Les Adams spent time chatting with Bob Steele and Smith Ballew, and one of the subjects was who was the singing voice for John Wayne in RIDERS OF DESTINY and some other Wayne oaters. Les wrote the following piece on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), but the writeup is no longer there:
Enough already! Lay off Smith Ballew ... he didn't do it., 30 January 2004 Author: Leslie Howard Adams from Texas As one of the biggest and most-repeated myths in Hollywood film history the one about Smith Ballew dubbing John Wayne's singing voice in RIDERS OF DESTINY may well rank close to the top. It is only out there because it was published in a book on Westerns movies circa 1962 that, line-for-line, contained more errors than most of the self-serving, ghost-written Star bios in recent years. ![]() |
![]() (Courtesy of Ed Phillips) From left to right are Charlie/Charley Sargent, Jack Kirk, John Wayne, Cactus Mack McPeters, Chuck Baldra and Glenn Strange in a scene from Wayne's WESTWARD HO (Republic, 1935). On the far right is the non-singing Tex Palmer. In the film's opening titles, Glenn Strange is credited and "the Singing Riders" is listed under Strange's name. These "guys in black shirts" did double duty as singers as well as members of the "Singing Riders" who rode white horses and assisted Wayne. Below are crops/blowups showing the faces in more detail.
Below: Charlie/Charley Sargent, Jack Kirk, John Wayne, Cactus Mack McPeters. ![]() Above: Chuck Baldra, Glenn Strange, and the non-singing Tex Palmer. |
There's a lot of stories as to how Wayne acquired the nickname of 'Duke'. Among the oft mentioned are: the nickname kinda matched his good looks; a scrapper, he was good with his 'dukes'; and the story that seems to be most quoted is that the Wayne family - or Wayne himself - had a pooch named 'Duke', and that's where the nickname originated.
Mike Newton e-mailed with more info on the Duke nickname:
"... his real name was Marion Michael Morrison and as a young boy, he was shy and not particularly aggressive. His mother was extremely dominant and his father, though likeable, was a rather mild type character, though Wayne admired him. Anyway, the older boys teased Wayne about his name. Wayne took to hanging around the firehouse in Glendale and somehow acquired a dog whose name was "Duke". It may have been the firehouse dog or just a stray. Anyway, the firemen would always call out when they saw them, "Here's Big Duke and Little Duke". Big Duke of course was the dog, but Wayne liked the name so much that he acquired it as his own and when he went to college, that was how he was called. Of course he didn't acquire the name "John Wayne" until his first movie. This information I acquired from interviews done with Wayne over the years ..."
Wayne addresses people as "Pilgrim" in several films. In THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962), he used that response with James Stewart. And in the chaotic mud pit battle in McLINTOCK! (1963), Wayne acknowledges screen tough Leo Gordon as "Pilgrim" ... and then clobbers him.
What are the films in which Wayne was "killed"? There are seven:
REAP THE WILD WIND (1942)
THE FIGHTING SEABEES (1944)
THE WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948)
THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949)
THE ALAMO (1960)
THE COWBOYS (1972)
THE SHOOTIST (1976)
As to the number of films where Wayne "died", include the above mentioned seven ... and here's four more:
![]() (From Old Corral collection) | ![]() | In the photo left, Yakima Canutt gives a helpin' hand to a young John Wayne in THE STAR PACKER (Lone Star/Monogram, 1934). For those of you who study Wayne, remember the way he often twirls his six-shooter when he draws it? Canutt did the same and Wayne probably copied that mannerism when he and Yak were working on the Lone Star westerns. Billy Alford sent me an e-mail reminder that this is seen in RANDY RIDES ALONE (Lone Star/Monogram, 1934). Wayne and Canutt shoot at a wanted poster. Yak draws, twirls his sixgun, and shoots. Wayne then draws, does the same twirl as Yak, and fires off a round. |
![]() Above are crops/blowups of Wayne's gunbelt from a lobby card from BLUE STEEL and a production still from 'NEATH ARIZONA SKIES. He used this gunbelt with the light colored bullet loops and edging during his Lone Star films, and the pattern is very similar to the rig worn by Bob Steele in the early 1930s. Methinks that Wayne's Lone Star gunbelt was influenced by Steele's father, Robert North Bradbury, who directed and scripted many of Wayne's films ... and Bradbury may have gotten the same person that crafted Steele's belt to do one for Wayne. Below is a shot of Steele from his 1932-1933 Monogram films.
![]() (From Old Corral collection) Above - Bob Steele is about to chat with the clean shaven Charlie King in THE FIGHTING CHAMP (Monogram, 1932).
![]() But all things change - above is a crop/blowup of the gunbelt that Wayne used as a member of Republic's Three Mesquiteers. Am unsure whether this was made specifically for Wayne or supplied by Republic's prop department. |
John Wayne Enterprises is the sole and exclusive grantee from John Wayne of all commercial merchandising and allied rights relating to the use of his Name, Likeness, Signature, Voice or Photographs. John Wayne Enterprises is a limited partnership owned by the children and grandchildren of John Wayne and is managed by Ethan Wayne. Their mailing address is: John Wayne Enterprises, 210 62nd Street, Newport Beach, CA 92663, and their website is at: https://www.johnwayne.com
The John Wayne Cancer Institute is located at the Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, California, and this is their history webpage: https://www.saintjohnscancer.org/about-jwci/
The John Wayne Cancer Foundation was founded by the Wayne family and the website is at: https://johnwayne.org/
The website for John Wayne's birthplace and museum in Winterset, Iowa is at: https://www.johnwaynebirthplace.museum/
Neil Roughley's website on Wayne has tons of details on his films, DVD releases, etc. On this webpage, Neil confirms the running times of about 125 minutes for both the standard 35mm and 70mm Grandeur widescreen versions of THE BIG TRAIL (Fox, 1930). You will need to scroll down toward the bottom of that page to find Neil's notes on THE BIG TRAIL: http://www.dukefilmography.com/john_wayne_dvd_filmography.html#1930s
"John Wayne: The Forgotten History of 'The Duke' " is on the ammo.com website. The article includes Wayne's early years, movies, and lots about his political leanings and conservative politics. There's also a link to a World War II document about Wayne volunteering (unsuccessfully) for duty with director John Ford's Navy photographic unit. During WW2, U. S. Navy Reserve Commander John Ford and crew were under the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and filmed documentaries for the Navy Department: https://ammo.com/articles/john-wayne-the-duke
Kevin Dolph has a John Wayne Fan Forum at: https://dukewayne.com/
There was a website devoted to the artistic works of Pilar Wayne, John Wayne's third wife. However, when I checked in late 2017, the site was no longer working and the domain name was for sale: http://www.pilarwayne.com/
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on John Wayne: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000078/.
The Reel Classics website has a list of the Quigley Publishing Annual Top Ten MoneyMakers Poll from 1932 - 1970, and that includes Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in the 1940s. Wayne first made this list in 1949 and continued to be at or near the top of the list for several decades: http://www.reelclassics.com/Articles/General/quigleytop10-article.htm
Reel Classics pages on Wayne includes lots of images and mp3 audio clips: http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Wayne/wayne.htm
Emanuel Levy authored the book John Wayne: Prophet of the American Way of Life and has several Wayne articles on his website:
https://emanuellevy.com/comment/john-wayne-women-marriage-and-family/
https://emanuellevy.com/review/conqueror-john-waynes-worst-film/
Find A Grave website has a picture of the grave marker for John Wayne at Pacific View Memorial Park, Newport Beach, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1079/john-wayne
Jerry Murbach's Doctor Macro website has a bunch of John Wayne photos:
https://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Wayne,%20John.htm
https://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Wayne,%20John-Annex.htm
Filmsite has a detailed review and commentary on John Ford's STAGECOACH: https://www.filmsite.org/stagec.html
Tommy Woolley's tribute to John Wayne website is at: http://johnwayne.byethost3.com/The_Duke.htm