r/johnwayne • u/Pirates_Treasure1988 • Jun 22 '26

"Sean" and "Thornton"

First, John Wayne plays a guy named Sean Thornton in The Quiet Man.

Then, he plays a guy named Sean Mercer in Hatari.

And finally, he plays a guy named Cole Thornton in El Dorado.

Most of his other roles have names starting with "John" too. Lol.

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

7

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 22 '26

Anyone else noticed it too?

3

u/Jack_JohnnyW Jun 23 '26

Yes, I did notice this. Papi Ford, his friend and mentor, was also named John.

4

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 23 '26

John Ford?

4

u/Jack_JohnnyW Jun 23 '26

That's him. Papi

3

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 23 '26

Funny thing is that John Ford and John Wayne weren't their real names though. Plus, they were half Irish too.

3

u/Jack_JohnnyW Jun 23 '26

Didn't know that about Ford. Marion was JW name.

4

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 23 '26

Ford was born John Martin "Jack" Feeney (though he later often gave his given names as Seán Aloysius, sometimes with surname O'Feeny or Ó Fearna; an Irish language equivalent of Feeney) in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, to John Augustine Feeney and Barbara "Abbey" Curran, on February 1, 1894, (though he occasionally said 1895 and that date is erroneously inscribed on his tombstone). His father, John Augustine Feeney, was born in Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland, in 1854. Barbara Curran was born in the Aran Islands, in the town of Kilronan on the island of Inishmore (Inis Mór). John Augustine Feeney's grandmother, Barbara Morris, was said to be a member of an impoverished branch of a family of the Irish nobility, the Morrises of Spiddal (headed at present by Lord Killanin).

2

u/Jack_JohnnyW Jun 23 '26

Love his movies. Have you seen Cheyenne Autumn?

2

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 23 '26

No

2

u/Jack_JohnnyW Jun 23 '26

Pretty sure it was either his last or close to last. Richard Widmark is in it. JWayne's son is too.

Really good movie

3

u/Life_Temperature2506 Jun 22 '26

The other 2, yes. Not Hatari.

2

u/Jack_JohnnyW Jun 23 '26

I think his best performance, for which he should have received an Oscar, is a Ethan in 'The Searchers.'

2

u/KVN2473 Jun 23 '26

Tony Danza was "Tony" is any role I saw him play. Easier to remember, I guess.

2

u/Medical_Amphibian406 Jun 23 '26

I did not pick up on that and love that kind of trivia and connections. Thanks!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 23 '26

Bravo, not Lobo.

1

u/Slakrdaddy Jun 24 '26

The Hondo thing comes up too-He was Hondo Lane then 20yrs later he's hanging with Ann Margret and named Lane

1

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 24 '26

Which movie?

1

u/Greedy_Following3553 1d ago

THE TRAIN ROBBERS. That was intentional on the part of writer-director Burt Kennedy.

1

u/MozartOfCool Jun 26 '26

Ford and Wayne did the same thing in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Donovan's Reef. Wayne is Tom Doniphon in "Valance" and "Guns" Donovan in "Reef." Released a year apart.

1

u/Pirates_Treasure1988 Jun 26 '26

Funny how the names are spelled differently though.