Duke of Generosity: John Wayne’s Kindness Cost Him Financially and Won Over Political Opposites

by Stephen Schochet bighollywood

“Maybe I should be in a position where I don’t have to work; but I’m not.” — 69 year-old-old John Wayne, three years before his death.

John Wayne, a.k.a Duke Morrison (he was nicknamed Duke after an Airedale dog that he owned during his youth) was arguably the most popular movie star that ever lived. Yet when it came to personal wealth he trailed far behind some of his contemporaries such as Cary Grant and Fred MacMurray. In addition to bad business management and three broken marriages, some of Wayne’s financial woes were brought on by his incredibly generous nature. His goodness shone during the making of the1953 western Hondo when Wayne arranged for some private detectives, who were trailing him, to be freed from a prison in Camargo, Mexico. Never mind that Wayne’s second wife Chata had enraged him by hiring the investigators to find incriminating information to use in their upcoming divorce proceedings. The local officials in Camargo were thrilled to have the revenue generated from a John Wayne picture being made in their town and were willing to use extreme measures to keep their top tourist attraction happy, but the Duke refused to let men rot in jail for simply doing their jobs.

Unlike most celebrities John Wayne didn’t immediately dispose of fan letters asking him for money. He read each request carefully, sometimes agonizing over them, to discern their legitimacy. Duke would send complete strangers cash so they could visit sick friends, or help finance a kid getting braces. Once, while hospitalized, Wayne got to know a less-well-off fellow patient; after Duke was discharged his new friend was visited by one of Wayne’s representatives who told him his medical bills would be covered.

In 1960 a burglar found Duke’s Encino, California address with a movie star map and broke into the home while its owner was watching TV. Reacting quickly, Wayne ran down to the basement and grabbed a shotgun. He chased the crook into the backyard and said, “Hold it. I got you covered.”

He yelled to his wife Pilar to call the police, which she had already done. The robber was cuffed and about to be taken off to jail when he asked to speak to his intended victim. “Mr. Wayne?”
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