1994162
9780451214140
No Hollywood legend ever walked taller than John Wayne. In almost two hundred films, his towering, straight-shooting screen persona-based on patriotism and a clear-cut sense of right and wrong-came to represent the real John Wayne, a living American icon. Unable to dispute his box-office success, detractors focused on his right-wing politics and the fact that-despite starring in gung-ho war films-he didn't serve in World War II. Now author Michael Munn's startling biography sets the record straight on why the megastar was unable to enlist, director John Ford's contribution to Wayne's career, his highs and lows, his three failed marriages, and his two desperate battles with cancer. Munn also discloses publicly, for the first time, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's plot to assassinate Wayne because of his outspoken, potentially influential anti-Communist views. Drawing on time spent with Wayne on the set of Brannigan-and almost one hundred interviews with those who knew him-Munn gives a rare, behind-the-scenes look that proves this "absolute all-time movie star" was as much a hero in real life as he ever was on-screen.Munn, Michael is the author of 'John Wayne The Man Behind The Myth', published 2005 under ISBN 9780451214140 and ISBN 0451214145.
[read more]