By ERIC C. RODENBERG
AntiqueWeek Associate Editor LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The personal belongings of one of the last legendary actors – John Wayne – will come up for auction Oct. 3-6 at Heritage Auction.
The auction itself may become legendary, as the actor’s family clears out a large warehouse untouched after Wayne’s death in 1979.
To Heritage, the auction was important enough that company president Greg Rohan personally handled the deal.
It’s important enough that public exhibits are scheduled in Dallas and New York City prior to the auction.
“This could be one of the most important auctions Heritage – or anyone – has ever done,” Rohan said. “When I walked into that warehouse at Newport Beach, and saw these items that were personally used by John Wayne … that no one had seen, including the family, for the past 32 years, I had chills running down my spine. It was an incredible moment.”
The family-owned John Wayne Enterprises had unpacked all The Duke’s belongings and, with the help of a well-respected curator, had everything on tables – each item identified and cataloged.
Up for auction will be the iconic eye-patch and hat worn by Wayne as hard-drinking, fearless U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Everything the serious Wayne fan can want is up for auction: several of the actor’s cowboy boots and hats, his driver’s license, passport and American Express card, and even movie scripts annotated with The Duke’s handwriting.
John Wayne made more than 170 movies, mostly Westerns and war movies before his death in June 1979 of stomach cancer at the age of 72.
Ethan Wayne, one of the actor’s sons, was even astonished by the display.
“I saw this, and said, ‘oh, my gosh, here’s everything from our house – even from my own room – back when I was 17 years old,” Wayne told AntiqueWeek. “It was a lot of memories.”
Ethan Wayne, who is also president of John Wayne Enterprises, said the family had just decided to make the items available to the actor’s fans.
“My dad was always close to his fans,” Wayne said.
“He told me a long time ago that his fans were very important; they allowed him to do what he wanted to do, allowed the family to have a certain lifestyle … they were always No. 1 in his mind.
“Museums already have special items like his artwork and memorabilia. And when my father died, we were allowed to pick a few items that were personal to us. The museums are covered and we’re covered. What’s next? – the fans.”
As president of the foundation since 2003, Wayne said he couldn’t remember a day going by without someone calling the office, asking for “a scrap, or anything personal” that belonged to his father.
Billed as the first ever single-owner auction from John Wayne’s personal archive, between 1,000 and 2,000 items will be offered, according to Rohan, who said the company was still cataloging for the auction. Pre-sale estimates for individual items range from $100 to $50,000.
John Wayne knew – and corresponded – with more people, worldwide, than nearly any other celebrity of the contemporary era. For fans, there will be his correspondence with U.S. Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan and Carter, in addition to film history interest in his correspondence with director John Ford.
There’s even the actor’s 1929-1930 identification card bearing the name “Duke Morrison,” which he may have only used in one film. Wayne was actually born Marion Robert Morrison.
There are also items of interest shared among his friends, other actors and “real working cowboys.”
Ethan Wayne, as a young man, remembers some of his father’s friends.
“They were really rough, tough – real men,” Wayne recalls. “I remember being around people like Lee Marvin, John Ford, Ward Bond, and these people weren’t like your actors today. I’m not knocking today’s actors, but they just didn’t have the background that these men had – all those old guys back then were tough. They had been out there in the world.”
Rough, tough director John Ford, affectionately called “Pappy” by The Duke, was a special friend of Wayne’s for nearly 50 years (in True Grit, Wayne’s eye-patch is worn over his left eye, the same eye over which Ford wore his for years). Between 1945 and Ford’s death in 1972, the pair made 12 films together, many of them considered classics today.
Among those were The Searchers (with Bond), The Horse Soldiers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (with Marvin), Fort Apache, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande.
The younger Wayne said his dad’s favorite movie was The Searchers. Also among his dad’s favorites were Reap the Wild Wind, Wake of the Red Witch and Red River. “This wasn’t a flip decision (to sell the Wayne memorabilia),” Wayne said. “I think that my dad would approve of what we’re doing. I think it’s an appropriate time.”
Ethan Wayne said he has kept a “little trinket” his father gave him years ago, in addition to his first 20-gauge shotgun and an air compressor his dad bought him. “I just never had a bunch of John Wayne stuff around,” he said. “Most of what I have kept of my father is inside me. There was quite an age difference … sometimes I would do something and I’d think, ‘oh my God, he’s going to kill me,’ but I think inside he was laughing; and admiring the spirit, thinking he would probably do the same if he were younger.
“But, later on in life, I realized the old man was really trying to teach me things. He was always saying don’t dwell on the negative things; be adventurous, be positive, don’t be afraid to take that certain step. I have a lot of memories, but also there was a lot of guidance. The most important things (he left) are inside me.”
For more information, call 214-528-3500 or visit www.ha.com |
