Tag: Arizona
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John Wayne’s Co-Star’s Audacious Act: The Secret Stir Behind ‘The Searchers’
The Searchers was shot in Ford’s favoured Monument Valley, part of the Navajo territory on the Arizona/Utah state line, where temperatures during filming could reach heights of 49°C (120°F). Among the actors was Gone with the Wind and It’s a Wonderful Life’s Ward Bond, who played Reverend Captain Clayton in the Western. He was a…
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Heat, Costumes, and Tuberculosis: The Untold Story Behind Val Kilmer’s Tombstone Ordeal
Val Kilmer’s hard-drinking Doc Holliday can be seen sweating all throughout the western biopic Tombstone, but there’s a historical reason – and a behind-the-scenes reason – for all the sweat in the movie. Set in Southeast Arizona in the 1880s, Tombstone depicts such real-life historical events as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the…
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Tombstone’s Enigma: The Unanswered Questions Surrounding Lester Moore’s Resting Place in Tombstone
In Tombstone, a grave for a man named Lester Moore makes a momentary appearance and serves as an important bit of symbolism in the film. Tombstone, the classic 1993 Western, tells the story of the legendary Earp brothers and their friend Doc Holliday as they work to bring order and justice to the lawless frontier.…
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John Wayne’s Arizona Affection: Unraveling the Bond That Made the Desert State His Beloved Home
Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect year for John Wayne’s death. He died on June 11, 1979. All right, pilgrim, Hollywood may have been where Western movie icon John Wayne made his fame and fortune, but he clearly also left a mark – and perhaps a piece of his…
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What Drew John Wayne to Arizona, Making it His Beloved Home?
Hollywood may have been where Western movie icon John Wayne made his fame and fortune, but he clearly also left a mark – and perhaps a piece of his heart – in Arizona. The bigger than life celluloid cowboy’s love affair with our state dates back to 1930 and “The Big Trail,” which was filmed…