The book “John Wayne: A Giant Shadow” by Carolyn McGivern reveals that Wayne regrets turning down Dirty Harry
- Clint Eastwood is an iconic actor and director in Hollywood since the 1970s.
- John Wayne, the senior actor who was the senior of Eastwood, had a feud with him over their movies and regretted turning down the role of Dirty Harry
- Both actors had a long-running feud with each other
Clint Eastwood became one of the most prominent and iconic actors and directors in the world of cinema since the 1970s. Starring in several iconic roles and directing several iconic movies, Eastwood became the gun-slinging icon of Hollywood.
Another actor who was the senior of Eastwood, John Wayne, had never met the actor but they both found themselves in a feud over their movies. John Wayne regretted turning down one very important role in Western cinema that later went on to his arch-nemesis!
John Wayne Accidentally Passed A Role To His Arch-Nemesis Clint Eastwood!
Before Western cinema found Clint Eastwood, Hollywood had veteran actor John Wayne for the movies. Starring in iconic films such as El Dorado, Rio Bravo, and, The Quiet Man, John Wayne was revered all over the world as an iconic actor.
It wasn’t until Clint Eastwood picked up the role of Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, that Eastwood found fame unparalleled as he started redefining the Western genre one movie at a time. In 1971, Don Siegel created the iconic film Dirty Harry. In the book titled John Wayne: A Giant Shadow
As per the book, Wayne would often ask himself “How did I ever let that one slip through my fingers?”. After turning down the role, the iconic character was portrayed by none other than his arch-nemesis Clint Eastwood and the role became one of his most iconic portrayals of all time!
Clint Eastwood Had A Generational Gap With John Wayne
Although both actors had a long-running feud with each other, the reason was never disclosed. Having never met, John Wayne had a problem with Eastwood’s film High Plains Drifter since it was redefining Western cinema. As per Eastwood, John Wayne wrote him a letter (via Far Out Magazine) wherein he described the generational gap between them.
“He [Wayne] said it wasn’t really about the people who pioneered the west. I realised that there’s two different generations, and he wouldn’t understand what I was doing. High Plains Drifter was meant to be a fable. It wasn’t meant to show the hours of pioneering drudgery. It wasn’t supposed to be anything about settling the West”.
Well, whatever the case may be, both actors had the time of their lives in redefining Hollywood and Western cinema as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood became the stuff of legend.