Duke's Movie True-Life Characters.

There are 26 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 22,313 times. The latest Post () was by SXViper.

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  • Are we supposed to be guessing the seventh one :ohmy: ? As gt pointed out, there are only six in the first post.

    Was Duke's character in Cast a Giant Shadow, Gen. Mike Randolph, a real life person?

    Chester :newyear:




    I saw a publicity shot of Duke and Kirk on the set of Cast A Giant Shadow, and the blurb on the back stated that Duke's character was a composite of George Patton and Maxwell Taylor, both of whom played important rolls in Marcus' life. So we now know that Gen. Mike Randolph was not a real life person. Too bad...Duke made him real to us. :wink_smile:

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Under playing Historical Characters what about Capt. Karl Ehrlich In "The Sea Chase" I believe the real Capt. Ehrlich was demoted by the Nazi's to a Freighter Capt. and is in fact a real person.

  • Hello ralphper. Do you know where you heard or read about a real Capt. Karl Ehrlich? I know the movie was based on a book, but I thought it was fiction. In the book, Ehrlich wants to get back to Germany so he can salvage his derailed Naval career and command a war ship for the Reich. I googled the name, but it just comes up with the character from the movie. It would be interesting to find out the truth.

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Hi

    i think the Karl Erlich character is fictional, although I could be wrong. If you read the book Erlich as a man was not quite as sympathetic as Duke portrayed him in the film.

    Regards

    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

  • I found this result for Sea Chase story. It is loosely based on true story but character played by John Wayne is more likely to be fictional than any real person.

    Mike

    Greer, Andrew
    The Sea Chase, 1948 (The German freighter ERGENSTRASSE escapes from
    Australia before the outbreak of WW II. Unarmed, she is faced with the
    task of returning to Nazi Germany in the face of the Royal Navy's
    blockade. Made into a movie with John Wayne playing the part of the
    anti-Nazi German master, Karl Erlich. Loosely based on the story of the
    ERLANGEN, a German ship which left Dunedin at the outbreak of the war.
    She sailed to the Auckland Islands where they cut 500 tons of firewood
    (rata - well known as iron wood)! They finally made it to South
    America. Good movie, great book.)

  • I have to say my favorite is when he played Lt.Col. Benjamim Vandervoort from "The Longest Day". It was probably his most accurate real life portrayol of a real life person. Short screen time but more accurate.

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne