John Wayne played the same character 8 times in a long-running Western franchise that spans 51 films

Although not exactly known for making sequels John Wayne played the same character eight times in a classic 1930s western franchise. John Wayne helmed around 80 westerns in his career, and despite starting out in every other type of genre, he was forever (and happily) typecast as a cowboy; even Wayne's last film, The shooter, it was a western. Hollywood was very different when Wayne became a star, with sequels and franchises generally frowned upon. In truth, besides reprising the role of Rooster Cooburn, Wayne himself tended to avoid sequels.

There was once talk of a sequel to his hit war film Sands of Iwo Jima called Devil Birdsalthough the film was ultimately scrapped; How this would have explained the survival of Wayne's late Stryker is another question. Sequels of even blockbusters were quite uncommon during the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood, so it's not surprising that Wayne went almost his entire career without reprising a role.

John Wayne's Role in the Mesquiteers Franchise Explained

The Three Mesquiteers was a huge series during the 1930s and 1940s

When Wayne The Great Judgment The failure set back his career by a decade, with this 1930s Western epic aiming to make the young actor a star. He then spent years fronting “Poverty Row” westerns, cheap B movies that were produced quickly. One of Wayne's most notable projects from this time was The Three Mesquiteersa serial western that ran for an incredible 51 films between 1936 and 1943. Of course, Wayne was not present in every entry in the Republic Pictures saga, although he played the role of Stony Brooke eight times.

Not only is Stony the role Wayne played the most by a considerable margin, but all eight of its episodes were released between 1938 and 1939. The series itself revolved around the misadventures of the titular trio, consisting of Stony Brooke, Tucson Smith, and Lullaby. Joslin. These films typically lasted less than an hour and were energetic mixes of traditional Westerns and more modern adventure films, with the series also featuring a rotating cast of actors.

Brooke was played by Bob Livington 29 times before Wayne replaced himwhile Tom Tyler took over for the rest of the The Three Mesquiteers franchise. Ray Corrigan and Bob Steele played Tucson Smith, while Lullaby Joslin was played by four actors: Max Terhune, Jimmie Dodd, Rufe Davis and Syd Saylor. Wayne's breakthrough role came in the form of the 1939 classic Diligencethen he left The Three Mesquiteers following the aptly titled New Frontier.

What other roles did John Wayne play more than once?

The list of John Wayne franchises is VERY short

Following your passage The Three MesquiteersWayne essentially avoided sequels for the next 40 years. Cogburn Rooster remains the only true Wayne sequelwith this 1975 effort seeing him don the eye patch again to reprise his Oscar-winning role as Rooster Cogburn. Secondly, Wayne's penultimate film turned out to be a pale shadow of True couragedespite pairing Wayne with another icon in Katharine Hepburn.

It could also be argued that Wayne Rio Bravo trilogy is his other big franchise, although the three films are not direct sequels to each other. Instead, Wayne and director Howard Hawks remixed the same basic plot, characters, and themes from Rio Bravo in El Dorado and Rio Lobo. In Wayne's only horror film Haunted Gold (although "horror" should be applied loosely), he played a character named John Mason. Interestingly, three years later, in 1935, he played other John Mason in The Dawn Knight. Despite the names, there is nothing to suggest that the two films are directly related.