John Wayne was left very emotional on the set of 1970 movie Chisum after his co-star introduced him to a new passion that the Western legend was to take with him to the end of his life
Chisum marked the beginning of John Wayne’s final decade in film, and his first movie of the 1970s. After undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous lung a few years prior, the Western icon had to resort to an oxygen mask and conceal his health issues from his fans during filming, which left him deeply disheartened when he couldn’t.
The film was based on the Lincoln County War of 1878, with Wayne portraying John Simpson Chisum, a wealthy cattle baron of the American West. At 62, the actor was playing a character eight years his junior, necessitating extra efforts to mask his age, including cosmetic surgery in September 1969, just a month before shooting began.
As per usual, Duke donned a hairpiece and makeup to appear younger. Interestingly, Patric Knowles, who played Henry Tunstall and was actually four years younger than Wayne at 58, was portrayed as the older man in the film.
Like in his later films, Duke used a stunt double, and was notably upset by how evident it was that it wasn’t him in Chism’s final fight scene against Forrest Tucker’s Lawrence Murphy.
However, a heartwarming interaction with John Mitchum, brother of Robert Mitchum with whom Wayne had starred in 1967’s El Dorado, brought some cheer to the star on set.
While filming Chisum, John introduced Duke to patriotic poetry, a genre that deeply touched Wayne, a fervent and proud American. Despite not serving in World War II and remaining in Hollywood to make films, Duke always carried a sense of guilt and made it a point to champion and support the US military throughout his life, particularly when portraying soldiers on screen, reports the Express.
Tucker observed how his co-star would become emotional upon hearing such verses and proposed that he and John should team up to record some poetry. Consequently, they created the 1973 album America, Why I Love Her, which earned a Grammy nomination for spoken-word record.
Wayne’s preferred track on America, Why I Love Her was The People, which proclaimed that the USA’s greatness was rooted in the remarkable accomplishments of its citizens. Notable figures mentioned in the piece included Fred Astaire’s dancing, Billy Graham’s evangelism reaching millions, and Mahalia Jackson’s devout expressions.
The record was re-released posthumously in 1979 following Wayne’s death and again after the September 11 attacks. Another source of solace for Duke during the filming of Chisum was winning his Golden Globe for 1969’s True Grit and learning about his Best Actor Oscar nomination, which he ultimately won.