Duke, surely smiling down from Heaven...
... on this the 46th anniversary of his slipping the surly bonds
Today, on the 46th anniversary of John “Duke” Wayne going to Heaven, he is surely smiling down at the sight of law and order being restored to his old stomping ground as President Donald J. Trump, recognizing the reality of the violence that threatened to engulf Los Angeles in the wake of riots that ignited on Friday, June 6, federalized the National Guard, and not two days later, brought in the Marines, as a grateful city and nation looked on.
Duke’s good friend, A.J. Fenady, Chisum writer and producer said, “At the very end of Chisum (1970), Pepper says, “There’s an old saying, Miss Sally, there’s no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum.” And Duke says, “Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there is the law and sooner or later they find God’s already been there.” I think that sums up how he felt. (“John Wayne’s Longest Journey,” Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends )
That surely sums up how President Trump feels who, on the way to restoring law and order, is restoring the spiritual foundations which made America great.
Ten years to the day before he went to his reward, the film True Grit in which Duke gave an Oscar-winning performance, was released.
Just before he began making True Grit, the Duke’s “awakening spirituality was helping him channel his nervous energy into more than just making films,” as I wrote in Oasis. “‘He was always a closet Catholic, I think,’ said Fenady, who, while developing Chisum (1970), spent much time in many places with Duke during and between the filming of Hellfighters (1968), True Grit, and The Undefeated (1969). ‘He never talked [about it but] I know he went to Catholic mass down in Durango,’ Mexico—one of Duke’s preferred filming locations. ‘That was one of the few times you’d ever see John Wayne on his knees,’ said Fenady.”
Time for all of us to get down on our knees to pray for America’s safety and thank God for his many miraculous interventions.
God bless the Duke!
Mary Claire Kendall is author of Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends. The sequel, Oasis of Faith: The Souls Behind the Billboard—Barrymore, Cagney, Tracy, Stewart, Guinness & Lemmon, was published summer 2024. Her biography of Ernest Hemingway, titled Hemingway’s Faith, was published Christmas 2024 by Rowman & Littlefield, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. She writes a regular bi-monthly column for Aleteia on legends of Hollywood and hidden screen gems.