Well, Paula, I prefer to think that it was Son's agent's fault. Really too bad Ben wasn't in more Ford films. Too bad that Pappy didn't realize what his little tirade was going to cause in someone like Son. He lost Henry Fonda for years......but in the end, Hank remembered the good parts about Pappy and came back to the fold. Am into Son's book, but I will email the rest so as not to stray off topic. KEITH
Display MoreFrom what I've read, John Ford wanted to hire Ben Johnson for a role in The Sun Shines Bright (I presume the John Russell one), ready to forget about that fracas on the set of Rio Grande.
But -- there are two different stories about why Ben was not in the film.
Version 1 (This is in Harry Carey, Jr.'s Company of Heroes) -- Unfortunately unbeknownst to Ben, who would have loved to work with Ford again, his agent demanded too much money and Ford hung up the phone and didn't hire Ben again until Cheyenne Autumn in 1964.
Version 2 -- Ben had taken 1953 off from movie-making to pursue the roping world championship (which he did win) and when Ford called about The Sun Shines Bright, Ben told him he couldn't make it, he had to be at a rodeo on the reporting date for the movie. Ford said, well, if he had somewhere more important to be, never mind, and .. Cheyenne Autumn 1964.
