![]() But much of what’s “known” of John Wayne depends on ignoring what’s on screen. When we say we “know” Humphrey Bogart or Greta Garbo, or George Clooney or Julia Roberts, we’re talking about the intimacy we feel from having watched them at work. When Joan Didion met John Wayne on the set of the 1965 The Sons of Katie Elder, she wrote of having the sense that his face was more familiar to her than her husband’s.Īnd yet Wayne, whose centenary occurred this past spring, remains in some ways the most undefined of iconic movie stars. Even the varied performances of the most versatile stars are often not strong enough to prevail against the overarching image we’ve formed of them. One of the great joys of the movies is their ability to convince us that we know the people on screen. ![]() The “Duke” and Democracy: On John Wayne Charles Taylor ▪ Fall 1984 ![]()
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