Yep, you read that right. The dreaded Russian KGB tried to assassinate John Wayne (1907-1979), the beloved iconic star of countless Western movies for decades. He was one of the pillars of Old Hollywood's Golden Age in a way that we will never see again. Wayne often played a tough dude with a heart of gold and a gun at his side. Stagecoach (1939) and True Grit ((1969) are among Wayne's dozens of popular, well-crafted movies.
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Swaggering across the prairie or the plains, he was the epitome of masculine strength as it was usually portrayed back in the day. Fascinatingly, the actor known as Duke came to the attention of Soviet strongman Joseph Stalin. Stalin was supposedly a fan of our Western movies, but evidently not of Wayne.
"Speaking exclusively with Express.co.uk, Duke's son Ethan Wayne told us: 'I think his films made the American idea very palatable to a broad swath of the world, and it was anti-communist.'" Per the outlet, Stalin wanted Wayne gone. He allegedly commanded that the star be eliminated in the post World War II-era, sometime around 1949. But Wayne cleverly outfoxed the Russian dictator and his hit squad.
One Author Asserted That John Wayne Endured Many Attempts In His Life
Michael Munn, who wrote John Wayne: The Man Behind The Myth, alleged that the FBI wanted to guard Wayne from Russian hit men who might harm him. He reportedly nixed that idea. According to Express.co.uk, "It then transpired that alongside screenwriter Jimmy Grant, Wayne had planned to abduct his would-be assassins, drive them to a beach and there 'stage a mock execution to frighten them.'" Sounds like the actor had plenty of "true grit" of his own!
Wayne Did Take Some Measures To Enhance His Safety
"A huge wall" surrounded Wayne's residence. He also had stuntman buddies who "infiltrated American Communist cells." They passed along information to Wayne about planned assassination plots targeting him. Per the outlet via Munn, "...[T]here was another attempt on Duke's life by a communist cell in Mexico when he was filming 1953's Hondo...." Luckily, it was not successful.
Another Famous Soviet Leader Was Eager To Meet Wayne
According to Ethan Wayne via Express.co.uk, "Stalin actually had a hit out on John Wayne for a number of years. But then when [his successor] Khrushchev came in, the first thing he wanted to do when he came to meet with the US president in 1959 was [go to Disneyland and] meet John Wayne.'" Khrushchev allegedly told Wayne that he "rescinded" Stalin's command that Wayne be killed. Thank goodness!
