John Wayne so enraged by Robert Duvall he threatened to punch him on True Grit | Films | Entertainment | EUROtoday

The actor in query was Robert Duvall, who performed Lucky Ned Pepper in True Grit. The 94-year-old was 38 on the time and was but to turn into the main man he would in his later Hollywood profession. He was recognized for having a fiery mood identical to his outdated roommate Gene Hackman, who he lived in New York with alongside Dustin Hoffman once they have been poor younger thespians. All three loved sensible jokes, however Duvall and Hackman have been recognized for having brief fuses which led to explosive bar fights.

Hoffman has beforehand shared how Duvall ended up incorporating his real-life anger into his performances. The True Grit actor would select an viewers member he pretended to hate after which shouting ‘f*** you!’ when he left the stage following a curtain name.

As a technique actor, he turned annoyed when Wayne and True Grit director Henry Hathaway’s plans for his character didn’t match up together with his. As a outcome, confrontations on set turned commonplace. He mentioned in 2015: “The director and I didn’t get along — I don’t get along with a lot of directors.” And on one other event, added: “Henry Hathaway… we won’t talk about him.”

Duvall became irritated by Hathaway’s dictatorial and aggressive directing style, with the actor remembering: “He’d say, ‘When I say, ‘Action! Tense up, Goddam you.’ It’s hard to work under that as a young actor.” As a result, the pair would have fierce arguments which eventually were interjected by Wayne himself. True Grit was Duke’s passion project after all and the Western legend ended up fighting with Duvall himself to the point where he threatened to punch him if he didn’t stop arguing with Hathaway.

The Lucky Ned Pepper star may never have gotten over his feuding with Hathaway, but would speak highly of Wayne despite this altercation. Despite winning Best Actor for True Grit, Wayne wasn’t happy with his performance as Rooster Cogburn and later called the award “beginner’s luck”. Yet Duvall admitted: “Wayne wasn’t as bad as some supposedly serious actors I’ve seen who trained at the Actors Studio and all that… Wayne was interesting to be around. He was pleasant and outgoing.”