John Wayne was fiercely proud and protective of his beloved genres of war and western films. He strongly criticized films such as Gary Cooper’s High Noon or Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter that he claimed degraded the ideals and values of the Wild West, values that the conservative duke believes also apply to their time. However, the handwritten list of favorite actors he sent to The 1977 People’s Almanac does not include either genre, while his list of films includes even a vintage that is obviously anti-war.
A letter from the popular electronic list book sent on July 8, 1977 to the offices of the Screen Actor’s Guild and read: “Dear Mr. Wayne, we are conducting an exclusive survey of all the Oscar-winning live actors, other people who know the most about cinema, in their opinion on who were and are the five most sensible film actors of all time.
“We are also asking Oscar-winning actors to vote for the five films that are the five most productive films of all time.
“The effects of this survey will be presented in People’s Alamanac II and participants will be notified of a referenced and cited survey for years to come. “
Surprisingly, Wayne barely included films or actors from his own war genres and westerns. His Top Five began with two ancient epics, A Man for All Seasons, starring Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield as Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More, and Gone with the Wind.
They are followed by a rather unexpected choice, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Presumably, Wayne was referring to the quiet harvest of 1921 with Rudolph Valentino, not Vincente Minnelli’s failure of 1962 with Glenn Ford. Regardless, the history of both eras is strongly anti-war. and ends with a passionate plea for peace, while Wayne was known for his patriotic, chauvinistic and very vocal help to the military throughout his life.
John Wayne’s brutal culture in each and every film brought the co-stars to tears. John Wayne hated Clint Eastwood’s film so much that he refused to paint with him.
The last two on Wayne’s list are The Searchers and The Quiet Man. The first, of course, is director John Ford’s western magnum opus and starring The Duke, opposite Natalie Wood.
The latter was another of Ford and Wayne’s many collaborations in their interconnected careers, but it was a much lighter comedy-drama, also starring Maureen O’Hara.
There are no stars known primarily for war and Western epics on Wayne’s list of the greatest actors of all time.
Wayne named 3 male stars and two female stars, all legends to this day.
It’s unclear if the five most sensible are ranked in order, but the list includes Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and Lionel Barrymore.
It is desirable that Wayne include actors like Olivier and Barrymore, who were acclaimed primarily for their artistry, rather than new film stars from The Duke like Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart and James Cagney, who are historically the most sensible lists of the greatest actors of all time.
Wayne’s answers were revealed when his letters were auctioned through Heritage Auctions, but you have to locate the original almanac of the other people to know who all his contemporaries voted for as big winners.