Movie star John Wayne and actor Marlene Dietrich had quite a history that forever links them together. However, there were some intriguing encounters between the pair that speak to the way that their relationship developed. Wayne once publicly steered clear of Dietrich after she shouted at him, “Mommy wants that for Christmas.”
John Wayne played Dan in ‘Seven Sinners’
Wayne and Dietrich starred in three movies over the course of their careers. It all started with 1940’s Seven Sinners, which was directed by Tay Garnett. The story follows a torch singer, played by Dietrich, who makes a move on a Navy officer, played by Wayne, as well as his fellow shipmates to achieve her goals.
Next, they released two movies within the same year of 1942. First, they starred in The Spoilers together. Wayne played an Alaskan miner, who has the help of Dietrich’s Cherry Malotte, a beautiful saloon girl, who a corrupt gold commissioner lusts after.
Finally, the pair worked on Pittsburg together, where Wayne played coal miner Pittsburg Markham, who strings along Dietrich’s Josie. After walking over anyone he can to get ahead, he finally seeks to get redemption for all of his misdeeds.
Marlene Dietrich shouted, ‘Mommy wants that for Christmas’ at John Wayne
James Bawden and Ron Miller’s book, Conversations with Classic Film Stars, spoke with actor Anna Lee, who collaborated with Wayne in films, such as Fort Apache and Seven Sinners. Therefore, she also had the opportunity to work with Dietrich, who called her the “boss” of the production.
“[Dietrich] took one look at me on my first day and stated, ‘I vill not vork vit anutter blonde,’” Lee imitated. “So, I had to go to the beauty shop and get my hair dyed mud brown. I couldn’t help but like the director of Seven Sinners, Tay Garnett, for the way he handled her and the enormous amount of energy he put into every setup. It certainly did not hurt to start off with a box office smash.”
Lee recalled how Seven Sinners was a parody of “those dreadful South Seas adventures that starred Dottie Lamour,” but explained how the same couldn’t be said for its supposed “boss.” Dietrich and Wayne had a peculiar encounter that initially made him avoid her while in public.
“[Dietrich]’d just joined Universal and selected John Wayne as her leading man,” Lee said. “According to [producer] Joe Pasternak, she first spotted the Duke in the commissary and shouted, ‘Mommy wants that for Christmas.’ John stayed as far away from her as possible.”
John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich had an affair
Wayne actually had an affair with Dietrich while he was married to his first wife, Josephine Saenz. They were married for 12 years before they divorced when she couldn’t take his unfaithful behavior any longer. Meanwhile, Wayne and his co-star had an affair for three years before they ended things.
During Wayne’s third marriage to Pilar Pallete, he got in touch with her at a show that he brought his new wife to. She tried to show off in front of the couple, but the Western movie star didn’t reciprocate those signs of affection in the same way.
John Wayne with Marlene Dietrich pic.twitter.com/FNhaLkdFFT
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 19, 2016