John Wayne’s Son Patrick Remembers His First Kiss — With His Dad’s Famous Costar
John Wayne had seven children, but Patrick Wayne was the only one who followed him in pursuing a Hollywood career. And that film career led young Patrick to receive his first kiss from none other than Maureen O’Hara, his father’s frequent costar.
“It was totally improvised,” Patrick revealed at the MidSouth Nostalgia Festival. In The Long Gray Line, Wayne, who was around 15 years old at the time, played “a graduate of West Point and it’s World War I,” he explained. “We’re going to war and she looks at me like she knows I’m not coming back. She grabbed me and gave me a ‘big lippy.’ Wow!”
Laurie Jacobson/ReMIND Magazine
“I was fortunate to make several pictures with Maureen O’Hara including The Quiet Man in 1951,” he continues. “We were on location in Ireland. On the weekends, families from England would come over for a decent meal because they were still on rations in England from World War II.”
Everett Collection
In addition to kissing and telling, Patrick gushed about his admiration for acclaimed film director and producer John Ford.
“I’ve worked with some wonderful people. No. 1 was John Ford, he had a great impact,” he said. “I did my first 11 films with him, or maybe more than that, and I thought all directors were like that. You just kept doing it over until you did it the way he wanted. That was the way it was, his way or the highway.
“He had a terrible reputation. Every day there was someone in the barrel. He picked out somebody that he yelled at all day long. I was his godson. But I feared every day that it was going to be my day. It never happened.”
John Wayne and John Ford at Monument Valley, 1971. Credit: Ivan Nagy / TV Guide / Everett Collection
In addition to Ford, Patrick also spent time with movie greats William Powell and Jimmy Stewart.
“I worked with William Powell in Mr. Roberts. He was the doc and I was the pharmacist. He’d done so much great stuff, The Thin Man with Myrna Loy. He was at the end of his long career and he was just filled with amazing stories about the golden era of films. Just a special time. Jimmy Stewart wasn’t bad either.
“And I got to work with my dad, who was a lot like Ford.” Patrick paused, then added, “By the way, you know, when I’m thinking about … my life, I loved what I was doing, but did I love it because I was with my dad or did I love it because I love the work? I wanted to ask the question. It’s too late now. I’m 85 years old. There’s still therapy for that,” he laughed.
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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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