THe drunken tyrant took a disliking to the Duke. Kruschev countermanded the order. Why Stalin loved Tarzan and wanted John Wayne shot - Telegraph JeffinMNUSA
First I ever heard of this! Didn't John Wayne call them Pinkos??? That must of been some meeting when "The Duke" heard that from Khrushchev. I found more info on this "John Wayne - The man behind the myth" by British writer and actor Michael Munn says there were several attempts in the late 1940s and early 1950s to kill the man known to audiences around the world as "Duke." In the first attempt, two Russian assassins posing as FBI agents tried to kill Wayne -- born Marion Morrison on May 26, 1907 -- in his office at Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood. But the plot was uncovered and the would-be killers captured, the book says, citing several sources including director Orson Welles. http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7273-12.cfm Joseph Stalin ordered the KGB to assassinate John Wayne because he considered his anti-communist rhetoric a threat to the Soviet Union, according to a new biography of the film star based on interviews with Wayne's close associates and the movie legend Orson Welles. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-1-2003-43718.asp
"Kill the Duke? Ha! They did't have enough resource!! " My money would be on Wayne EVERY time! The Red Army is not big enough. John.
As long as we are discussing Mr. K., here is an interesting link to the story of Khrushchev (with his wife Nina and son Sergei) visiting Hollywood, but being turned down from visiting Disney Land. See: Nikita Khrushchev Goes to Hollywood | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine
Wouldn't surprise me given how Wayne was vocally anti communist. Funny hearing Stalin was a fan of his work though, that makes two World War era leaders who loved The Duke! Emperor Hirohito was also a fan, on a trip to America he went out of his way specifically to meet Wayne. Apparently some people in Japan consider Wayne the "humanization" of America during the war or something like that, they do obviously have great amount of respects for him of course. Little did Stlain realize Genghis Khan would have gotten him.
Yow! Now it seems MAO TSE TUNG sent a sniper to kill the Duke. John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth - Google Books The Duke was no doubt flattered that two of the biggest mass murderers of the last century took such a singular dislike to him. JeffinMNUSA
If this is a fact it would make him all the more famous. Lucky Johnny: Trotsky also crossed the Rio Grande at times, but Stalin got him.