Stalin Tried To Kill The Duke!

[itdo]

There is a new book about JW on the horizon, just got word and wanted to let you have the following info:
It's not out yet, written by Michael Munn (who's a busy bee in the field of unauthorized biografies).
Anyway, there is this episode he writes about which is probably pure Hollywood legend stuff - but too good not to be repeated here!
Munn claims to have found proof that Stalin gave orders to have JW killed because he was to active in anti-communist-institutions for the dictator's taste.
According to Munn, Russian spys sneaked into Warner Brothers but JW's bodyguards (bodyguards??? c'mon!) pulled the Duke out. Next scene: JW has kinda firing squad lined up at the beach - to let them Russkies know it's bad for their health to mess with the US - but they only shoot blanks.

And we thought his FILMS were exciting!

[baron von Rassilon]

Hmmmm, that sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out at the library (Books like that I don't waste my money on). I always thought Kitty Kelly would write something like that on Wayne.

[BrianB]

It could prove to be interesting reading, I'll keep my heads up on that one.

Brian
Tulalip Wa

[Robbie]

I think that this story is actually true there is an awful lot of evidence to support it, I will post my findings as soon as I can.

Suffice to say Duke is a real life war hero

B)

[chester7777]

I obviously talk about this message board to my co-workers A LOT, as the following message would indicate. I figured I could share it here, since it has a "Russian" connection.



"Chester",
I just heard a story about John Wayne on TV. They said when Nikita Kruschev was in the US, one of the things he wanted to do was meet John Wayne. Apparently, that night, after their meeting, they met at the hotel bar and had a little friendly drinking competition, Wayne drinking Tequilla and Kruschev drinking Vodka. When they were done it was a tie, drink for drink. What happened, the Duke should have been able to drink that little red dumpling under the table. What have your chat group got to say about that ? Kurt

Yeah . . . shouldn't the Duke have been able to drink that little red dumpling under the table? What do we have to say about that?

Chester

[dukefan1]

I hadn't heard about the drinking contest. But I have read that Krushev requested to meet John Wayne and they discussed their prefference of drink. Every year after, Krushev sent Duke a case of Russian Vodka on Christmas and Duke would send him a case of Commemorativo Tequila (Duke's favorite). As for is there was a contest in drinking, Duke must have faked it as to not hurt poor Kruschev's feelings. hee hee :P ! dukefan1

[Monique]

Hello

I had to go back eight pages to find this posting :(
When I logged onto aol this morning you will never guess what their top story of the day was
"Stalin tried to Kill the Duke!"
The artical is by Michael Munn and posted July 31st :)
States planned 3 attemps on the Duke :(
1st at Warner Brothers studio but it was uncovered
2nd on the set of Hondo <_<
3rd a sniper in Vietnam <_<

Monique ;)

[dukefan1]

Sounds like an interesting read, Monique! If you read this today, can you cut and paste that article under the media thread on this board. I sure would like to read it. I don't have aol. Mighty grateful if you can. dukefan1

[Monique]

Hello


LONDON (July 31) - Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was so outraged at the anti-communism of film star John Wayne that he plotted to have him murdered, according to a new biography of the American icon.

"John Wayne - The man behind the myth" by British writer and actor Michael Munn says there were several attempts in the late 1940s and early 1950s to kill the man known to audiences around the world as "Duke."

In the first attempt, two Russian assassins posing as FBI agents tried to kill Wayne in his office at Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood. But the plot was uncovered and the would-be killers captured, the book says, citing several sources including director Orson Welles.

The book says the Soviet plots were cancelled after Stalin's death in 1953, by his successor Nikita Krushchev, who was a fan of the larger-than-life star of more than 100 films.

"That was a decision of Stalin during his last five mad years. When Stalin died I rescinded that order," the book quotes Krushchev as telling Wayne during a private meeting in 1958.

But it says American communist groups took up the cudgels against Wayne who was a supporter of the anti-communist witch-hunt led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, citing an attempt in Mexico on the set of the film "Hondo."

Born Marion Morrison on May 26, 1907, Wayne survived these attempts and another by a sniper during a trip to visit American troops in Vietnam in 1966. He died of cancer in 1979.

07/31/03 06:00 ET

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.


Monique ;)

[Hondo Duke Lane]

Reuters has been under fire lately for making false reports, mainly about the war in Iraq. I know I have been using Reuters for the obit stories, like Bob Hope, Katherine Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and others, so I'd be careful using them as sources.

Are there any other stories from any other news source?

Cheers, Hondo B)

[Monique]

July 30, 2003

Hello
Another one

Stalin vs. Wayne
I like John Wayne, in theory. In theory he's the ideal American gunslinger, he's a Man's man, no one can keep him down, and he'd kill ya for taking his drink. In practice, the closest I've come to seeing one of his films was the beer comercial a few years ago. However, that doesn't diminish the absolute beauty in the fact that there was a Soviet plot to kill him. No. I'm not kidding.

This is the story of John Wayne, Stalin, some Ukranians and the FBI. Kruschev fits in towards the end too. This just makes me laugh. A lot. Out loud. I'm sure my neighbors are getting worried. Ok. I just made that up, my neighbors aren't worried, or, at least... I'm not laughing anymore, so they have no reason to. Yes. I'm babbling. I'm going away now.

-Jon

Posted by jon jon at 03:42 PM

Monique ;)

[Monique]

Hello
Here's the latest


August 1, 2003 / 12:22 PM ET

WHAT, NO ALIENS?

So just what is the source of this “Stalin tried to kill John Wayne” stuff? A story allegedly told to an author by Orson Welles, at a dinner party 20 years ago. That certainly justifies trumpeting it around the world, AOL. Seems to me that anybody who found a way to kill Trotsky shouldn’t have had too much trouble killing an actor, but even responding to the story is to give it more credence than it deserves. The Guardian, of all places, could show a little more circumspection.

And listen to this crap: “Wayne then relied upon a group of loyal stuntmen who infiltrated communist cells in America and learned of plots to kill him. ‘He then gathered all the stuntmen, went to the communist meetings, and had a huge fight,’ Mr Munn said. This was when Wayne believes Mr Canutt saved his life.” Oh, I believe that too, even though it sounds a lot like a “Batman” episode from when I was in kindergarten.

Oh wait, there’s more. “Wayne also told Mr Munn about an attempt to kill him by an enemy sniper while he was visiting the troops in Vietnam in 1966. ‘One of the snipers was captured,’ said Mr Munn, ‘and said there was a price on John’s head, put there by [China’s communist leader] Mao Tse Tung.’” And Jane Fonda, or at least that’s what Welles told me at a dinner party…


Monique ;)

[Monique]

Hello
Still another


Book tells how John Wayne survived Soviet assassination

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Friday August 1, 2003
The Guardian

Joseph Stalin ordered the KGB to assassinate John Wayne because he considered his anti-communist rhetoric a threat to the Soviet Union, according to a new biography of the film star based on interviews with Wayne's close associates and the movie legend Orson Welles.
Stalin apparently learned of Wayne's popularity from the Russian filmmaker Sergei Gerasimov, who attended a peace conference in New York in 1949. Michael Munn, a film historian and author of John Wayne - The Man Behind The Myth, said Gerasimov told Stalin of Wayne's fervent anti-communist beliefs.

"Stalin decided that he would have him killed," said Mr Munn, who says he was told of the plot by Orson Welles at a dinner in 1983. Welles had said that the KGB was given the task of assassinating Wayne.

"Mr Welles was a great storyteller," said Mr Munn, "but he had no particular admiration for John Wayne." He said that Welles had offered the story without prompting, and that his sources were excellent.

A prominent Russian filmmaker, Alexei Kapler (who was imprisoned for an affair with Stalin's 16-year-old daughter, Svetlana), had told another Russian filmmaker, Sergei Bondachuk, about the order. Bondachuk was sceptical at first, but after Gerasimov confirmed the story, Bondachuk told Welles.

Mr Munn said Wayne had also told him that his friend, the stuntman Yakima Canutt, had "saved his life once". Mr Munn later asked Mr Canutt what he had meant by this comment. The incident is thought to have taken place in the early 50s.

"Yakima told me that the FBI had discovered there were agents sent to Hollywood to kill John Wayne," said Mr Munn. "He said the FBI had come to tell John about the plot. John told the FBI to let the men show up and he would deal with them."

Wayne then apparently hatched a plot with his scriptwriter at the time, Jimmy Grant, to abduct the assassins, drive to a beach and stage a mock execution to frighten them. Mr Munn said he did not know what transpired, but heard the two men stayed in the US to work for the FBI.

"Afterwards though, John shunned FBI protection and did not want his family to know. He moved into a house with a big wall around it."

Wayne then relied upon a group of loyal stuntmen who infiltrated communist cells in America and learned of plots to kill him.

"He then gathered all the stuntmen, went to the communist meetings, and had a huge fight," Mr Munn said. This was when Wayne believes Mr Canutt saved his life.

A further attempt to kill Wayne was made in Mexico on the set of the film Hondo (which was released in 1953), led by a communist cell, according to Mr Munn.

The book claims that Stalin's order was cancelled by his successor Nikita Krushchev after the dictator's death in 1953. The book says Krushchev told Wayne in a private meeting in 1958: "That was a decision of Stalin during his last five mad years. When Stalin died, I rescinded that order."

Wayne also told Mr Munn about an attempt to kill him by an enemy sniper while he was visiting the troops in Vietnam in 1966. "One of the snipers was captured," said Mr Munn, "and said there was a price on John's head, put there by [China's communist leader] Mao Tse Tung."

Mr Munn said he had gathered the anecdotes over decades of work in the film industry. "I am quite convinced that it was not propagated by John or his inner circle," he added.

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Monique ;)

[Monique]

Hello

I tend to think all this Stalin vs John Wayne is a bunch of bunk

I'll go along with the story "What no ALiens?"

Monique ;)

[chester7777]

Originally posted by itdo@Jul 3 2003, 06:02 AM
. . . written by Michael Munn (who's a busy bee in the field of unauthorized biografies).

I think the important thing to remember is the part itdo commented on . . . Michael Munn's work is unauthorized. <_<

Certainly, the story about Stalin's plot made the news. I even heard reference to it on Paul Harvey News (both the morning and noon editions) on Thursday, I think.

Chester