John Wayne struggled with ill-health, confessed ‘I’m on borrowed time’ when John Ford died
JOHN WAYNE, health was in serious decline in his later years as he struggled on tenaciously with just one lung after the removal of the cancerous other in 1964. Tragically, Duke knew his days were numbered when his long-time collaborator director John Ford died in 1973.
The iconic Western filmmaker John Ford died 49 years ago today after a battle with stomach cancer at the age of 78. The director of John Wayne classics such as The Searchers and Stagecoach saw his health deteriorating terribly in the early 1970s.
After breaking a hip, Ford had to get used to a wheelchair and was moved from his Bel Air home to Palm Desert to be treated for cancer.
In October 1972, the Screen Directors Guild paid tribute to him and in March the following year, the American Film Institute honoured the director with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
If that wasn’t enough, President Richard Nixon promoted the World War II veteran to full Admiral and presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Upon news of his death on August 31, long-term collaborator John Wayne admitted to journalists: “I’m living on borrowed time.”
John Wayne struggled with ill-health, confessed ‘I’m on borrowed time’ when John Ford died (Image: GETTY)
John Ford made John Wayne a star in his movies (Image: GETTY)
Wayne knew this only too well at the age of 65 when shooting 1973’s Cahill: US Marshall.
Duke suffered from emphysema on his single remaining lung and being significantly weakened, was forced to use a stepladder to climb onto his horse in the movie.
As for riding shots from a distance, Wayne’s Cahill was doubled by Chuck Roberson. Sadly the star ended up dying of stomach cancer himself in 1979, but continued to speak highly of Ford in his final years.
John Ford filming (Image: GETTY)
John Wayne as Cahill (Image: GETTY)
Wayne told Roger Ebert in 1976: “Up until the very last years of his life … Pappy could have directed another picture, and a damned good one. But they said Pappy was too old. Hell, he was never too old. In Hollywood these days, they don’t stand behind a fella. They’d rather make a goddamned legend out of him and be done with him.”
Ford was truly a complex character. Brilliant and eccentric, he would chew through the corners of a dozen handkerchiefs while smoking a pipe each day.
For all his talents he was also known for having a furious temper and would bait his actors to get better performances out of them.
On set, he also discouraged chatting and bad language in front of women and insisted on an Earl Grey tea break each afternoon.
