Carl Rollyson Quote

Neither John Wayne nor Walter Brennan grew up in the cowboy West, and though Brennan became a rancher, he did not pretend to be his characters the way Wayne sometimes did. Walter’s son Andy remembered a story about a downpour that hit the Red River location shoot just as the cast and crew were sitting down to lunch: Duke was seated next to Walter and, as everyone scurried for shelter, Wayne calmly went on eating, saying to Walter, ‘This will separate the men from the boys.’ Dad spooned up his rain-soaked lunch for a few minutes more, then getting up he said, ‘Which way did the boys go?’ Walter had a dry wit that could be quite unlike the sensibilities of the characters he played. Andy remembered another time when a driver gave his father the finger. Walter leaned out of his car window and extended a full five fingers, saying Take some home to the whole family.

Carl Rollyson

Neither John Wayne nor Walter Brennan grew up in the cowboy West, and though Brennan became a rancher, he did not pretend to be his characters the way Wayne sometimes did. Walter’s son Andy remembered a story about a downpour that hit the Red River location shoot just as the cast and crew were sitting down to lunch: Duke was seated next to Walter and, as everyone scurried for shelter, Wayne calmly went on eating, saying to Walter, ‘This will separate the men from the boys.’ Dad spooned up his rain-soaked lunch for a few minutes more, then getting up he said, ‘Which way did the boys go?’ Walter had a dry wit that could be quite unlike the sensibilities of the characters he played. Andy remembered another time when a driver gave his father the finger. Walter leaned out of his car window and extended a full five fingers, saying Take some home to the whole family.

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About Carl Rollyson

Carl E. Rollyson is an American biographer and professor of journalism at Baruch College, City University of New York.