Unless something drastic changes, the iconography and screen persona of John Wayne will always remain one of the most instantly recognisable mythologies in cinema history, but it didn’t come naturally.
The actor’s signature drawl, widely imitated strut, and manner of carrying himself are woven into the fabric of Hollywood, and it took a lot more work than some people might think. He was ‘The Duke’: an icon, a legend, and a star for most of his career, but none of his trademarks were organic.
Wayne based his entire shtick on close friend and mentor Harry Carey, his walk was something he trained himself to do, and his laconic line delivery was crafted in service of fitting the aura he’d been so determined to build around himself. Even John Wayne was a fabrication, with the man born Marion Morrison toying with several stage names before settling on the one that defined him.
It’s hardly a secret that Wayne put plenty of effort into reshaping himself into what he believed was the best possible version of who Marion Morrison needed to be in order to make it to the top of a cutthroat industry, but it’s nonetheless a curious experience to revisit his earliest films when the guy onscreen looks like ‘The Duke’, but doesn’t much act like him.
Because it was the most popular genre in the business, Wayne was always going to look for a way to establish himself in westerns when he was trying to make a name for himself. Unfortunately, one of the most in-demand offshoots of the medium was the musical, which forced him down a path he’d rather not walk.
Wayne made a number of ‘singing cowboy’ movies in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but because he couldn’t hold a tune to save his life, his voice was always overdubbed. Riders of Destiny would be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the character of Singin’ Sandy Saunders was one that would haunt him for the rest of his days.
“I was just so fucking embarrassed by it all,” he told Michael Munn of people continuing to bring up his days as a crooner, even when he cracked the A-list. “Strumming a guitar I couldn’t play, miming to a voice which was provided by a real singer, made me feel like a fucking pansy. After that experience, I refused to be Singin’ Sandy again.”
He did make another singing cowboy movie two years later when he led the cast of 1935’s Lawless Range, but it was powered more by financial necessity and the need to remain employed that artistic fulfilment. The issue with trying to disown a movie is that the fact it exists means it’s a part of history, leaving Wayne to strew for the next four decades anytime Riders of Destiny was used a stick to beat him over the head with.