Robert Carradine Recalls the Time John Wayne ‘Reduced Me to Tears’ on ‘The Cowboys’ Set
Robert Carradine descends from a legendary acting family beginning with his distinguished father, John Carradine and his brothers David Carradine and Keith Carradine. But following in their footsteps wasn’t always part of the plan.
“I didn’t want to be an actor. I was 18. My whole life at that point was cars and wanting to race. When The Cowboys came along around 1972, Bruce Dern eventually played the part of Long Hair, but it was offered to my brother David,” Carradine told a crowded audience at a panel at the MidSouth Nostalgia Festival in early June in Mississippi.
Working with John Wayne
John Wayne, Richard Carradine, and John Carradine on the set of The Cowboys. Everett Collection
“David said, ‘I don’t want to be the guy who shoots John Wayne in the back … but hey, there’s a bunch of kids in this movie. Why don’t you go meet those people? You got everything to gain,’ he said, ‘and nothing to lose.’ I thought about that. Everything to gain and nothing to lose.
“So I went; and I auditioned for [the part of] a kid named Slim who was scared to death in the scene. Luckily, Robert Carradine was also scared to death,” the actor joked. “So, I nailed it; and that’s how I got in the movie. That’s how it started.”
It was a quick introduction to movie making, as the production for The Cowboys left almost immediately for a location.
“I don’t even think we’d even been there a week. And we were shooting the scene where the cowboys start duking it out and I jump off the corral fence to save this kid.
“John Wayne breaks us up and tells me to ‘… get back on that fence where you belong.’ And me, with my week’s worth of experience in motion pictures, I say, ‘Hold on a second, Mr. Wayne. I don’t think you should tell me to get back on the fence where I belong. I think you should just tell me to get back on the fence because I’m the head kid.”
Well, that didn’t go well — telling The Duke what he should be doing.
“He reduced me to tears. That’s how bad he chewed me out,” Bobby admits.
Then came Lee Marvin … and that wasn’t easy either
Kelly Ward, Bobby DiCicco, Lee Marvin, Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill. United Artists/courtesy Everett Collection
Carradine was prepared to be more respectful when he was cast with another tough guy, Lee Marvin, in director Samuel Fuller’s 1980 World War II drama, The Big Red One.
“We were on location,” the actor continued, “and were headed to a firing range to practice shooting M1 rifles. The four of us — Mark Hamill, Bobby Di Cicco, Kelly Ward and me — were all waiting in the back of this stretch Mercedes for Mr. Marvin. We waited about 10 minutes. Finally, he comes down, sits in the front seat, nods to the driver and off we go. He hasn’t looked at us. He hasn’t said hello, nothing. After a few minutes, he says, ‘Which one of you is Carradine?”
United Artists/ Everett Collection
Carradine introduced himself, and got a not-especially-friendly reply: “Lee says, ‘F*** you, Carradine.’ That’s how I met Lee.”
“After we’d been on the shoot about two weeks and we’d gotten past that, I said, ‘Lee, listen, what was with that thing in the car where you told me to…? He said, ‘Well, I figured I had to keep up with four of you young sons of bitches, and I better set the record straight right out of the gate. Besides, you were the only one I’d heard of.’”
Later during the shoot, Carradine got food poisoning and was sent back to the hotel to recover. Marvin had the day off and saw Carradine coming in.
“What’s wrong?” Marvin asked. Carradine told him, to which he responded: “Huh, food poisoning.”
“He takes me into the bar,” Carradine said, “gets a double shot of Fernet-Branca, a really nasty tasting liqueur and says, ‘Drink that.’ So I drank it. And we go up to my room. He says, ‘Get in bed.’ I said, ‘OK.’ He saw my guitar and said, ‘Do you mind if I play it?’ I said, ‘No.’
“He picks up the guitar and plays ‘Red River Valley,’ puts the guitar back, kisses me on the forehead, says, ‘Get some sleep;’ and walked out. So that was Lee Marvin.”
Remind 
TV Westerns of the 50's & 60's
September 2021
’50s and ’60s TV Westerns roundup, celebrating the shows and stars of their golden age.
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