Today TCM celebrates the career of the legendary Maureen O’Hara with a selection of movies that also features some of her favorite acting partners, including the also legendary John Wayne and Henry Fonda who, as it turns out, had children who entered the biz just like they did. One of John Wayne’s kids, Patrick, is even in a few of the movies today with Maureen and his dad. Later in the evening, there’s Sinbad the Sailor, with Douglas Fairbanks, son of… well, you know who. In most cases of kids following in the footsteps of their parents, the career of mom or dad is simply too hard to top. Sometimes, not. Henry Fonda was the father of both Peter Fonda and Jane Fonda and, obviously, Jane did pretty well for herself. She managed to take home two Oscars before her dad took home his first, and only, for On Golden Pond from 1981. But in the two cases of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr and Patrick Wayne, the deck seemed almost impossibly stacked against them.
Not to knock Henry Fonda at all but it’s one thing to be the child of a star like him and quite another entirely to be the child of an all time legend like John Wayne or Douglas Fairbanks. Both Patrick Wayne and Doug, Jr had to contend with following in the footsteps of personalities as well as stars. John Wayne and Douglas Fairbanks still remain so big in film history that books on the history of the medium have entire chapters devoted just to them. Like it or not, they are film history. They’re practically their own genres. So Patrick and Doug didn’t have much of a chance but they still managed to make a mark with me, if not for the quality of their output, certainly for the nostalgia value they still provide.
First, there’s Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. I got to know him as an actor long before I got to know his dad. In fact, I’ve still seen far more movies starring the son than the father. The first one I have a real memory of is Gunga Din and I’m willing to say right here and now that it’s better than anything the father ever did. Ever. I love every second of that movie and the chemistry of the three leads, Fairbanks, Jr, Cary Grant, and Victor McLaglen make it an enjoyable romp every time. But there’s also The Prisoner of Zenda and The Corsican Brothers, which I even wrote up for TCM some time back. I enjoy both movies immensely and while I’m willing to make the obvious concession that the father had the greater career and the more charming and charismatic presence, it’s the son who connects to me more. And one of his later movies, Ghost Story, is an even bigger part of that for me. It’s a small role in a movie that frustrates me more than entertains me, but it’s a movie I watched repeatedly on cable back in the early eighties and, honestly, it’s the first movie I think of if someone mentions Fairbanks.
As for Patrick Wayne, his career was lackluster compared to his dad. I mean, what chance did he even have to try and improve on it? His father made Stagecoach, Sands of Iwo Jima, 3 Godfathers, They Were Expendable, Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon… and I haven’t even gotten to the fifties yet! So, no, Patrick didn’t stand a chance of ever competing with his dad’s career in any way. But damned if I didn’t love going to those Sinbad movies in the seventies. Here’s the thing: I love Ray Harryhausen and any movie he was connected to I saw. John Philip Law was in the better seventies Sinbad but Patrick Wayne was in the one I saw more, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, on television, again and again. The next year he made The People that Time Forgot and, yes, I know it’s not very good but I love it. Loved it when I saw it, still do. Hell, I loved almost anything American International Pictures put out back then and if it had Doug McClure in it, all the better. So movies like Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and The People that Time Forgot still have a nostalgic pull for me that keeps Patrick Wayne’s far more lackluster career burning brightly in my mind.
It cannot have been easy being the sons of John Wayne and Douglas Fairbanks but Patrick and Doug, Jr. did the best they could. Most importantly, they never seemed to try to imitate their dads (well, maybe Doug did a little bit) or fool themselves, or us, into thinking their career was going to be more impressive. But they did a good job with what they were given and to this day, both have strong places in my heart. Lightning didn’t strike twice but it didn’t need to. The benefit of being the son of a legend is that no one expects you to succeed at all so if you manage to accomplish anything, most people are amazed. Sometimes, being in someone else’s shadow can be just enough shade to keep you from feeling all the heat.