John Wayne was one of Hollywood’s greatest film legends and was able to look back on numerous successes during his lifetime, especially in films such as Ringo and The Black Falcon. Decades after his death, his legacy continues to be honored. Lady Gaga, for example, honored him in 2016 with the song John Wayne on her album Joanne.
But the highest-paid actor at the time wasn’t always easy to deal with – James Caan found that out the hard way. During the filming of El Dorado (1966), Caan, then 27, felt intimidated by Wayne. While Wayne could already look back on a long career, Caan was still at the beginning of his career.
James Caan on John Wayne: “You had to prove yourself to the Duke”
According to Far Out, John Wayne wanted to test his young colleague James Caan to see if he was strong enough to share the screen with someone of his stature. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Caan confirmed: “You had to prove yourself to the Duke, then everything would be fine.”
And Caan was actually able to prove himself, which led to Wayne gradually opening up to him. Nevertheless, he was repeatedly the victim of nasty pranks and taunts.
Wayne even tricked Caan into playing chess
According to Caan, for example, during the chess game that Wayne taught his co-star during filming breaks, Wayne always cheated. That’s why Caan even referred to him in the interview as “son of a bitch”. But the respect for the great western star was so great that Caan didn’t dare to confront Wayne about his cheating. Although Caan knew that in a fair game he would have been superior to Wayne.
John Wayne and James Caan pretty much became best friends – with taunts
All in all, Wayne and Caan got along better and better and eventually became pretty good friends, continuing to pick up little taunts and pranks, according to Express. One day Wayne is said to have filled Caan’s dressing room so full of rubbish that Caan could no longer go in. Wayne was there “like a twelve year old duke” behave.
But Caan also increasingly dared to challenge Wayne and, for example, referred to him as “Snake”which Wayne is said to have taken with humor. The two also repeatedly tried to ruin each other’s scenes.
The Duke also had (starting) difficulties with other actors
But there were fellow actors who had a much harder time with John Wayne than James Caan. For example, Clint Eastwood received a letter of dislike from Wayne. In this letter, Wayne wrote that Eastwood had no idea what he was doing when he made his first film as a director: A Stranger With No Name.
Wayne seemed to have great self-confidence, as evidenced by the fact that he regularly turned down roles that didn’t fit the persona he had worked so hard to create. Far Out refers to Wayne as “Wayne the Actor”, “Wayne the Myth” and “Wayne the Legend”. So he was much more than just an actor – for many he was also great competition.