John Wayne Biographer Says There Was an 'Interesting Gap' Between the Actor and His Tough Roles: 'Much More Contemplative'

Wayne was known for bringing to life characters with a tough demeanor and rugged image in his many Westerns

NEED TO KNOW

• Scott Eyman, the author of a biography of John Wayne, is sharing what the actor was like in real life
• Wayne was known for bringing to life characters with a tough demeanor and rugged image in his many Westerns
• The Oscar-winner died in 1979 at age 72

While John Wayne was known for bringing to life characters with a tough demeanor and rugged image, in real life, the actor was a little different, says his biographer.

In an interview with Woman's World, biographer Scott Eyman — who wrote the 2014 book John Wayne: The Life and Legend — explained how he met and got to know the legendary actor in 1972, long before sitting down to write his story.

“If I hadn’t met him, I probably wouldn’t have written the book," Eyman told Woman's World.

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And even from sitting with him for a couple of hours, Eyman was able to get a sense for the man behind the characters he brought to life on the silver screen.

"Over the couple of hours I sat with him, I found that there was an interesting gap between who he was as a human being and what he played," Eyman said. "I mean, not 100%—there was definitely an overlap—but he was much more … thoughtful … as a person than his screen character was. He was much more contemplative than his screen characters."

Eyman continued: "His body language was different as a person than it was on-screen. So there were just all of these interesting differences between what he did and what audiences thought of him, and who he actually was.”

The legendary American actor had a larger-than-life career that made him one of the defining faces of classic Hollywood Westerns in films including Rio Bravo and The Searchers.

Wayne’s own children have shared how the actor's on-screen persona of “The Duke” was similar, and dissimilar, to his personality at home.

“My father was tough, but very loving,” Ethan Wayne told The Guardian in 2020. “He was old school. I don’t know how else to describe it. He didn’t talk much, but he could make his few words very, very impactful and meaningful.”

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Wayne married first wife Josephine Saenz in 1933, and they had four children: Michael Wayne, Mary Antonia “Toni” Wayne, Patrick Wayne and Melinda Wayne. The couple divorced in 1945, and the actor married Esperanza Baur in 1946. They divorced in 1954, and Wayne remarried for a final time, to Pilar Pallete, that same year. The couple had three children: Aissa Wayne, John Ethan Wayne and Marisa Wayne.

Wayne and Palette separated in 1973, but remained married until the actor’s death of stomach cancer in 1979, at age 72.

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