In light of Kris’s recent westerns piece, I thought it might be worth it to give some space to what I believe to be one of the most underrated actors of all time.
Cinematical recently carried a marvelous article on John Wayne, supporting the belief that the screen legend was an exceptional actor (in the right role) and that perhaps Hollywood and the critics had not given him his due while alive. Certainly his work was appreciated by audiences, who made him the top box office star for more than 20 years.
I grew up watching Wayne and even defended him as an actor some time ago to a very skeptical university professor. Using the actor’s performances in “The Searchers” and “The Shootist,” I wrote my paper and received an “A.” I figured I must have proved my case. But my professor passed me in the hall a year or so later and told me I had converted him to the Duke, and he had now seen many more of his films.
Obviously part of the issue had been just that: he had not seen all of Wayne’s work — and he was more than a little attached to Sir Laurence Olivier (in my opinion the most overrated actor in the history of the cinema). But you could always see Olivier acting, working the trade. I defy you to catch the Duke mugging.
While Wayne often portrayed a variation of what audiences perceived him to be in real life, there were characters that challenged him as an actor and allowed him to stretch. Though he won the Academy Award for his jaunty performance as the tough old one-eyed geezer in “True Grit,” he certainly should have won for his raging Ethan Edwards in “The Searchers” and been nominated for at least a half dozen others.