George Takei isn’t just a living legend, he is a link back to the heady days of Hollywood when stars like John Wayne bestrode Westerns and war films like titans. The Duke wasn’t just larger than life on the screen, his behaviour on set and behind the scenes was equally overpowering.
The Star Trek icon, who turned 86 this week, continues to live long and prosper, and shared with Express online his memories of working on The Green Beret – the movie that was responsible for him missing much of Season 2 of the sci-fi show.
Wayne was a leading member of the right-wing pro-war faction in Hollywood, while Takei was vehemently opposed. Yet, he was shocked from the very start by his first encounter with the Silver Screen legend.The Green Berets was completely Wayne’s pet project, conceived to combat what he saw as falling support for the military in the US.
The actor had bought the rights to author Robin Moore’s 1965 book. Furthermore, he sought and obtained extraordinary cooperation along with supplies, equipment, and weapons from President Lyndon B. Johnson and the United States Department of Defense.
The army provided uniforms as well as attack helicopters and the United States Air Force supplied two C-130 Hercules transports and two A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft. Some film extras were actually air force trainees.
So how would Wayne deal with a co-star who stood loudly and passionately against the war? Takei was understandably concerned his very different and vocal political and anti-war views might be problematic when he went in to screen test with Wayne.
He told The Express: “There was a core of decency in him. He was a very pro-war guy and when I went in for the interview I said, ‘I have to be honest with you, I don’t agree with you about the Vietnam War. I have been campaigning against the war. I wanted you to know.’
“He surprised me. He said, ‘I am hiring the best actor I can for the role that’s all that I am concerned about. (Fellow actors) Jim Hutton and David Janssen are also pro-peace and I’m casting them, so I am mak ing my decision based on acting ability.”
Indeed, Wayne signed up Hutton again the following year to star with him in the action drama Hellfighters about oil rig fire crews.The intense film shoot was thrilling for Takei, who recently starred on stage in London in his musical Allegiance. However, it massively overran, causing a clash with his small screen obligations.
Takei said: “I missed out on half a dozen episodes of Star Trek. We were filming on location at Fortt Benning in Georgia. We had 40 days and 40 nights of a rainstorm that stopped filming. I was supposed to be back in Los Angeles but was delayed and so I missed out on those episodes.”
The actor was able to observe The Duke over the extended shoot on and off camera and said: “He was not an actor. He was a compelling gigantic personality.
“He was the same guy off-screen. He walked in front of the screen and he was able to maintain that. Most people change when they go in front of the camera but he was always John Wayne off camera and on.”
However, that “core of decency” was at odds with one particular thing that Wayne apparently did on every single film set. Takei said: “There was a quirk in him. I was shocked. I was told he did it with every production. He singled out one man, always a big bruiser of a guy, tall, husky and muscular, usually a stuntman or a stand in. And he pilloried these people there on the set with everyone looking on.”
“I was embarrassed being there. He did it all consistently with this guy and then people who worked with him on other productions told me he always did that. He picked one person to excoriate relentlessly. Sometimes these guys broke down in tears.”
Incredibly, this did not reflect the way that The Duke comported himself with anyone else during the shoot.
Takei added: “He wasn’t that with me or anyone else. And it was always with someone that was able to stand up to him. But I suppose it was his way of establishing his alpha, top dog status.
“I was with him for three months and he wasn’t like that with anyone else. It was some kind of mental thing I think.”