Howdy, y'all!
We were roaming the streets of the McCandles, Texas forum over at Yahoo this evening, and came upon the following post, which we share here, as we thought it was pretty interesting. It was initiated by Sheriff Art, the founder of the forum.
Chester and the Mrs.
Hey Art!
How many of John Wayne's leading ladies are still alive?
Brenda
Howdy Brenda,
This was a hard question to work on because it forced me to realize that a lot of the young women I have enjoyed working with the Duke over the years have passed away. The last 3 years have been very hard on the Duke's leading ladies but these are the ones that I found to still be with us.
Starting in 1939 with "Stagecoach" to the "The Shootist" in 1976.
Leading Lady/ Film
Laraine Johnson/ Tycoon (1947)
JOHNSON ONCE SAID THIS ABOUT THE DUKE: I recall playing practical jokes with John Wayne. I once got a whole bunch of keys and had little tags made that said, "If lost, please return to John Wayne, RKO Studios. Reward." And I just dropped them all over town. He got a lot of phone calls, people showing up at the studio. He never learned who did it.
Maureen O'Hara/ Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles(1957), McLintock! (1963),
Big Jake (1971)
Patricia Neal/ Operation Pacific (1951), In Harm's Way (1965)
Nancy Olson/ Big Jim Mclain (1952)
Lauren Bacall/ Bloody Alley (1955), Shootist (1976)
Sophia Loren/ Legend of the Lost (1957)
Eiko Ando/ The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)
Angie Dickinson/ Rio Bravo (1959)
Constance Towers/ The Horse Soldiers (1959)
Linda Cristal/ The Alamo (1960)
Joan O'Brien/ The Comancheros (1961)
Vera Miles/ The Searchers (1956), Liberty Valance (1962), Hellfighters (1968)
Elsa Martinelli/ Hatari
Elizabeth Allen/ Donovan's Reef (1963)
Martha Hyer/ The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
Kim Darby/ True Grit (1969)
Ann-Margret/ The Train Robbers (1973)
Diana Muldaur/ McQ (1974)
Judy Geeson/ Brannigan (1975)
Thanks for the question.
See you along the trail,
Art