Injured John Wayne struggled to breathe with oxygen masks on Rooster Cogburn set | Films | Entertainment | EUROtoday

After successful the Best Actor Oscar for 1969’s True Grit, John Wayne returned for a sequel with 1975’s Rooster Cogburn – which is on ITV4 right now – alongside Katharine Hepburn. However, Duke had severe well being points going again to when he had a cancerous lung eliminated a decade prior.

Earlier in 1974, Wayne headed to London to shoot cop film Brannigan, however had a extreme bout of pneumonia and was recognized with coronary heart issues earlier than manufacturing started.

During filming, Duke met Katharine Hepburn who regardless of being simply two weeks older than him had by no means met the Western star not to mention starred in a film with him.

She had been filming 1975’s Love Among the Ruins with Sir Laurence Olivier and regardless of their political variations enormously admired Wayne.

The two stars agreed to make True Grit sequel Rooster Cogburn collectively later that yr, though like Brannigan it could not be a straightforward manufacturing.

Alongside pneumonia, Wayne had coughed so arduous at one level that he broken a valve in his coronary heart, a problem that wouldn’t be recognized till 1978, a yr earlier than he died of most cancers. Rooster Cogburn’s filming befell in Oregon and Duke needed to depend on his oxygen masks for prime altitudes, one thing he tried to maintain hidden from the general public. In truth, on one other film, he screamed at a photographer and demanded the movie that captured the reality of his illnesses; determined to take care of his macho picture.

If this wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, the 67-year-old injured himself on the Rooster Cogburn set whereas educating his eight-year-old daughter to play golf. But fortunate for him, his character’s eye patch lined the mark.

Dealing with all these bodily issues took a toll on Wayne’s endurance and he would turn into severely pissed off with Rooster Cogburn director Stuart Miller’s occasion on doing a number of takes. In one outburst, Duke ranted: “God damn it Stuart, there’s only so many times we can say these awful lines before they stop making any sense at all.”

His co-star Hepburn, who largely revered the actor more often than not, would turn into bemused by his argumentive nature on set and informed him on the wrap get together: “I’m glad I didn’t know you when you had two lungs, you must have been a real b*****d. Losing a hip has mellowed me, but you!”