John Wayne Once Played a Corpse in 1 of His Most Humiliating Movie Roles
Movie star John Wayne was one of the most iconic actors to ever go through Hollywood. However, he didn’t have an entirely smooth career, especially in the early days of trying to secure worthwhile roles. Wayne once played a corpse in one of his most humiliating movie roles of the early portion of his career. It was all a result of offending an important studio head.
John Wayne moved his movie contract from Fox to Columbia
Wayne originally got his movie career started at Fox. He worked his way through the props department, but his looks ultimately drew the attention of the right people, such as director John Ford. After his first leading role in Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail turned into a financial disaster, he had difficulty trying to find a worthwhile role to play. However, he would later find himself transferred over to Columbia.
This wasn’t entirely out of the norm with a studio going through hardship in the way that Fox was. Rita Hayworth went through the same situation, but she became a big star. Meanwhile, Wayne would find his movie career go down into free fall. He starred in 1931’s Men Are Like That, which left critics and audiences cold. This would mark the beginning of a dark time for the actor.
Movie star John Wayne played a corpse in ‘The Deceiver’
Wayne saw his future in the movie business flash before his eyes when he angered the studio head of Columbia, Harry Cohn. The executive heard rumors that the actor was flirting with a woman on the set that he had his eye on. As a result, he decided to make life hard for Wayne from there on out. He put him in B-Westerns that had no chance of succeeding, causing him to fade into the background.
However, the worst of it was yet to come. Cohn put Wayne in one of the most humiliating movie roles of his career as a corpse. He had no choice but to perform as a dead body in 1931’s The Deceiver.
The crime mystery stars The Big Trail actor Ian Keith as an actor who is killed in his dressing room. It’s a whodunnit with a group of wealthy folks acting as the potential suspects. Since Keith wasn’t available to be the corpse in all of the scenes, Wayne was required to come to the set to play the corpse, which Allen Eyles’ book, John Wayne, called one of the most “humiliating” moments of his early career.
Additionally, Wayne never worked with the movie studio Columbia ever again.
He still earns criticism for his occasional bad casting
Wayne played a wide variety of both good and bad movie roles over the course of his lifetime. He was the first to admit when he thought one of his films didn’t work out. Wayne admitted that The Conqueror, where he played Genghis Khan, was a big mistake. Audiences and critics certainly didn’t let him live that one down.
Meanwhile, he had certain passion projects that he was willing to do what it took to get them made. For example, Wayne made Rio Grande to get The Quiet Man made, which became one of his best performances.
