Five actors John Wayne hated
Content with his status as one of the biggest stars on the planet during the apex of his popularity, John Wayne didn’t take kindly to the prospect of cinema continuing to evolve as an art form.
In his pomp, ‘The Duke’ told simple stories of good guys defeating bad guys, with the rise of the New Hollywood movement and increasing visibility of method actors repeatedly rubbing him the wrong way. Never one to hold back on his opinions, Wayne was fond of casting out criticism to his peers and contemporaries.
There were no shortage of feuds throughout his life, both on and off-camera, but five particular actors were blasted either in public or behind closed doors by the western icon, some of them more than once.
Of course, he didn’t have any issues making enemies, but maybe part of his was derived from his own insecurities, considering all five of them were either A-listers battling for box office supremacy or the faces of the next generation.
Five actors John Wayne hated:
5. Marlon Brando
Wayne didn’t even have to be in the same room as Marlon Brando to have a negative opinion, but it was The Godfather star’s refusal to accept his Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ in person that served as the catalyst.
Sacheen Littlefeather claimed to The Guardian that when she was collecting the trophy on his behalf, ‘The Duke’ “was coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage” but was eventually restrained “by six security men to prevent him from doing so”.
When asked for his thoughts on the situation, Wayne remarked that “if Brando had something to say, he should have appeared that night and stated his views.” Instead, he was blasted for “taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit.”
4. Clint Eastwood
Two of the biggest names in the history of the western, Clint Eastwood admitted that “John Wayne once wrote me a letter saying he didn’t like High Plains Drifter,” which he didn’t think was “really about the people who pioneered the West.”
Eastwood was the face of the medium’s next evolution, which favoured revisionism and realism over reverence, something that ‘The Duke’ couldn’t wrap his head around, according to the book Ride, Boldly Ride: The Evolution of the American Western: “I realized that there’s two different generations, and he couldn’t understand what I was doing.”
Having been such an integral part of the western’s enduring popularity, Wayne wasn’t thrilled with the direction in which it was heading as his own career began winding down, leaving Eastwood as just one of many emerging superstars he didn’t care for.
3. Frank Sinatra
Even though the two would end up becoming close during Wayne’s final days, his initial opinion of Frank Sinatra was hardly glowing. ‘The Duke’ was a vocal supporter of the House of Un-American Activities Committee and was less than thrilled when openly Communist writer Alfred Maltz was brought on to pen the script for Sinatra’s The Execution of Private Slovik.
Naturally, Wayne was asked for his thoughts on the matter and responded in kind by referencing John F. Kennedy: “I don’t think my opinion is too important,” he began, “Why don’t you ask Sinatra’s crony – who’s going to run our country for the next few years – what he thinks of it?”
The two almost came to blows at a benefit in the aftermath, with Sinatra criticising Wayne for “blasting off his mouth”. It was even noted in Carol Lea Mueller’s book The Quotable John Wayne: The Grit and Wisdom of an American Icon that ‘The Duke’ had backhanded one of Sinatra’s bodyguards after demanding he keep the noise down when they were staying at the same hotel after being told, “Nobody talks to Mr. Sinatra that way.”
And yet, those fences were clearly mended after the Rat Pack legend offered that “Mr. Wayne has served honourably as America’s symbol to the world of the highest morals and prudent standard of our society” in an official statement released after his passing.
2. Clark Gable
Causing issues with John Ford was one way not to endear yourself to Wayne, with their collaboration on 1953’s Mogambo leading to tension between the two. Due to his view of the director as a friend, mentor, and father figure, ‘The Duke’ was left less than impressed.
As his daughter Aissa wrote in John Wayne, My Father: “In my father’s way of thinking, disloyalty to allies, support in any fashion for their enemies, was expressly forbidden,” she said. By extension, “If Clark Gable took on John Ford, my father’s code demanded that John Wayne stand by his old pal.”
Wayne would also call Gable “an idiot”, saying the reason he became an actor is because “it’s the only thing he’s smart enough to do.” Harsh comments aside, he did at least acknowledge that the star was “extremely handsome in person.”
1. Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman was rising to stardom at around the same time Wayne’s career was winding down, but the future legend did not make a positive mark on the existing one after his daughter Aissa revealed that The French Connection star “could never appear on-screen without my father skewering his performance.”
Calling him “the worst actor in town” and utterly convinced that he was “awful”, Wayne never offered any reasoning or logic behind his intense distaste for Hackman’s performative abilities, leaving him as the only person Aissa had ever heard her father speak about “with any real venom”.
