John Wayne
John Wayne struggled with ill-health, confessed ‘I’m on borrowed time’ when John Ford died
JOHN WAYNE, health was in serious decline in his later years as he struggled on tenaciously with just one lung after the removal of the cancerous other in 1964. Tragically, Duke knew his days were numbered when his long-time collaborator director John Ford died in 1973.
The iconic Western filmmaker John Ford died 49 years ago today after a battle with stomach cancer at the age of 78. The director of John Wayne classics such as The Searchers and Stagecoach saw his health deteriorating terribly in the early 1970s.