The world of Hollywood is a fast-paced place to be. As sure as the world keeps spinning, Tinseltown accelerates into new spaces. It means genres, styles, and even the actors who star in the movies can be left in the dust as time moves on. When it comes to classic western actors, they don’t get more famous than the controversial John Wayne.
One of the most polarising figures of Hollywood, Wayne made a name for himself as one of America’s first superheroes. The gunslinging tough guy, morally astute on screen, was a powerhouse performer who gathered up fans by the millions. However, as time has passed, Wayne’s viewpoint on many societal issues, including his ugly racist outbursts, means that he is now widely derided as one of the more deplorable off-screen characters from cinematic history.
Taking things back to the screen, and Wayne’s position as one of the most famous men in America. He may not have been considered a typically classic actor, but he certainly cherished the craft. But how about the actors that Wayne himself admires the most? Well, in 1977, Wayne sent a list of his favourite actors to the People’s Almanac.
He’d received a letter requesting his selections that read, “Dear Mr Wayne, we are undertaking an exclusive poll of all living Academy Award-winning actors – individuals who know the most about film acting – on their opinion of who were and are the five best motion picture actors of all time.”
The letter continued, “We are also asking the Academy Award-winning actors to vote on the five pictures they feel are the five best motion pictures of all time. The results of this poll will be featured in the People’s Almanac II and you will be notified among the contributors to a poll that will be referred to and quoted for years to come.”
Wayne returned with his choices. The first is Spencer Tracy, one of the big stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Spencer was the first actor to take home two consecutive Academy Awards for ‘Best Actor’, and his breakthrough performance came in 1930’s The Last Mile. The actor starred in movies such as Fury, Woman of the Year and Bad Day at Black Rock.
Spencer had starred in Woman of the Year alongside another of Wayne’s favourites, Katharine Hepburn. She, too, holds an Academy Award record, with four Oscars for ‘Best Actress’. Hepburn was known for playing strong women and starred in a number of brilliant films, including Morning Glory and The Philadelphia Story.
Among Wayne’s picks is another true legend of the acting game: the inimitable Laurence Olivier. The English actor was known for his role on the British theatre scene in the mid-20th Century and famously played several Shakespearean characters. He’s also known for starring in movies including Cat of a Hot Tin Roof, Wuthering Heights, and Spartacus.
Wayne’s selections are rounded off by Elizabeth Taylor, a classical Hollywood legend known for her roles in Cleopatra, Giant and A Place in the Sun, and Lionel Barrymore, praised for his efforts in the likes of A Free Soul and It’s a Wonderful Life. One might have expected to find more stalwarts of the western genre amongst Wayne’s selections, given his own filmography, but it appears that he had a greater admiration for general cinema than one might believe.