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Home , Ethan Wayne, Harry Carey (actor), Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Wayne, Olive Carey, Patrick Wayne

COVER STORY Uncle Jack, Duke, and Dobe C I O N W D B I O A Y THE MAKING OF , 50 YEARS LATER N S S

by William C. Reynolds

n the cinematic world of , young Jr. was close to the director’s heart. Almost a member of Ford’s family, “Dobe” Carey, as he was nicknamed, was I the son of Ford’s first major star from the era, Harry Carey Sr. (1878-1947), with whom Ford made more than 20 Westerns. Carey Jr.’s father had given him that nickname the day he was born, apparently because he had a thatch of red hair the color of the Carey ranch house’s adobe bricks. In his 20s, Dobe became a member of John Ford’s stable of actors, being cast in a number of the director’s early Westerns, including 3 Godfathers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Wagonmaster — all three of which starred . In 1955, flame-haired Dobe once again found himself on a John Ford set, but this time getting ready for one of the most important scenes of his acting life. The location was Ford’s favorite, ’s ; the star was once again the Duke; and the film was a new titled The Searchers.

RIGHT: The original movie poster, circa 1956. FAR RIGHT: as Martin Pawley and John Wayne as Ethan Edwards look after Dobe Carey, who has just run out of the scene. MOVIE POSTER: MOVIEGOODS.COM PHOTOGRAPHY: © JOHN SPRINGER COLLECTION/CORBIS

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ccoverover storystory 1205.indd1205.indd 114-115114-115 99/20/05/20/05 111:03:171:03:17 AMAM Wayne’s Ethan Edwards surveys the camp.

Seriousness permeated the making of The Searchers. “Of all the John Ford pictures I worked on, the set of The Searchers was unlike any other.” — Harry (Dobe) Carey Jr.

the scene opens, Brad is running back to charges, until an excited Brad returned, his companions. Dobe Carey described thinking he had seen Lucy alive in the the direction Ford gave him for this scene camp. It allowed — forced — Ethan to in his book Company of Heroes, My Life as open the gate on his anger. Dobe Carey an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company. “Kid, said of the moments following that go back there about 40 yards,” Ford told scene, “There was silence. Duke put his him. “When I yell, come running in here hand on my shoulder and didn’t say a like hell and sit down on Duke’s left, word. He didn’t have to.” and pull your boots on. You’ll be pulling Seriousness permeated the making of them on during dialogue. You’ve taken The Searchers, according to Carey. “Of all them off so you could sneak up on the the John Ford pictures I worked on, the Indian camp and not be heard.” set of The Searchers was unlike any other. With those instructions, Carey took Uncle Jack [as Carey called Ford] was his place some 40 yards away from much more serious, and that was the where The Duke and Jeffrey Hunter tone that pervaded the cast and crew,” were positioned. “Action!” As Carey he said. “The first scene I was in with described it, he ran like hell. As he got Duke was the one where I discover my closer he saw Ethan Edwards — not The family’s prized bull had been slaughtered. Duke — looking at him, with eyes like When I looked up at him in rehearsal, it “an angry snake.” He leapt into the sandy was the meanest, coldest eyes I had ever loam beside Wayne, and this unforget- seen. I don’t know how he molded that table dialogue began: character. Perhaps he’d known someone like Ethan Edwards as a kid. Now I wish Brad: I saw her! I saw Lucy! I’d asked him. He was even Ethan at din- Ethan: “What you saw wasn’t Lucy ... . nertime. He didn’t kid around on The What you saw was a buck wearin’ Searchers like he had done on other shows. Lucy’s dress. I found Lucy back in the Ethan was always in his eyes.” canyon. Wrapped her in my coat, bur- ied her with my own hands, I thought n mid-1955, John Ford was sitting it best to keep it from ya.” Iin his office on the Warner Bros. Brad: “Did they ... ? Was she ... ?” lot preparing to direct The Searchers. Ethan: “What do you want me to Many felt that The Searchers could be the The Searchers was for many Ford’s dark- with Ethan, most of his brother’s family known, Ethan — joined by Lucy’s boy- Wayne’s portrayal of the dark Ethan do? Draw you a picture? Spell it out? best Western — as both a book and a est and most disturbing Western. Based is brutally killed by Comanche warriors. friend Brad Jorgenson (Dobe Carey) Edwards is commonly regarded as his Don’t ever ask me! Long as you live, film — since The Ox Bow Incident in 1943. on the novel by Alan LeMay, the film Ethan’s nieces (Debbie, played as a child and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), finest performance. And one scene in don’t ever ask me more.” Both novels depicted a West with a dark is disturbing primarily due to Wayne’s by and later by her older a ward of the Edwards family whose particular, which he shared with Dobe side. The Ox Bow Incident, based on the lauded portrayal of the antihero Ethan sister , fresh from playing own family had been killed earlier by Carey, would be chiseled into film his- The look on the face of an enraged book by Walter Van Tillberg Clark and Edwards, a bitter, lonely figure back opposite in Rebel Without a — begins an obsessive five- tory and the memories of audiences Ethan is haunting as he unloads a memo- directed by William Wellman, carried from the Civil War and caught on the Cause; and Lucy, played by a teenaged year quest to hunt down and kill the everywhere. ry, remembering the unthinkable moment a sense of meanness and suspicion as losing side, both in war and life. The ) survive the massacre only to Indians who took the girls. And he In this scene, Ethan, Brad, and Martin of discovering the body of his niece. A portrayed through its main characters. story opens with Ethan’s return, after a be kidnapped by the Comanches. Driven plans to kill his nieces as well: They have have come upon the Indian encampment moment he had kept inside like all the The bitterness of the outcome of the

long absence, to his estranged brother’s by his growing hatred of the renegades become “the leavin’s of a Comanche BROS./MPTV © 1956 WARNER under the cover of darkness, and Brad has anger he had felt in his life. A moment he Civil War played a part, and The Ox Bow homestead in Texas. After a brief reunion who killed the only family he had ever buck,” says an embittered Ethan. crept in to see if he can spot the girls. As decided not to force upon his two naïve Incident delivered a scathing indictment of

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ccoverover storystory 1205.indd1205.indd 116-117116-117 99/20/05/20/05 111:03:221:03:22 AMAM LEFT: “No you don’t, Ethan!” Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter) draws a pistol on Ethan, protecting a young Natalie Wood as the much searched-for Debbie. RIGHT: Actress Dolores Del Rio sits beside The Searchers director John Ford. Behind them are film cast members John Wayne, who plays Ethan Edwards, , who plays a Union soldier, and Jeffrey Hunter, who plays Martin Pawley.

Given all that cheery TV Western content, imagine sitting down in the loge section (remember that?) of the local the- ater, ready to watch the familiar heroics of another Ford/Wayne adventure. The opening credits of The Searchers — vanilla- like in their simplicity — didn’t hint at what was to come. They start rather typically of Westerns of the period with a sort of generic “Indian warpath” orchestral theme — which stops after the title “The Searchers” appears in red. Then, slowly, comes a period ballad by the “hot” Western score composer of the time, (who also wrote the themes to the TV shows Cheyenne and Texas John Slaughter as well as one of the greatest Western songs of all time, together a family reuniting from two dis- writes that Ford used light in an almost homestead, straining to see the approach- “Ghost Riders in the Sky”). Sung by tant worlds. The rider, Ethan Edwards, painterly fashion to suggest emotion, ing horseback figure, hand over her eyes, the , Jones’ ballad approaches the homestead of the family “ ... such as bathing the sky outside the shielding herself from the harsh reality plays throughout the remaining titles. of his estranged (we never find out why) Edwards’ cabin in an eerie crimson glow, she lives in. She watches the approach of This short five-stanza song bite, “What brother, Aaron. The reunion is not a joy- just prior to Scar’s attack, suggesting the the shadowy figure of Ethan. By contrast, the heretofore optimistic frontier spirit as in a year crowded with other important Makes a Man to Wander,” sets the primary ous one, but it will be the happiest we see approaching bloodshed.” Interestingly, in a later winter scene, Ethan and Martin depicted in most Westerns of the era. The Westerns, not the least of which was theme of the story for the unwitting audi- Ethan as he moves, uncomfortably, among Ford had gone into a hospital for the come upon a herd of buffalo. The hulk- Searchers had both qualities — darkness George Stevens’ epic Giant with James ence, the story of one man’s lonely trail his brother’s family. The doorway visual removal of cataracts prior to the making ing buffalo appear as dark masses against and optimism — with Ford’s direction Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth and obsessive search: will play a similar role at the end of the of The Searchers. While recuperating after the gray of the sky and the blank, snow- giving characters individual reasons for Taylor. Other pictures that year included What makes a man to wander? film — although it will be a different door, eye surgery, according to Cowie, Ford covered landscape they inhabit. Thinking their years of searching for little Debbie. William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion with What makes a man to roam? in a different cabin. These visuals speak became impatient with the bandages and they would kill one for fresh meat, This conflict between despair and hope Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire and What makes a man leave bed and board to a beginning and an end — the literal pulled them off earlier than his doctors Martin walks in closer with Ethan to appears fully as Ethan’s anger meets head- the film version of the popular television And turn his back on home? opening and closing of a family’s harsh and advised. This action apparently resulted get a better shot. After one buffalo is on with Martin’s desire to find Debbie, series The Lone Ranger with Clayton Moore Ride away, ride away, ride away. bright reality. in his total loss of sight in one eye. killed Ethan rapid fires his Winchester, the only one left of the family that had and . Fade to black. The film’s opening scene According to Peter Cowie in his book Joseph McBride, author of two books shooting buffalo after buffalo. Martin taken him in as a child. Given the inno- The Western was an important part of is loaded with symbols with which the John Ford and the American West, Ford showed on Ford’s life, felt that “Ford’s tendency tries to stop him, but Ethan’s hatred for cence of the time, the dark aspects of The the culture. The 1950s was an optimistic director alludes to what will follow. In this the glaring contrast of the cabin at toward bolder visual strokes in his later the Comanche has surfaced again and the Searchers were disturbing to many. era. World War II and the Korean War scene, a door opens from inside a dark- the film’s beginning as Martha Edwards films and his diminishing interest in mi- flatness of the light and shadow seem to Filmed in 1955, the picture hit the- were behind us, and as a nation, America ened cabin, framing a wind-driven, barren emerges from darkness into the blister- nute detail work can be attributed in part amplify Ethan’s anger: aters in 1956. It was a golden era of was on the move. The American Dream expanse. This visual of a doorway — be it a ingly bright world outside — an almost to his poor eyesight.” Westerns — both on the big screen and was within reach. Television in the 1950s cabin, a tepee, or a cave — is Ford’s symbol blinding light. The scene suggests the Ford’s use of dark and light and shad- Martin: “Ethan, this don’t make no on television. No fewer than 47 Western was a happy place for the romance of the of a transition between two worlds — the overcoming expanse and heat of the area, ow are intrinsic to the contrasts of safety, sense.” films were released that year. Today that cowboy. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry had warmth of home, family, and consistency a rather desolate depiction of the frontier danger, and anger in many scenes in the Ethan: “Hungry, empty bellies, that’s would be called “genre oversaturation.” shows. Other television Westerns included inside the darkness as opposed to the in contrast to typically optimistic pioneer picture. At the beginning of The Searchers, the sense it makes you blanket head!

In 1956, it was simply fulfilling audi- Sky King, Annie Oakley, Cheyenne, , harsh, glaring brightness of a threatening BROS./MPTV © 1956 WARNER © JOHN SPRINGER COLLECTION/CORBIS spirits. In Code of Honor: The Making of Three Ethan’s sister-in-law emerges from the At least these won’t feed no hungry ence expectations. The Searchers opened and The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin. and unknown frontier. This scene brings Great American Westerns, Michael F. Blake shadows of the safety of the Edwards’ Comanches this winter!” PHOTOGRAPHY: 118 PHOTOGRAPHY: DECEMBER 2005 COWBOYS & INDIANS 119

ccoverover storystory 1205.indd1205.indd 118-119118-119 99/20/05/20/05 111:03:221:03:22 AMAM Edwards in pursuit. For Wayne’s Ethan Edwards, Scar represented pure evil.

“Brethren, we must go amongst them!” — (Reverend Sam) as he launches the charge against Scar’s renegades

In a later action scene, the Comanche far as to say that Ethan Edward’s famous Scar (played by the late German-born actor line, “That’ll be the day’’ inspired a song ) and several of his war- by Buddy Holly. True or not, it is safe to riors are pursuing Martin and Ethan. Scar say that the obsession that drove Ethan is the focal point of Ethan’s hatred — the Edwards became an inspirational plot one who kidnapped Lucy and Debbie and device for future filmmakers. who in Ethan’s mind killed Lucy. Martin, Dobe Carey said that John Wayne was with Ethan wounded in the shoulder by a born to play Ethan Edwards and that the Comanche arrow, must take refuge from role was significant not only to Wayne’s the attack in the shadows of a narrow career but to the lore of Hollywood. arch-shaped cave. Ford uses the image of Carey knew even as they were filming the mouth of the cave as a doorway of that something special was happening on transition from danger to safety, just as in the set of The Searchers. “From day one the first shot of the film, Martha emerges Duke was Ethan Edwards,” Carey says. from the safety of the dark cabin. In the “That character seemed to be built for action sequence, Ethan and Martin head him, and no other actor, no matter how into the cave archway — and the dark- great his talent, could have played that ness within — to find some relative safety part as well. Ironically, it was not Duke’s against the oncoming band of hostiles. favorite role, he told me. His favorite Ford uses the contrasts of dark and light was Nathan Brittles in She Wore a Yellow to illustrate the contrasts of safety and Ribbon.” exposure. Even so, he portrayed his Searchers character with such strength and inten- arious critics over the years have sity that it is forever inscribed in cine- Vcompared the plot lines of some matic history. The Duke’s Ethan Edwards contemporary non-Western films to that burns with a deadly anger that is cleansed of The Searchers. Some have gone so far as only at the end of the film with the death to state that Ethan’s quest inspired a plot of the Comanche Scar. Ironically, young line in ’ . Or that Martin kills Scar as Ethan alone rescues it’s at the center of ’s Debbie, who must flee ahead of the , written by , cavalry charge on the Comanche camp. who used it again in his own Hard Core Having waited for Martin to attempt (Scorsese said of The Searchers, “The Debbie’s rescue, part-time ranger and cave opening, in a moment of great sus- “With the camera rolling, there he was! he turned, he saw my mother, the widow away into loneliness across the red sand. dialogue is like poetry!”). “The hero full-time Reverend Sam (Ward Bond) pense, Ethan chooses a different path, to The big man standing alone in the door- of his all-time hero, standing behind the The Jorgenson cabin door slowly closes.” in each of the Schrader screenplays is launches the waiting cavalry charge. He hold high the only remaining family he way, the red desert stretching out behind camera. It was natural as taking a breath. As in the opening credits, the Sons of a loner driven to violence and madness gives the word to his troops in a humor- has, and says the words to his niece that him. The other players in the scene, Duke raised his left hand, reached across the Pioneers sing Stan Jones’ ballad: by his mission to rescue a young white ous combination of sermon and order: open his heart: “Let’s go home, Debbie.” which included my mother [longtime his chest and grabbed his right arm at the What makes a man to wander? woman who has become the sexual prey “Brethren, we must go amongst them!” The film ends with a one-minute, Ford Company actress ], had elbow. My father, Harry Carey Sr., did What makes a man to roam? of those seen as subhuman,” said one The action, at this point, gets classically one-camera scene that has been spo- passed by the camera, a joyous moment. that a lot in when Duke was a What makes a man leave bed and board? reviewer. Another described Harry Dean Western. Again, Ford’s use of dark and ken of since The Searchers premiered. The Debbie was home at last, brought there kid in Glendale, . It was Duke’s And turn his back on home? Stanton’s search for Nastassja Kinski in light reappears as Ethan chases the flee- words of Harry Carey Jr., who stood in the arms of the man in the doorway. tribute. He’d spent many a dime just to Ride away, ride away, ride away.

Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas as “a rework- ing Debbie into the darkness of another off-camera as the scene was shot, best BROS./MPTV © 1956 WARNER Uncle Jack told Duke [that] he was to see that. He stared at my mother for a The screen goes black and an American ing of the Ford story.” One critic went so cave near the camp. In the light of the describe the closing frames: look and then walk away, but just before couple of beats, then turned, walking film genre is changed forever.

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ccoverover storystory 1205.indd1205.indd 120-121120-121 99/20/05/20/05 111:03:231:03:23 AMAM EXCLUSIVE John Wayne’s

C I O N W Legacy D B I O A Y N S S C&I’S EXCLUSIVE VISIT WITH JOHN WAYNE’S CHILDREN

by William C. Reynolds

legacy is at once a strong and delicate thing, held together by the thinnest gossamer strands of memories, love, and caring. The enduring legacy of LEFT: John and in The Searchers. ABOVE: John and Aissa Wayne on the set of Donovan’s Reef. A John Wayne, and what he means to so many, con- tinues to thrive and be held high through the actions and love of groundwork early on for Wayne’s portrayal of the sentimental medical research work being done by the family foundation his children. They are joined by an ever-growing legion of fans, John Booker. Number one: Always keep your word. Number but also to revisit some of their most personal memories of many whom were not even born at the time of Wayne’s death two: A gentleman never insults anybody intentionally. And their father along with some of his favorite roles. We met at some 26 years ago. “In an age of few heroes he was the genu- number three: Don’t go around looking for trouble, but if you the Newport Beach Yacht Club across from the site of John ine article,” said President Jimmy Carter when Wayne passed. ever get in a fight, make sure you win it. Wayne’s former home. A passionate mariner, Wayne loved the Born May 26, 1907, The Duke succumbed to what he himself Today, John Wayne’s legacy and fighting spirit are para- ocean, so it seemed a family photo was appropriate near the described as “the Big C” — stomach cancer — on June 11, 1979. mount in the work of his children and grandchildren. As hard water. For the record, Wayne had seven children, four with his It was a passing America didn’t want to admit to, this death of as it was for the family to lose their patriarch to cancer, they first wife, Josephine: Michael (who died in 2003), Patrick, a legend who had come to be defined worldwide by his roles as have turned the tragedy around with both the John Wayne Toni (who died in 2004), and Melinda; and three with his the quintessential American icon, the cowboy. Cancer Foundation and the John Wayne Cancer Institute. In second wife, Pilar: Aissa, John Ethan, and Marisa. Wayne’s grace under the pressure of the cancer diagnosis the family tradition, while they may have been forced into a Cowboys & Indians has received many letters over the years was amplified by his decision to play the character John Bernard fight, they are making sure they will win it — a fight against from readers who love The Duke and are interested in his Booker in what was to be his last film, The Shootist. Booker is an the disease that took their father. family. One of the most frequent questions our readers have aging gunman who, ironically, has been told he is dying of cancer. In classic Wayne form, the Wayne children have adopted asked is, What was Wayne’s favorite character that he played? In the film, Wayne’s character, an anachronism in a modernizing a number of their father’s “rules for living” in the mission Pretty much to a person all the Waynes feel very strongly that world, has to face his own mortality while realizing he has “plain statements of these two important medical endeavors. In his favorite role was as Sean Thornton in John Ford’s 1952 plumb outlived his time.” Even with that realization, Booker describing the work of the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, classic, . Wayne’s daughter Aissa explains, “Sean holds on to his personal creed: “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be a quote from Wayne himself underscores its work: “Give the reminded me so much of the way my father was, compassion- insulted, I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to American people a good cause and there is nothing they can’t ate yet very strong and protective.” other people and I require the same of them.” As Russell Martin lick.” Another Wayne-ism, “Courage is being scared to death They also saw glimpses of Wayne’s personality in his roles states in his book, Cowboy, The Enduring Myth of the West, “It was but saddling up anyway,” appropriately describes the ground- in McClintock (1963) and True Grit (1969). “He had an incred- as if Wayne himself, the consummate mythic cowboy, had seized breaking cancer research being done at the John Wayne Cancer ible and endearing sense of humor. He was really very funny,” one last opportunity to express his personal Western golden rule Institute, which is under the umbrella of the John Wayne says his daughter Melinda with a grin. “I wish you could have before his long and incredible career was over.” Cancer Foundation. known his humor.” Like Melinda, Aissa loved his sense of Wayne’s father, Clyde Morrison — The Duke described his humor and feels that the world never really got to see the full dad as the “kindest, most patient man” he ever met — taught his summer, Cowboys & Indians brought together all of extent of it. “He really could get people laughing,” Aissa says.

© 1956 WARNER BROS./MPTV © 1956 WARNER the Wayne children, not only to discuss the important “One of my favorite memories [is his appear- John Wayne in The Quiet Man. his son three important rules for living that may have set the T

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ccoverover storystory 1205.indd1205.indd 122-123122-123 99/20/05/20/05 111:03:231:03:23 AMAM up — what you saw was what you got.” And you got the real deal — off the screen and on. Some of his children were able to experience firsthand the real-deal actor side of their dad while working with him on the set. As a child, daughter Aissa had roles in The Alamo (1960), The Comancheros (1961), McClintock (1963), and Donovan’s Reef (1963). Wayne’s son Patrick, now chairman of the board at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, had a speaking role in The Searchers as the young green- horn cavalry officer Lt. Greenhill. “My father was able to become his charac- ter,” Patrick says. “During filming, I was in the presence of Ethan Edwards, not my father. When it was over, my father was back.” Patrick remembers vividly what it was like to be with his father in public. “We all had the experience when we were young to be out at a restaurant

The most important people in John Wayne’s life, his children: from left, Patrick Wayne, or walking with him and have people Melinda Wayne Munoz, Aissa Wayne Conrad, , and Marisa Wayne-Ditteaux come up and push us out of the way (son died in 2003 and daughter Toni died in 2004). Photographed in to get his autograph,” he says. “It Southern California at the Newport Beach Yacht Club, September 8, 2005. wasn’t bad because we all knew he was ance on] the old I Love Lucy show. He loved comedy — and he could take a kidding famous and important to other people. as well as give it out. He proved that when he went to Harvard. He loved that event.” We were having lunch out one day Aissa is talking about the time in 1974 when Wayne traveled to Cambridge for a and I did ask him if it ever bothered roasting by the Harvard Lampoon. He arrived on an armored personnel carrier and was him — all the attention, fans coming presented with the Hasty Pudding Award. “Mr. Wayne, do you look at yourself as an up — and he looked at me said, ‘If American legend?” he was asked. “Well,” Wayne replied straight-facedly, “not being a they didn’t want to come up, how do Harvard man, I don’t look at myself any more than necessary.” you think we could have gotten this He could take himself lightly and still never shy away from portraying a darker lunch?’ So we all realized early on the side. “I loved the characters he played in Red River and The Searchers,” says Melinda. importance of his fans to him.” “They were characters who aged, but aged with grace and understanding of the real- Son Ethan agrees about his father’s ity they inhabited. My father was always very interested in people and wanted to hear appreciation and gratitude toward his about them and their lives. I know it helped him as an actor, but it was simply his fans. “He made it very clear that if it human concern and interest for other people. He loved people.” wasn’t for the fans he couldn’t make a And they loved him. Asked why they feel their father has maintained such iconic living,” Ethan says. “His success was status around the world, his children’s answers are simple. Daughter Marisa, a mother his fans. They really were an extended and real estate agent, believes part of Wayne’s hold on people’s hearts is due to his family to him.” directness and pride in his country. “My father loved this country and the opportu- nity it afforded people,” Marisa says. “He was a true patriot and felt America was a hat extended family continues gift to the world. He was assertive about this, and yet he was very understanding of Tto enlarge through the fam- others’ views. He was always a gentleman. It was why he felt America was special. Its BEN GLASS W. ily business. Ethan Wayne runs Wayne roots were held fast in the acceptance of diversity. He was the real deal.” For Aissa, Enterprises, which controls and licenses the lasting appeal has to do with how he led his life — with integrity: “He based the carefully crafted products that carry

his life on always trying to do the right thing,” Aissa says. “My father was not made PHOTOGRAPHY: or are associated with the John Wayne

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ccoverover storystory 1205.indd1205.indd 124-125124-125 99/20/05/20/05 111:03:271:03:27 AMAM name. He is also the director of the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, whose mission is to “bring courage, strength, and grit to the fight against cancer.” The Wayne children are all deeply dedicated to fighting the disease that took their father, and the name of John Wayne has helped carry forward much research into a variety of cancers. It’s all part of The Duke’s humanitarian legacy. “He really was a very caring person,” Patrick says. “He cared about family, his fans, and his country. He was a movie star, A John Wayne but he became more than that to so many, without all of postage stamp was us realizing it. When we were around — he tried to have us issued in September with him as much as possible when he was working — he 2004 as part of the Legends of was our father. We didn’t see a celebrity.” They see that Hollywood series. celebrity now, though, and how it is helping them in their collective fight against cancer. “Twenty-six years after his death, his celebrity is like the cavalry coming over the hill. The John Wayne Cancer Foundation and the John Wayne Cancer Institute are doing incredible work in his name and we are all dedicated to that work. The fight will be fought,” Ethan says. He pauses and looks at his assembled siblings, then across the bay to the place where their family once lived. “Our father was a movie actor who became a celebrity — and then went way beyond that. Why or how, we all really don’t know. He touched something in people — and still does. For us, as a family, he was a father — and for many others battling the disease that took him from us, he is a blessing.” Fighting Cancer he John Wayne Cancer Foundation was established Tin 1985 to advance the fight against cancer by sup- porting research, treatment, and education. In its 20th year, the foundation is committed to bringing courage, strength, and grit to the fight against cancer. Currently, the foundation funds support groups, awareness pro- grams, and various cancer research grants, including grants at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California. JWCF is also developing programming that supports men fighting cancer, an audience it has identified as underserved. The John Wayne Cancer Foundation is proud to have provided the seed money for the formation of the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Southern California. The institute has received worldwide acclaim for its translational research that has enabled rapid advances in immune therapy and the treatment of melanoma (skin cancer), breast, and colon cancer. It is also the nation’s third largest fellowship program training the surgeons of tomorrow. Other areas of research include prostate and liver cancer. With its ability to rapidly turn scientific breakthroughs into innovative approaches to treatment and early detection, the institute provides immediate hope to cancer patients around the globe. For more information on the John Wayne Cancer Foundation or the John Wayne Cancer Institute, visit www.jwci.org.

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