy horseback riding at all, refusing to get on a horse unless it was absolutely required for a scene and never riding in his leisure time. Instead, Wayne preferred sailing on his yacht, The Wild Goose, and was overall much more drawn to the sea than the range. He had even surfed as a young man, after his parents moved the family from Iowa to southern California.