John Wayne tried to assault Sacheen Littlefeather at the 1973 Oscars. But let’s keep talking about how the “slapping incident” was the award show’s darkest moment ever.
“As she delivered the speech John Wayne was furious. She later said, “During my presentation, he was coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage, and he had to be restrained by six security men to prevent him from doing so.”
Besides John Wayne’s abhorrent behavior other celebrities like Clint Eastwood, Raquel Welch and Michael Caine also piled on.
John Wayne quote is taken right from a Playboy interview.
“Well, there are some things a man just can’t run away from." — John Wayne as Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach"
Apparently, that means his own words. That line from a 1939 movie John Wayne starred in came to fruition as a commemoration for The Duke was shot down.
A lawmaker from Huntington Beach had proposed making May 26, 2016, "John Wayne Day.” Why did the Assembly vote against it? The actor’s comments on race.
In particular, he said in a 1971 Playboy interview that he supported white supremacy “until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. And when it came to how the West was “won,” he said, “the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”
Why would we celebrate John Wayne here in California anyway? Well, he was a hometown kid, raised in Glendale. He also got a scholarship to play football at the University of Southern California. But Hollywood came calling.
He starred in dozens of westerns before his death in 1979. Throughout his long career, he came to epitomize for many the “cowboy values of decency, honesty, and integrity,” as History.com put it.
But time tends to shade in those previously enduring black-and-white images and attitudes of old with nuance and complexity.
The guy who introduced the legislation was certainly disappointed. He called it “political correctness” prevailing over a “profoundly American figure.”
“Opposing the John Wayne Day resolution is like opposing apple pie, fireworks, baseball, the Free Enterprise system and the Fourth of July!”
As John Wayne said in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance": "Whoa, take ‘er easy there, Pilgrim.“
Yo heave ho, anchors aweigh, and we’ll steer a course for Joe’s place. And just to show that me heart’s in the right place, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, mates. I’ll extend a drink all around.
Bob Hope, John Wayne, former actor and future US President Ronald Reagan,Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra pose together at a benefit for Reagan’s gubernatorial campaign Los Angeles, California, October 4, 1970. Photo by Michael Ochs
