In 99% of cases, whenever John Wayne stepped onto a movie set during his decades-long reign as one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, he was the biggest deal.
While ‘The Duke’ would occasionally defer to his directors to ensure he wasn’t the most likely to be caught throwing his weight around during production, although that typically only happened when John Ford was at the helm, he was always treated like the industry heavyweight that he was.
Whenever a supporting actor or even a fellow A-lister signed up for a picture knowing they’d be sharing the screen with Wayne, it was usually unspoken that they’d be playing second fiddle. After all, he was the embodiment of onscreen Americana and a personality just as forceful away from the cameras as he was in front of them, so it took a lot for somebody to cause his inferiority complex to start creeping in.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen, and one particular co-star left ‘The Duke’ desperately concerned that he’d be overshadowed. If anyone had the potential to leave Wayne quaking in his cowboy boots that he was about to be upstaged in a picture, then few stood a better chance than the guy nicknamed the ‘King of Cool’.
When they worked together on Howard Hawks’ 1959 western, Rio Bravo, Hollywood stars didn’t shine much brighter than Dean Martin. Not only had he been part of a massively successful double act with Jerry Lewis, but he was a bestselling singer in his own right and Frank Sinatra’s right-hand man in the Rat Pack, making him a household name, tabloid favourite, and an object of desire for millions.
Meanwhile, Wayne was in his early 50s and his confidence had been dented by a couple of quickfire flops that saw the high of The Searchers followed by the low of Jet Pilot and The Barbarian and the Geisha. To make matters worse, the narrative painted John T Chance as the archetypal character he’d played regularly for decades. In contrast, Martin’s Dude got a fully realised redemption arc from drunkard to hero.
“Martin gets all the fireworks, doesn’t he?” ‘The Duke’ nervously asked Hawks ahead of production. The director couldn’t help but agree, which placed Wayne in a moral quandary. “What do I do?” As it turned out, the answer was simple, allowing the actor to pull from his real-life experiences to inform his performances.
“What would happen to you if your best friend had been a drunk and he was trying to come back?” Hawks asked him. “What would you do?” No stranger to a bevvy and somebody who’d seen several of his friends and colleagues succumb to the irresistible lure of alcohol, Wayne used that as his entry point.
Martin’s casting in Rio Bravo played directly into one of Wayne’s overriding fears: that he was always the hero who just had to “stand there” while everyone around him got the best dialogue. He may not have the showiest role of the two, but there was no way ‘The Duke’ would let himself be overshadowed.