The cast of BIG JAKE, top row John Wayne, Ethan Wayne,
Maureen O'Hara, bottom row Patrick Wayne, Bobby Vinton,
Chris Mitchum
ETHAN WAYNE INTERVIEW PART 2
By Henry C. Parke
First, an interesting update. When I asked Ethan, who
was named after his father’s character in THE SEARCHERS, if that was one of
John Wayne’s own favorite films, he replied, “It was. In fact, we found a questionnaire
from the Academy of Motion Pictures where they asked actors to list their five
favorite films. And he did put THE SEARCHERS down at number five.”
I asked Ethan if he could send me the complete list,
and a couple of days later he sent me not only the titles, but a photo of the
questionnaire. As it turns out, it was not from the AMPAS, but from THE PEOPLE’S
ALMANAC, a hugely successful series of books by bestselling authors David
Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace. He
listed: 1.) A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, 2.) GONE WITH THE WIND, 3.) THE FOUR
HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE (I’m assuming the 1921 Rex Ingram-directed version
starring Rudolph Valentino), 4.) THE SEARCHERS, and 5.) THE QUIET MAN.
Ethan also included John Wayne’s responses to “the 5
best motion pictures actors of all time.” The list: 1.) Spencer Tracy, 2.)
Elizabeth Taylor, 3.) Katharine Hepburn, 4.) Laurence Olivier, and 5.) Lionel
Barrymore. Sadly, of the group, he only acted with Katharine Hepburn, in 1975’s
ROOSTER COGBURN.
In part one of our interview, we discussed Ethan’s
childhood, his relationship with his father,
and his film career. In part two, Ethan talks about his stuntman career,
and his work running both John Wayne Enterprises, and The John Wayne Cancer
Institute.
ETHAN WAYNE: I
didn't feel like the work had been done to try to create something timeless,
and authentic, with a level of quality that was appropriate for my father or
something that he would have enjoyed if he was still here and would like to see
his name on. Trying to change what the
company did was another learning experience for me. We had some family disputes
and that was totally unexpected, but also a nice learning experience. And I
think everybody's on the same page now. We have a bourbon released called Duke
Bourbon. It's a very nice product, and Tequila is just arriving at stores now.
It’s called Duke Spirits and we have a Bourbon, a Rye and a Tequila
HENRY PARKE: Great
-- three things I drink!
ETHAN WAYNE: When
I took over the company, we found there was sort of an archive that had been
stored since his death. A lot of things
were pulled out; all his artwork and memorabilia collections went to the
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The rest of the
house was sort of stored in a wooden vault in one of those giant warehouses.
Just a number on it. When we started going
through it, we realized there was a lot of great information in there. It was a
terrific archive that had been preserved for many, many years. And something
that was in there was all the alcohol from his house, and from his boat. So we
had a real good idea of what he liked. And there's a tremendous amount of
texture material, correspondence, notes, speeches, doodles. And so we were able
to sort of piece together a profile of what he really liked and his Bourbon and
this Tequila. And that's what sort of spawned this project. The other reason is
when he would go on location, it'd be my job to load the car with the things
that we would want. You're in Mexico for three months. You end up with a go-to
pair of boots, a go-to jacket, go-to work gloves that you wear, a mug that you
like for your coffee in the morning. And he'd go to a house. You find the
things that you use, so I put those things in the car that we would send down
to the locations. And I thought, oh my goodness, this is a great idea. This
this how we ended every day, around certain items, and a little drink with his
friends to recall the day, have a laugh and then go to bed, start over again.
So Bourbon on the one hand, and now we're working on a coffee to come out soon
and yeah, that's how we started every day there.
HENRY PARKE: Do
you deal with a lot of unauthorized use of the John Wayne Image?
ETHAN WAYNE: Constantly.
Yeah.
HENRY PARKE: What
sort of things do people do that you have to stop?
ETHAN WAYNE: They
run ads, they put a signature on things, they make products with him on it.
It's just constant. We'll have a license with somebody like Case Knives and
then somebody in China starts making copies. They intercept them at customs and
we deal with it. So it's all the time.
HENRY PARKE: Your
father has been gone a long time. How aware of John Wayne are the younger
generations out here?
ETHAN WAYNE: Well,
great question. That's really hard to answer because obviously he has this
audience that we're losing every year, the guys who actually went and saw him
in the theater. But he's also been passed down from one generation to the next
by millions of people who share John Wayne with their sons and daughters and
their families. And so he's still very relevant to a lot of people, and he
means a lot to a lot of people, because of his value set. And because the
person that he represented on screen is the guy that we all want to be. And
that John Wayne hoped to be. I mean, he
crafted that guy and constantly worked on him right up until his last film. You
know, (when filming THE SHOOTIST, director) Don Siegel was like, ‘And then you
shoot him in the back.’ ‘No, I won't. I haven't done it in 50 years. I'm not
going to do it now.’ It was a big deal;
they had an actual argument over it. He's like, ‘I don't do that. That's not
me. I know who I am.’ He knew who he was and he was very, very protective of
that guy.
HENRY PARKE: What
does the John Wayne Cancer Foundation do now?
ETHAN WAYNE: The
Cancer Foundation supports research through grants. We support the John Wayne
Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, at Saint John's Hospital, and it does
research. The Cancer Foundation and the Enterprise have supported that research
for many, many years. Along with the research, general surgeons will graduate
and they can go into private practice or they can come to John Wayne and become
a specialist in noninvasive neurosurgery, breast, melanoma, G.I. urology. A
bunch of different disciplines. And then they go out there, top of the charts
for those types of surgery. So 150 of those guys have graduated. And one thing
the Foundation has done recently is connected them all, supported them all.
We're sending four grants out tomorrow. It's for research that these surgical
fellows are working on. We have a panel from the Society of Surgeons, Oncology,
American Association of Breast Surgeons.
ETHAN WAYNE: We've
got an oversight panel that helps pick what research to fund. So, training surgeons, funding research and
educating kids how to avoid cancer. We have something called Block the Blaze,
that started here in Newport Beach. Are you familiar with the Junior Lifeguard
programs? There's a mass exodus of kids to the beach when school's out and they
get into this program. You have to be able to swim (well) to qualify for it. It's
for kids eight to 14. Thousands of kids become Junior Lifeguards, and they
learn about rip currents, but nobody was teaching them about Sun Safety. So we
go down and we have young people do these fun presentations. They get a John
Wayne Cancer Foundation hat. We give them a John Wayne Sunscreen, which is
ocean safe, reef safe, non nano, non paba; no chemicals. It's a terrific
product. And that program has grown in the last three years from just being in
Newport Beach, to every Junior Lifeguard program from the Mexican border to
Canada and I think 11 or 12 other states, and it continues to expand rapidly.
We've had kids find malignant melanoma; they’ve come to us for treatment at the
John Wayne Cancer Institute, and have successful recoveries. So it's really an
amazing program. And then we have athletic fundraising programs. They do
whatever type of event they want and do peer to peer fundraising and raise
money for the Foundation.
ETHAN WAYNE: My
little sister (Marisa) has a number of spin studios (GritCycle) and she started
doing a one-day spin class to raise money for the Cancer Foundation. I think
this is the fourth year that they've done it. So it's just one spin class,
right? They just raised over a million dollars so far this year. The event is
June first, down here in Newport Beach. It's called the Gritty Up.
HENRY PARKE: I
wanted to ask you a little about stunting.
Your credits include THE BLUES BROTHERS, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, BABY
GENIUSES, RED STATE. Are there any particular stunts that you specialize in?
ETHAN WAYNE: I
worked on a lot of B. J. AND THE BEARS, and a number of KNIGHTRIDERS, as a
stunt person, and I had acting parts in those as well. I was okay on a
motorcycle. I could do a wheelie, I could jump it out of the back of the semi,
I could do a cable-off. I drove cars in
THE BLUES BROTHERS.
HENRY PARKE: What
was John Landis like to work for it?
ETHAN WAYNE: Well,
you know, I was 17. I didn't know how to put my shoes on the right foot at that
point. I was good at being quiet, listening and doing exactly what I was told
to do. Eddie Dano was a stunt man that
was around on most of the films that that my father made when I was a boy, and
he ended up being a great stunt guy. He doubled John Belushi on that show, but
then they do a lot of other things. So we were rolling this car, and he was
driving. And it was not just our car rolling.
We went over this embankment and down this steep hill, and then six or
seven cars go over the embankment, and all these cars are crashing on top of
it! I just remember like, they don't say anything, it’s just like hop in, put
this hat on. It was terrifying when the other cars started landing on our car.
Dirt starting to come in the windows, and it's shoveling its way into this wet
soil. Oh man, I couldn't get out of that thing fast enough. But those guys were
great. They're like, eh, just hold
still. It will be fine. You know, they were tough old dudes.
HENRY PARKE: Well,
when you hosted Westerns Icons With Ethan
Wayne on HDNET, they show three of your father's great pictures, THE ALAMO,
THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, and THE UNDEFEATED. Do you have a favorite among
those?
ETHAN WAYNE: You
know, it changes all the time for me. I know all the struggles that went into
THE ALAMO. I know how important it was to him. So I have a soft spot in my
heart for that film. I think SONS OF KATIE ELDER is probably the one that I
like to watch the most. THE UNDEFEATED, I was there for. I have vague memories
of it, but I don't think I've watched that film in quite a while.
HENRY PARKE: What
were your favorites among the films shown that didn't star your dad?
ETHAN WAYNE: There
was one with Omar Sharif, MACKENNA’S GOLD.It's not the greatest movie ever, but
they had pretty cool special effects. So I got a kick out of that. They mounted
the camera on something, it was like on a horse running through the trees, and
there was a giant earthquake, and cliff fall when this thing collapses, and I
just thought that was pretty aggressive for that time period.
HENRY PARKE: I
was wondering if any of the stars were favorites.
ETHAN WAYNE: I
love Lee Marvin. I loved him in LIBERTY VALANCE. He was just such a man. Just a
frightening character. He was terrific. And Joel McCrea, I mean iconic. And
then Randolph Scott. I don't know why I always liked that guy. Just something
about him that I took to, you know? He seemed like a good guy. So I liked
watching his movies.
HENRY PARKE: And
as long as we're talking about LIBERTY VALANCE, Lee Van Cleef.
ETHAN WAYNE: Lee
Van Cleef, that's right. I crossed paths with him on one of my horrible films
-- I can't remember which one it was.
HENRY PARKE: He
became one of the kings of European films.
ETHAN WAYNE: Exactly.
Let me tell you something: it's not a bad place to be king.
HENRY PARKE: What
was the best part of it?
ETHAN WAYNE: Go
to Italy. You get an apartment, you work and you're getting paid. You're living
in Italy! I mean, it's good. I felt the same way about Germany, France, Spain,
England, just life experience. You know, as long as I was working I was really
enjoying it. I felt like I was learning. And I wanted to learn, to get to a
level where I was comfortable coming back and really going after work that
would satisfy me, or be at a level that was significant compared to what I'd
done here.
HENRY PARKE: If
a good acting role were to come along would you still be interested?
ETHAN WAYNE: In
a heartbeat! I would love to do that
sometime. That'd be terrific.
INSP DECLARES ‘THE DUKE DAYS OF SUMMER’!
And speaking of John Wayne, starting this Friday, June
29th, and continuing throughout July, every weekend movie will be a
John Wayne classic! On Friday night it’s THE ALAMO, Saturday night HONDO, and
Sunday afternoon THE QUIET MAN. Following weekends will feature THE WAR WAGON,
CAHILL – UNITED STATES MARSHAL, THE UNDEFEATED, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, BIG
JAKE (featuring Ethan Wayne), THE SHOOTIST, and Wayne’s most popular Western
comedy, MCCLINTOCK!
RON PERLMAN SCARES FOR LAUGHS IN ‘THE ESCAPE OF
PRISONER 614’
Finally: a contemporary Western/Eastern slacker comedy-drama!
Deputies Thurman Hayford (Jake Dorman of LADYBIRD) and Jim Doyle (Martin Starr
of SILICON VALLEY) know they must be doing a good job of policing crime in
their rural New York State community. After all, they make no arrests, so there
must be no crime. But the Sheriff (Ron Perlman) doesn’t see it that way. He
fires the pair. But the phone rings as they’re cleaning out their desks: a
prisoner has escaped. Perhaps, the pair reasons, if they can catch the escapee
they can earn back their badges!
But after capturing Prisoner #614 (George Sample III),
they begin to suspect that he’s an innocent man. This comedy, by turns broad
and droll, is always amusing and often laugh-out-loud funny. It also indulges
in the almost frightening humor inherent in incompetent people with firearms.
Perlman, who made his Western bones starring in the
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN TV series (1998-2000), and played Judge Garth in the 2014
remake of THE VIRGINIAN, is so well-suited to the West that the degree to which
the deputies are outmatched is as laughable as it is menacing. Written and directed
by Zach Golden, played straight and played well by a talented cast, photographed
to take full advantage of the unexpected New York State locations, it’s a very enjoyable,
and at times unexpectedly thoughtful, way to spend an hour and a half. From LIONSGATE,
THE ESCAPE OF PRISONER 614’ goes on sale today, June 26th, $19.98
for DVD, $21.99 for Blu-ray plus digital. It’s also available from Amazon Prime
and other platforms.
‘TOMBSTONE’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION THIS
WEEKEND IN TOMBSTONE!
If you’re anywhere near the town too tough to die on
Saturday, June 30th or Sunday, July 1st, you’ve got to go
to that real town to see the folks who immortalized TOMBSTONE on the big
screen! Attending will be Michael Biehn
(Johnny Ringo), Joanna Pacula (Kate), Peter Sherayko (Texas Jack Vermillion),
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (Mattie Earp), Frank Stallone (Ed Bailey), Sandy Gibbons
(Father Feeney), Billy Zane (Mr. Fabian), Costume Designer Joseph Porro, and Producer
Bob Misiorowski. Julie Ann Ream will be
panel moderator. Some events will take place at the legendary Crystal Palace
and at The Bird Cage Theatre – one of the most wonderfully spooky places I have
ever been! There will also be tours of Mescal, where so much of TOMBSTONE was
shot. And unlike its sister-studio Old Tucson, which is always open, Mescal is
almost never open to the public – so don’t miss it! You can learn more HERE.
COSTNER WESTERN ‘YELLOWSTONE’ EARNS TOP RATINGS!
The contemporary Western series from Taylor Sheridan,
who brought us HELL OR HIGH WATER and WIND RIVER, premiered with a two-hour
episode on Wednesday night on the Paramount Channel (formerly Spike TV). The
story of the Dutton clan, led by Costner, and their struggles to preserve the
largest private ranch in America, is a hit!
According to Deadline:
Hollywood, the premiere reached nearly five million viewers in Live + 3. In
case you, like me, are not familiar with ‘live +’ terminology, what it refers
to is the number of viewers who watched the program live, plus those who DVR’d
it and watched over the next three days.
That number makes it the most-watched summer premiere
so far on cable or broadcast TV. In fact, it’s basic-cable’s biggest premiere
ratings since 2016’s THE PEOPLE VS. O.J. SIMPSON.
EMMY BUZZ FOR ‘WESTWORLD’S’ ZAHN MCCLARNON
Zahn & me
I’ve been a fan of actor Zahn McClarnon ever since we
met on the set of YELLOW ROCK back in 2011. He’s been awfully busy since then,
varying humor and chilling intensity in movies like LEGEND OF HELL’S GATE, BONE
TOMAHAWK, and as a regular in the series THE RED ROAD and FARGO, really making
his mark as the hostile Officer Mathias in LONGMIRE. This past November, when I
ran into him at the American Indian Arts Marketplace
at The Autry, I had to tell him he was brilliant as Toshaway, the Indian
raising the young Eli McCullough (Jacob Lofland) in AMC’s THE SON. When I told Zahn
it was the best role I’d ever seen him do, he grinned and said, “Wait until you
see what I do in season two of WESTWORLD!” He wasn’t kidding. The website Gold Derby, which handicaps the
Hollywood awards races, was the first to publicly predict that Zahn will get an
Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Akecheta, particularly for episode 8,
which is entirely centered on his character. The season closer for HBO’s WESTWORLD
aired Sunday night.
If he were to win, he would be the very first American
Indian to win an acting Emmy, and only the second to be nominated – the first
being August Schellenberg, nominated for Best Supporting Actor, for playing
Sitting Bull in 2007’s BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. For the record, the only American Indian who
has won an Oscar is Buffy Sainte-Marie. She and Jack Nitzsche and
Will Jennings
shared the Best Original Song Oscar for “Up Where We Belong”, the theme from
1983’s AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN.
MY FATHER’S DAY PIECE FOR INSP
The good folks at the INSP channel asked me to write
something for their blog for Father’s Day, and I decided to write about Fess Parker,
with input from Darby Hinton, who played his son Israel Boone on the DANIEL
BOONE series. If you’d like to read it – and you should – HERE is the link!
ONE MORE THING…
I must note the recent passing of an extremely
talented producer and awfully nice man, Kent McCray, who passed away earlier
this month at the age of 89. He started out as a Production Manager on live TV,
and when the medium began turning towards film, he did as well, soon becoming
Production Manager on David Dortort’s BONANZA, as well as Dortort’s HIGH
CHAPARRAL. Kent became friends with Michael Landon during the BONANZA years,
and when Landon decided to make LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, he and Kent became
Co-Producers on that, and later on HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN.
I got to know Kent and his lovely wife and partner
Susan during the recent HIGH CHAPARRAL 50th ANNIVERSARY celebration,
and had the pleasure of interviewing Kent for a few hours. I have only posted a
small part of that interview thus far – a technical glitch has made it very
slow to transcribe. But I promise the rest of it is coming soon.
…AND THAT’S A WRAP!
Happy Trails,
Henry
All Original Contents Copyright June 2018 by Henry C.
Parke – All Rights Reserved
