Glen Campbell considered John Wayne as one of the nicest people.
Remembering John Wayne and True Grit for the Jules Verne Festival, the event took place to tribute Wayne in 2011 in Hollywood. He couldn’t say enough good things about Wayne.
In an interview, Glen Campbell recalled how they met on the set of his television show. Wayne asked if a man named Campbell was there as his daughter wanted to meet the singer. He was shocked by his request but gladly obliged.
“You must be pretty good or my daughter wouldn’t have wanted to meet you,” Campbell recalled that Wayne said. He then asked him if he wanted to do a movie together. The rest was history!
When Glen Campbell told him that he has never acted before, Wayne had the best response. “That’s alright, I’ll drag you through it.”
“He was one of the nicest men that I’ve ever met in my life,” Campbell said of his former co-star. The two got along swimmingly and continued their friendship after the 1969 hit, True Grit.
True Grit Memory
“There was a lot of hard work and climbing up in places,” Campbell said of his role. “I said, ‘Ain’t they got a second guy for this? Whatever they call those guys – stand-ins.’ I was climbing up stuff. And, just wow.”
Campbell revealed that the horse they made him use made him look small. Wayne looked like a superior giant to the small pony-like horse.
“He had me on a damn Shetland (pony), basically for my horse,” Campbell said. “And, we’d take off running and (John Wayne) said, ‘You’ve got to catch up to us on these takes.”
“And I said, ‘This d***, little old horse won’t keep up with that big old horse,” he added. “I looked like Mickey Rooney on that horse – that short.”
John Wayne Visits Glen Campbell’s Variet Show
Glen Campbell was flattered that his buddy would be a guest on his show. An epic fiasco took place during the episode in 1971.
Comedy writer Tim Conway was also a guest on the show and greeted Wayne. He asked him how he takes the beatings in films.
“Glen, that’s him. That’s the big guy,” Conway said while grabbing Campbell’s arm. “Can you believe it, a little guy like me is gonna get to work with The Duck.”
Conway then asked Wayne to show everyone how to “take a beating.” He responded in an epic manner.
“You know, when you’re on set getting hit a lot, it must hurt don’t it, Mr. Wayne?” Conway added.
“Shoot, no,” Wayne responded before hitting him with a beer bottle. He explained that everything was fake and wouldn’t actually hurt anybody. He asked Conway if it hurt, he responded no. So then, Wayne takes it a step further. He smashed a sign over Conway’s head before he took a chair to the back. Before long, the entire set was a wreck and completely smashed.
