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The Value of Mentors to Boost Your Career
In Wyatt’s Earp’s later years, the legendary lawman, who survived the gunfight at the OK Corral, lived in Los Angeles. He was fascinated with movies and was a technical advisor on several silent cowboy films. There he befriended a young actor named Marion Morrison, and regaled the young thespian with tales of the Old West. Enthralled, the young man used to fetch Wyatt cups of coffee. Later the actor who had gone from bad B movies to a king of the box office and changed his name to John Wayne claimed his portrayals of cowboys and western lawmen were based on these conversations with Earp.
Wayne also drew heavily from actor-turned-legendary-stuntman Yakima Canutt. In fact, much of the characterization associated with Wayne — the drawling, hesitant speech and the hip-rolling walk — were pure Canutt. Said Wayne, “I spent weeks studying the way Yakima Canutt walked and talked. He was a real cowhand and a world champion rodeo rider.”
John Ford, the greatest movie maker of his time, was such a close personal friend of…
