MUCH TRANSFERENCE
Kirk Douglas explained how John Wayne actually got angry at him when he abandoned his tough-guy image to play the tormented artist Vincent van Gogh in “Lust For Life.” Douglas recalls, “I remember we were at a party, and Wayne motioned for me to come out on the back porch. ‘Why are you playing a weak, sniffling guy?’ he said. He was really furious at me. It was like I was not being true to my people. I said, “Duke, we’re actors. We just create the illusion of these big macho guys. You know, John, you really didn’t win all those wars.” But we obviously didn’t see eye-to-eye. He actually thought he was John Wayne. From an interview with Tom Seligson in Parade, May 25, 1986.
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