By Henry Rosenfeld Ocean Park
“That Rutherford Guy” praising John Wayne (“John Wayne was absolutely for real,” July 17) was fine, as long as he kept to his movie roles. But then (John Whitehead) wrote: “Off-screen, he was much like the characters he played on-screen.”
Oh, really? Is that why Wayne was known back then for having “fought three war films for his country?” This brave star of Hollywood formed a smear group with wanna-be Joe McCarthy witch-hunters, exposing chosen “Communists.”
Yeah, lovely guy. If “John Wayne was the real deal,” he should have used his real name — Marion Morrison.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 19, 2007. Read the original PDF.