Even Hollywood’s biggest stars need to find solace in friendships of their own. Movie star John Wayne found exactly that in another actor named Ward Bond. They had a longtime friendship that ran deep, as they spent many times drinking and getting up to various dangerous antics together. However, it would occasionally go a bit too far, as Wayne once lit Bond’s chest on fire to get him to go out on the town drinking with him.
John Wayne and Ward Bond were close friends
According to JohnWayne.com, the friendship between Wayne and Bond extended to filmmaker John Ford to create the ultimate trio. The two actors’ relationship originally started as a professional one, but they soon discovered that they had a lot in common. Wayne and Ford regularly took jabs at Bond as part of “ongoing jests,” but he would always try to get the last laugh.
Their friendship lasted some 30 years until Bond’s death in 1960 as a result of a heart attack. Wayne once wrote that he never stopped thinking about his close friend, even going as far as thinking about what roles would be perfect for him in screenplays he read.
John Wayne lit Ward Bond’s chest on fire to get him to go drinking
Carolyn McGivern’s John Wayne: A Giant Shadow chronicled some of the friendship that the actor had with Bond. He was always there for the Western movie star through thick and thin, always helping him in times of need from life’s pressures and boredom. However, Bond was also there for Wayne when he wanted to get into some trouble for fun, which frequently included drinking together.
One night, in particular, found Wayne desperate for Bond to go out drinking with him, but he refused to go out with him. As a result, he poured vodka on his friend’s chest and lit it on fire to get him up and moving. Bond ultimately agreed to go out drinking with his friend.
Another instance of their antics included after they were already drunk. Bond bet that his friend couldn’t knock him off a newspaper that he was standing on in a doorway. Naturally, Wayne took him up on this bet and punched his fist through the door, knocking him down and winning the bet. McGivern questioned how they managed to survive all of these types of antics over the years, but they did.
He got banned from drinking on ‘The Fighting Seabees’ set
Bond did his best to help Wayne through the toughest times of his life, including failed romantic relationships. However, he couldn’t help him through all of it. Wayne frequently got into fistfights after he went out drinking, which put him in a troubling situation.
He was filming 1944’s The Fighting Seabees for director Edward Ludwig. Wayne played Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan in the World War II drama, but he would go out drinking during the filming. Ludwig ultimately banned the actor from going to the local bars while they were filming because he would lose half as many fights as he would win. As a result, the make-up artist was frequently having to disguise the “lumps and bruises” that he got from the fights.