Stalin plot to kill Wayne

The Sun ^ | 7/29/2003 | ALLAN HALL

[sjersey]

SOVIET tyrant Josef Stalin ordered hitmen to kill movie idol John Wayne, it was claimed yesterday.

The murderous dictator feared that famously anti-Communist superstar Wayne would thwart his plans for a global red revolution.

British historian Michael Mann said: “Stalin saw him as a gigantic propaganda symbol against the Soviets.

“He was much more subtle than the atomic bomb but Stalin saw him as no less deadly.”

He said that two exiled Ukrainians living in America were given a contract to shoot the movie gunslinger, nicknamed The Duke.

They broke into his changing room at Warner Brothers’ Hollywood studios in 1943 — but the FBI ambushed them.

The Ukrainian pair then revealed they were acting for Stalin.

Mr Mann, who has written a book on the plot due out in the autumn, claims Wayne wanted to send the men back to Moscow “in wooden boxes” — but the FBI would not let him.

He says the death sentence on Wayne ended when Stalin died in 1953.

When Nikita Kruschev took over he ordered the KGB to stop plotting against Wayne — his favourite actor.

[Calpernia]

Ping

[SandRat]

Say what???

John Wayne made a film in 1953 or 54 playing the part of an FBI agent in Hawaii filmed on location, hunting a Commie cell and its leaders plotting to sabotage Pearl Harbor Naval Base. I sure it was somewhere in that time period because the newest car in the movie, driven by the Duke naturally, was a 1953 Ford business coupe. The costar was... darn I can't remember his name but he ended up playing Marshall Matt Dillon on Gun Smoke, anyway he was the Duke's FBI partner in the movie. Heck of a good movie though for its age and way of pointing out the RED menace in such a direct and simple fashion that Sen. Joe McCarthy and Ann Coulter would love it. Surprisingly, this movie has even been on Turner Movie Classics a couple of times.

So, I think you are off by nearly a decade.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Stalin plot to kill Wayne

"What happens here, stays here."

[The Duke]

"Josef Stalin, you son of a bitch ... fill your hands!"

[Burkeman1]

I think I have to agree with you. Even Reagan wasnt doing anti communist agitation in 43'. This smells real bad.

[Reagan Man]

Big Jim McLain!

John Wayne's co-star was Jim Arness, who a short time later, went on to play Marshall Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke. John Wayne was offered the part of Marshall Dillion first, but turned it down. He suggested a firend of his might be perfect for the part. And Wayne introduced the very fiirst episode of Gunsmoke to America.

[beckett]

Michael Mann? You mean the guy who created Miami Vice? Yeah, this sounds like the kind of "history" the producer of a cheesy TV cop show would come up with alright.

Not for nothin, but John Wayne wasn't all that famous in 1943. He broke through in Stagecoach in 1939, true, but his big fame didn't hit til The Fighting Seabees in 1944 and then more so after the war. I doubt Stalin felt the need to "liquidate" him in 1943, especially seeing as how the Russians were our allies at the time.

[SandRat]

You got it!!!!

[Reagan Man]

Another good anti-commie film from The Duke, was "Blood Alley" (1955) with Lauren Bacall.

[Bobby777]

dunno ... there was the rumor they were related but of course they are not ... nonetheless, I imagine Josef would have been proud of Saddam ...

[general_re]

"What happens here, stays here."

"Yeah, right..."

[Trajan88]

The "Quite Man" ROCKS!

Trajan88

[Shmokey]

I hope Oliver Stone doesn't see this post!

Martin Sheen as John Wayne
Bea Arthur as Stalin

[oyez]

I thought they meant Wayne County, MI. Never mind.

[Drammach]

Marshall Matt Dillon = James Arness...

As an aside, Arness played the monster in "The Thing from Outer Space".

[DPB101]

Walt Disney, John Wayne, King Vidor,Adolphe Menju, Gary Cooper and other anticommunists founded the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in 1944. Disney had been under attack from the Communist Party USA since before WWII and under attack by Soviet stooges in the FDR administration during the war. MIAPIA worked closely with the House Committee on Un-American Activities to root out subversives in Hollywood.

[nightdriver]

"And Wayne introduced the very fiirst episode of Gunsmoke to America."

On TV only.

Gunsmoke was the creation of William Conrad who also played the character on radio for years before the TV show came out. "Chester" was played by Parley Bayer (sp?), "Kitty" was played by Georgia Ellis, and Howard McNeer (sp?) played "Doc."

The radio show also had great background music which was so rich in sound it could raise the hair on the back of your head.

[Burkeman1]

Interesting- But I still doubt the attempt to kill John wayne in 43'. And wasn't Hollywood making such disgusting Pro Stalin films like "Mission to Moscow" and "North Star" that basically glorified Stalin and justified his murderous purges of millions at this time?

[DPB101]

Yes--at the behest of Soviet agents in the FDR administration.

If there were a hit put out, I would expect Disney to have been the target and the hit to have come from American communists. They did everything they could to destroy him.

Stalin and the CPUSA often hired the mob to carry out its hits. They also used the mob for other work. The first smear of McCarthy (who also had a contract out on his life) being a homosexual came from the publisher of the Las Vegas Sun.

[Reagan Man]

Thanks for that info.