John Wayne: The Dukes Private World

Publish date: 2024-05-26

John Wayne: The Duke’s Private World

1947
Gary Cooper joins Wayne for a vacation in Acapulco, Mexico, where Wayne and Johnny Weissmuller owned the Hotel Los Flamingos, which they ran as a private club for their pals.
1947
Wayne at his resort hotel in Acapulco, Mexico in the late 1940s
These images first appeared in the Oct. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter in this story.
1950s
Wayne at his home in Newport Beach, California with his third wife Pilar Pallete in the 1950s
1950s
Wayne celebrates a birthday with daughter Aissa, his first child with Pilar, in the late '50s
1950s
On his yacht off the coast of Marina del Rey in the 1950s, Wayne is joined by his son Patrick (left) and daughter Toni, two of the four children he had with his first wife, Josephine. The boy in the middle is Stern's son, Philip, who grew up to become a pilot and was killed in a crash in the early '60s.
"This one is a little painful to look at," Stern says.
1955
Wayne and co-star Lauren Bacall (who at the time was Mrs. Humphrey Bogart) in Oakland, California on the set of Blood Alley.
1956
Wayne gazes lovingly at his daughter Mary Antonia "Toni" Wayne on their way to her 1956 wedding to Donald La Cava in Hollywood. "He was a good father in the sense of generosity and attention he paid his kids," recalls Stern, who was the wedding photographer. "He also was very aware of publicity and all that, and those pictures appeared in the press."
1957
Wayne, who would campaign against smoking after he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964 and had a lung removed, has a cigarette while in costume on the set of Legend of the Lost, in which he starred with Sophia Loren. They shot in the Libyan town of Ghadamis, which, Stern recalls, Wayne insisted on calling "God damn it!"
1959
Wayne on vacation in Acapulco, Mexico.
1959
Wayne on vacation in Acapulco, Mexico in 1959
1959
Wayne in costume on the set of The Undefeated in Durango, Mexico.
1959
Wayne water skis at his resort in Acapulco, Mexico.
1959
Wayne in Brackettville, Texas, on the set of The Alamo, which he starred in and directed. Director John Ford volunteered as an assistant director on the movie, notes Stern, as a favor to his pal.
1960
Wayne doing a wardrobe test for The Alamo in Texas
1965
Wayne gathers his extended family at his Marina del Rey home. Wayne, who was married three times, had seven children — four from his marriage to first wife Josephine Alicia Saenz, daughter of the consul general of Panama in the U.S., and three with Pilar — and 21 grandchildren. His second wife was Mexican actress Esperanza Baur.
1969
In 1969 on the set of True Grit, for which he'd win his best actor Oscar. Wayne clowns around in costume, minus Rooster Cogburn's eye patch. Not known for his sense of humor, he normally wouldn't do anything like this. "It's out of character for him," says Stern.
1969
Wayne in Colorado on the set of True Grit
1969
Wayne in Colorado on the set of True Grit
1969
Wayne looks in on Ethan and Marisa, two of his three children from his marriage to Pilar, as they arrive to visit him in Colorado during the filming of True Grit. They had just flown in by private jet. Explains Stern, "He almost always had his family come to location. He had an aircraft like a station wagon to take the family with him."
1969
Wayne, then 62, at his home in Newport Beach, Calif., gets a hug from his daughter Marisa, who was 3 when this picture was taken. Her mother is Peruvian actress Pilar Palette, Wayne's third wife.