John Wayne’s most iconic collaborations were with director John Ford, most famously in their epic Westerns.
The filmmaker was notorious for verbally attacking his actors on set to get a better performance out of them.
However, the actor would never hit back as he believed Ford had made him a star after fighting for him to be the lead in 1939’s Stagecoach.
A decade earlier, Wayne only had uncredited cameos in films and worked on sets in various roles.
In Ford’s 1928 film Mother Machree, which was released 97 years ago this week, Duke had a minor part and ended up standing up to Ford on set despite being just 19 at the time of filming.
Wayne’s first job for Ford was hearding geese on Mother Machree and the young Duke wasn’t afraid of the filmmaker. According to the movie star’s estate: “In later interviews, Duke would recall his first interaction with John Ford on the set. Ford knew Duke was a USC football player, and asked him to get into a football stance. Duke was braced on his forearms and feet when Ford proceeded to kick his arms out from under him, causing Duke to land in the mud.”
The estate added: “At the time, Duke was not interested in a motion picture career, and therefore told Ford heʼd like to try it again. Duke again got into a football position, at which point Duke proceeded to kick Ford in the chest. Duke remembered the deadly silence that followed. He recalled fondly the incident as one that could have been the deciding moment in his film career.”
