Tag: James Stewart
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A Journey Back to 1976 – Rick Lenz Reflects on John Wayne’s Last Movie, “The Shootist,” and Dispels On-Set Rumors
For the past 15 years, Duke had been struggling with severe health problems after having had a cancerous lung and some ribs removed in 1964. The Western legend would tenaciously work through action sequences, often relying on an oxygen mask he kept secret so as not to taint his macho cinematic image. By the time…
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Lawrence Kasdan’s ‘Wyatt Earp’: A Story that Transcends the Chaos of Kurt Russell’s ‘Tombstone’ to Craft a 3-Hour Epic.
In the early 1990s, Kevin Costner, who was busily branding himself as an all-American hybrid of Gary Cooper and James Stewart, hooked up with “Glory” screenwriter Kevin Jarre to make “Tombstone,” an epic film about the legendary, real-life lawman. This would’ve afforded the ambitious Costner a connection to another red-white-and-blue big-screen icon, Henry Fonda, who’d…
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Turbulent Tinseltown: Aissa Wayne’s Revelations on the John Wayne-Clark Gable Clash
Very few actors in Hollywood history can compare to the might of John Wayne, a performer who was as much a cultural icon as he was a star of the silver screen. Making the western genre shine throughout the 20th century alongside such names as Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper and James Stewart, Wayne remains a…
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Fading Legend: The Untold Story of John Wayne’s Final Movie and Its Close Call
John Wayne suffered from ill health for the last 15 years of his life, being hospitalised for two weeks with influenza on his last movie The Shootist. At one point, doctors were even unsure if they would allow Duke to complete his final picture, in which he played an old gunslinger with cancer opposite James…