Why is the last name Thornton used more than once in Duke's movies?

Perhaps Cole Thornton in El Dorado was a reference to The Quiet Man?

Perhaps Cole Thornton in El Dorado was a reference to The Quiet Man?


No, I know he did a thousand movies so a last name like Smith or Jones could easily be used more than once but Thornton?

There has to be a reason!

Interesting question. As near as I can tell, the two instances ColeThornton and Parish have mentioned are the only times I know that John Wayne's character has the name of Thornton.

However, in doing a search of Character Names on IMDb, searching Thornton (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=char&q=thornton&x=18&y=5), it is fairly common.

Chester :newyear:

Robert Ryan played a great Thornton in that wonderful western "The Wild Bunch".

I had assumed Wayne was called Cole Thornton in "El Dorado" to remind older members of the audience of his earlier film.

Ialso think he used the last name york in two of his cavalay movies.
FORT APACHE& RIO GRANDE.

Hi Bill, he did. Also, the name Stryker was used in Sands of Iwo Jima and the other was the person playing the character of the Surgeon-named Stryker in the movie: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or Rio Grande. Maybe some of these names used were of those of a real friend of his or something like that?

Hi,

Duke did seem to like the names
Kirby and York!!!

And the movies he used these in were:-

Fort Apache.....Capt. Kirby York
Rio Grande....Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke
The Green Berets...... Col. Mike Kirby

But don't forget the name he used the most was

Stony Brooke

in 8 of The Three Mesquiteers

Hi everyone

Hatari-Sean Mercer
The Quiet Man-Sean Thornton Sean has vivid impression for me.

best regards
H.sanada

It's funny, but when Hank Fonda says, "Mr O'Rourke" in The Boston Strangler it always reminds me of Fort Apache.