This is the first part of two-part article on John Wayne.  The second part is here

Today is the birthday of John Wayne, a true movie star.

For me growing up, John Wayne in the movies was the reassuring presence of a real man.  Slow to anger, he went from silent to action in a split second.  There was no hesitation in his characters, they were men confident of the finality of violence.  I realise now that this was one of the main attractions of his movies for me, that there was a place of last resort where a man could go, which would allow him to triumph over evil.  John Wayne was the personification of the concept that one man can make a difference.  For me he was the personification of America, of individual freedom and the right of every man to make his own world.

And for many others too.

With John Wayne, more than any other movie star, it is difficult to separate the man from the movie character.  I want to talk about some of the things that I think made him such a wonderful actor.

John Wayne started in movies in the twenties, first as a set labourer, then doing walk-ons.  By the beginning of the thirties he was a name actor, if only a very minor one.  John Ford had taken an interest in him when Wayne did stunts and walk-ons in his movies.  But John Ford blew hot and cold, and John Wayne spent most of the thirties making cheap Poverty Row movies.        

But there were several very interesting attributes to John Wayne that kept him in work in the depression thirties, and later would make him a great star.

Reinventing the Cowboy

Firstly John Wayne was quietly re-inventing the cowboy hero. By the 1920’s a lot of real cowboys had joined the movies, having worked out that there was more money playing a cowboy than being one.  John Wayne was a very observant, intelligent young man and he saw in these men a naturalness and individuality that did not get shown on-screen.  He began to build an onscreen persona, who, though on the side of Good, was less reverential to the law than the rather polished cowboy sheriffs who then dominated the movies. 

He built a natural understated style, at a time when Hollywood still had an inferiority complex, deferring to the classical stage theatre. John Wayne worked extensively on his diction, not to adopt a faux British accent, but to craft and refine a truly American voice. 

He was also superbly professional.  Many actors turned up, did their piece, got paid and left.  John Wayne always knew his lines, knew the story, knew what his character was doing.  He knew movies were a business and brought value to the process of movie-making.  

As Rusty Ryan (with Donna Reed) in They Were Expendable

John Wayne got his first big break with The Big Trail in 1930, where he was the lead alongside Tyrone Power.  Raoul Walsh, directing The Big Trail, swiftly realised that Wayne’s realistic, natural acting style was much more suited for the movies than Power’s rather hammy classical style.  Wayne also impressed Walsh with his grasp of story, character and lines.  John Wayne never needed a re-shoot.  By comparison with the drunken antics of his co-stars John Wayne looked very good indeed. 

However the big break was not to be.  The Big Trail was not a success and John Wayne would have to wait for stardom.  Still, Hollywood began to realise that John Wayne brought real quality to any movie and could even save some that were borderline.  It was a good skill for a working actor to have.

As Tom Doniphon in The Man who shot Liberty Valance

So by the mid-thirties, the actor that we know as John Wayne existed, even if he was not fully formed.   But something else was needed.

To read the seond part of the article, go here