Hi John Wayne Heads

Do any of you know if john wayne was shot at by his second wife Esperanza Baur, I have heard this story recently and it was supposed to be the cause of the end of his second marraige, because esperanza had a younger lover and wanted to get rid of the duke. The story i think was leaked by one of john waynes children from his first marriage. It must have been a stormy relationship.
:P

As John Wayne would say in Big Jake Shootister "Not Hardly", it was duke who had countless affairs, I think somebody is just pulling your leg. :lol:

B)

I know that I read about that in Aissa Wayne's book. I'll have to find that incident in her book, and I will share with you what I find a little later.

Chester

On page 11 of her book John Wayne, My Father, Aissa Wayne says,

During the making of Angel and the Badman, Chata had convinced herself that my father was sleeping with Gail Russell. My father's handpicked costar, Miss Russell was then twenty-three, emotionally fragile, and dazzlingly beautiful. My father told the court that on the evening of the movie's wrap party, when he had arrived home at one thirty AM, "My wife refused to let me in. I could hear her and her mother talking about me loudly. I rang the bell but they wouldn't open the door. Then I broke a glass panel, reached in, and opened it myself. Chata and her mother, they came charging out. Chata had a forty-five in her hand. She and her mother were fighting over it."

Under oath, Chata said she thought my father was a burglar; that's why she ran out clutching the gun. My father told a different story. He said his wife had been drunk and hysterical, demanding to know if he'd just come from a motel with Gail Russsell. Insisting he betrayed her, she turned the loaded pistol on him, threatening to end her husband's life. When his attorney asked my father if there had been any affair with Miss Russell, and a trip to any motel, my father said, "Absolutely not." He said he and Miss Russell had shared only friendship.

Aissa goes on to say that the divorce proceedings between the Duke and Chata were filled with ugly accusations on both sides. Among other things, Chata accused the Duke of repeated acts of physical cruelty, saying that he had "clobbered" her. JW countered with charges of his own, saying that he merely protected himself from her drunken rages. (Something I find particularly humorous is a report that during all the coverage of their divorce proceedings, there was a young woman on the steps of the L.A. courthouse with a large sign that said, "JOHN WAYNE, YOU CAN CLOBBER ME ANY TIME YOU WANT.")

A year after their divorce, Chata died in a Mexico City hotel room, "thirty-eight and an alcoholic. The newspapers said she died alone, of a heart attack. Her sad little room was strewn with empty bottles." (page 12 of the same book)

It was a sad stage in John Wayne's life. :(

Chester

Dear Chester

Where can I get my hands on that transcript youve got over the shooting incident with John Wayne and one of his wives which did actually take place. My sources dont pull my leg Robbie.

:P

Shootister,

I realize that with a handle like yours, "shooting" has special meaning :) , but I want to stress that as I read it, no shots were fired.

I got my copy of John Wayne, My Father , by Aissa Wayne, from Amazon.com. If I remember correctly, mine was used and quite reasonable in price. :)

Chester

The story of the shooting incident is quite hard to track down. It came up in the divorce trial, and there, of course, where two points of view. It's difficult to trust even Aissa's and Pilar's book, because, for one - they had a little help writing them (aka ghostwriters) and second: if you look at their sources, they (the additional writers who dealt with the Duke's past - because this happend before Aissa's and Pilar's time) just looked it up in earlier books on JW's life. If I remember correctly, Pilar's book even lists Maurice Zolotow's book - and this author was accused by Wayne himself to have done a sloppy research. So... if there really was a shooting incident, I for one will romantically believe that John Wayne did just a little hell-raising that night, stumbled in, broke down on the couch - and then that bitch he married took a shot a this poor, unguilty man! Lucky for us she was the kind of sharpshooter Ransom Stoddard was.

Dear Itdo

I like your style in terms of this topic, that made me laugh anyway even if we havent found out as much as we would have liked, nice one itdo. :D :D

Miss Shootister this piece of fiction is just that fiction John Wayne never came close to being shot by his wife, it is true he came back drunk and was mistaken for a burgalar, read the life and times of John Wayne. I would also like to state that he never hit his wife. I am a little disappointed that this messageboard seems to have bcome a witch hunt of the Duke usually saturated with inaccurate statements relating to him being sexist, not going to war, getting shot by his wife, Shootister I apprecaite that you can voice your opinion but stop trying to turn the great man into a wimp, he wasnt and in an era when men are being shot by their wifes I would hardly call it "SOMETHING" if Duke was indeed shot by his.

B)

Mrs robbie how do you know if john wayne hit his wife or not where you even born back then???

I think you better come down of your morally high horse if youll excuse the pun and join everyone else down here on earth. Nobodys trying to to make john wayne into a wimp you have over reacted, i was merely discussing an issue which nobody but john wayne and his wife know the whole truth about anyway. Whos to say off camera john wayne was a wimp or wasnt, dont believe everything you read is all that i would say.

Miss Shootister (I take it you are a Miss as no man would have you) :lol:

Just as sure as the turning of the earth.
Just as sure as night follows day.
Just as sure as Northern Ireland is not called the occupied six counties :D

John Wayne did not ever hit his wife and is is laughable that you think we was a wimp off screen.

The shooting incident that you have got so excited about never happened although it is reported that a viet cong soldier did take a shot at Duke when he was in a Vietnam.

Where I was born does not limit my knowledge on Dukes life either Miss.

Regarding me being on a morally high horse I feel one needs to get on it once in a while to right the wrongs and be a crusader for the truth.

To demean, the name of a legend and everything he stood for is a disgrace especially when the facts are wrong and doing it via a false name through a universal messageboard tell me more about you Miss Shootister than your wild accusations about the Duke.

B)

Note to posters - no flames.

Since as the poster said and I happen to agree - nobody but John Wayne and his wife know the whole truth - I think it best to agree to disagree or at least to acknowledge that we dont know.

Robbie and The Shootister - calm down.
No further comments are needed.

Thanks for your co-operation!

Vicki B)

No, let them fight it out!
I feel we have been cheated out of a great finale!
(so much for my Swiss neutrality, Robbie :lol: )

Maybe tis'll help:
In Tall in the Saddle and in El Dorado he gets shot at by women - and he never shot back!
In Legend of the Lost and in Shepherd of the Hills he gets knocked out by women - and he never hit back!

Now shouldn't that tell us somethin about THE MAN? I don't think so.

For Robbie!!

Lol I have to laugh at some of the ridiculous comments made by your self Mrs Robbie I assume that as John Wayne Changed his name from a females to a males you have done the same is it roberta or rubber bertie. :P

Yeah we know all about Johns on screen antics but very little about when he went home and closed his door dont defend something you cant prove roberta.

I never said he hit his wife merely that there was a rumour that his wife tryed to kill him. Its hardly surprising when a man who on the screen showed so much moral and of the screen was a bit of a hypocrite by not being able to keep his trousers pulled up very often and broke his marriage vows countless times.

But i suppose The Big Man did like a big drink as he trusted no man who didnt drink, perhaps this was his downfall in many ways as most greats have there vices. The Duke had rampant stomach and lung cancer one can only think the lung cancer was caused by the smoking and the drinking must have burned out his stomach. There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see. :ph34r:

Ps I dont wish to be brought into another Political debate with an amateur, thanks.

Hey, my little Let-them-fight-it-out-remark was meant as a joke! I figgered it was all quiet at the OK corral... But I guess there was just one round left. :o

LOL

You like a good old fight dont ya itdo your little let em fight it out spurred me on to bigger and better things. :rolleyes:

Hello everybody!

It did happen. The woman was in her habitual drunken jealous rage at the time, so who knows. I for one, believe that Itdo is on the right track. I've no doubt that a tremendous fire fight ensued. According to my sources SHOOTISTER, it happened a little something like this.
J.W. had to break the door down to get into his house. Or maybe he didn't HAVE to break the door down. Either way, the door was destroyed beyond repair.
Espoe, along with her mother, was barricaded behind a sofa. When John roared into the room, demanding an explanation as to why the door was locked, they opened fire!
With catlike reflexes, John dove into an adjoining room, quick-drawing his Colt 45 at the same time.
Espoe to her mother: "I think I got him!":D
Mother: "No you didn't! I did!"
John was in fact hit. Not many know this, but a bullet did crease his scalp, destroying his toupee.
Espoe: "I hit him! I knocked that muskrat right off his head! Didn't I Johnny?!!
John looked longingly at his high quality hair piece; knowing but not wanting to accept that it was ruined. Rage boiled within him. :angry: "Damn you women!" Pulling his other colt, he spun around the corner and emptied four chambers with blazing speed. One of the slugs caught Mother Baur high in the left shoulder, sending her flying into the wall behind. Espoe stands up with a roar! John stood to meet her yelling, "Remember the hairpiece!" They stood facing eachother and emptied their guns. After they had both clicked on empty chambers, they stared awkwardly at one another until the discomfort was too great to bear. :unsure:
J.W.: "Well, uh, I'm gonna go see Ward."
Espoe: "Yeah, okay."
J.W points at Mother Baur, sprawled awkwardly against the wall and bleeding. "Is she uh, she alright?"
Espoe glances over her shoulder at the wounded body.
"She's okay. I think she just bumped her head. She'll be fine." B)

And that's how it happened folks. Sorry Robbies' and Shootister, I know it isn't the melo-dramatic soap opera that you so desperatley want to believe, but, the truth never is.

Northerner. ;)

Ok North er ner fail to see your point.