In the season 2 finale of John Wayne Gritcast, we sit down with western legend, Red Steagall. Red is an American actor, musician, poet, and stage performer. He has worked with artists like Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Glen Campbell and discovered Reba McEntire.
Ethan and Red sit down in the Cowboy Channel studio to discuss Red’s exciting life. Red also tells the story of when he met John Wayne while he was recording his Grammy Nominated album, America, Why I Love Her.
Red is such an icon in the western community and we are so thankful to have him as our Season 2 finale guest!
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
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On Today’s episode of the John Wayne Gritcast, we are joined by John Wayne’s personal Doctor and very close family friend, Dr. Bob Egan.
Bob was very close with the family, he even had Michael Wayne as his best man in his wedding! Ethan and Bob reminisce on life with Duke, including how Dr Egan found out John Wayne’s Akita was giving everyone in the house strep throat, visiting Duke on set in Durango, and John Wayne’s journey with cancer.
This is a very fun episode with someone who knew Duke very closely, we hope you enjoy!
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
More information about John Wayne on JohnWayne.com
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Ben Christensen is a western lifestyle photographer who is dedicated to living his own western.
In this episode of the John Wayne Gritcast, Ethan is in Kanab, Utah filming an independent movie written and directed by Ben Christensen. They are also joined by videographer Dusty Soulsey. The three of them discuss what it means to live your own western in the modern times. They also discuss their new film that will be coming out later this year and what role Ethan Wayne played in the movie!
You can follow Ben here
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
More information about John Wayne on JohnWayne.com
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Dan Ford is the grandson of John Wayne’s close friend and mentor, John Ford. Dan tells how he knew John Wayne as “God Damnit, Duke!” based on how John Ford would refer to his friend. He and Ethan also discuss the John Ford stock company, heroes in movies today vs in John Wayne’s time, and Dan’s first memories of Duke in Catalina. This is a great episode for John Wayne and John Ford fans!
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
John Wayne valued courage, strength, grit, patriotism, and family… and so does John Wayne Walding. John Wayne Walding is a former Sergeant First Class Green Beret and entrepreneur. In this episode, John Wayne Walding tells the story of the Battle of Shok Valley. In this 6 hour fire fight, he lost his leg to a sniper and returned fire for four more hours with his severed lower limb tied to his thigh. He details what the battle was like and how he got through it, including how being named after John Wayne inspired him.
John Wayne Walding is also founder of 5 Toes Custom, Gallantry Global Logistics, and Live to Give.
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
Julie Hovnanian was one of John Wayne's personal assistants in Newport Beach. Julie tells the story of how she came to know the Wayne family, what it was REALLY like to work for John Wayne, and sheds some light on just how dedicated the Duke was to his fans. She also tells Ethan about a time when someone in his family was trying to spy on him as a teenager! Tune in today to hear the whole story and more light-hearted conversations with Julie Hovnanian.
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
More information about John Wayne on JohnWayne.com
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Amber Elle is a self-proclaimed mama bear and lady on a mission to empower others to live self-reliant lives. In addition to raising her family, she is the Director of Family Preparedness at Fieldcraft Survival, whose goal is to expand an individual's capabilities in the genre of survival. Their goal is to educate, train, and equip people to survive in the worst-case scenario.
Ethan and Amber sit down to discuss everything from how the pandemic changed the landscape for many parents, the importance of always stretching yourself in order to keep growing, and how feeling self-reliant translates into confidence in all areas of your life.
Thank you to our partners!
John Wayne: An American Experience - Sprawling over 10,000 square feet, the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit is structured to give you an intimate tour of the life of John Wayne. Visit them in the Fort Worth Stockyards today.
More information about John Wayne on JohnWayne.com
Shop our official store on JWStockandSupply.com
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In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the release of The Cowboys, we had a three day celebration in the Fort Worth Stockyards!
Nine of the original cast members joined us for a three day celebration that included showings of the film on the lawn of the Livestock Exchange building, VIP meet and greets with the cast and a live panel on Cowboy Channel!
This is part 2 of 2 of our live panel with nine of The Cowboys! Watch part 1 here
Thank you so much to our partners who made this weekend happen!
Learn more about Cowboy Channel here
Learn more about RFDTV here
Learn more about Hotel Drover here
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In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the release of The Cowboys, we had a three day celebration in the Fort Worth Stockyards!
Nine of the original cast members joined us for a three day celebration that included showings of the film on the lawn of the Livestock Exchange building, VIP meet and greets with the cast and a live panel on Cowboy Channel!
This is part 1 of 2 of our live panel with nine of The Cowboys!
Thank you so much to our partners who made this weekend happen!
Learn more about Cowboy Channel here
Learn more about RFDTV here
Learn more about Hotel Drover here
More information about John Wayne on JohnWayne.com
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Kanab, Utah is not only the backdrop of many westerns, but it is also home to Best Friends Animal Society.
Best Friends Animal Society is a nonprofit animal welfare organization. BFAS does outreach nationwide with shelters, rescue groups and members to promote pet adoption, no-kill animal rescue, and spay-and-neuter practices.
Best Friends Animal Society’s mission is Save Them All and they are making amazing strides to do just that. When they started, 17 million animals a year were being euthanized and today, that number is down to 355,000.
Ethan Wayne visited BFAS in Kanab, UT and sat down with founder Francis Battitsta and CEO Julie Castle. Self reliance and grit are amongst many qualities that Francis and Julie share with John Wayne and we hope you enjoy this episode!
Learn more about Best Friends Animal Society here: https://bestfriends.org/
Follow Best Friends Animal Society here: https://www.instagram.com/bestfriendsanimalsociety/
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The John Wayne Gritcast is BACK for season 2! We have a lot of amazing guests lined up for this next season but our first guest needs no introduction.
Tim Kennedy is a decorated Green Beret sniper, UFC headliner, television host, producer, entrepreneur and now, #1 best selling author of the book Scars and Stripes.
In this episode, Ethan Wayne and Tim talk about John Wayne's portrayal of the Army Special Forces in his film, The Green Berets, revisiting Tim's past mistakes while writing Scars and Stripes, how Tim relates to John Wayne's character in The Quiet Man, the importance of teaching critical thinking to children at his school, Apogee, and so much more!
Learn more about Tim Kennedy and all of his amazing companies and causes here: https://timkennedy.com/
Follow him on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/timkennedymma/
Purchase Tim’s book here: https://timkennedy.com/scarsandstripes/
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What was it like being in Duke’s inner circle? Well, lots of trips on the Wild Goose and passing out autograph cards to the fans! This week, we headed to Nogales, AZ, to the Wingfield ranch to sit down with Wayne Family friend, Teddy Wingfield.
Teddy is the son of one of Duke’s closes friends. The Wayne’s and Wingfield’s grew up playing on the Wingfield ranch in between filming and traveling on the Wild Goose. Teddy has some really great stories remembering his time with John Wayne, including one story where he almost got kicked out of Old Tucson!
It is so great to speak with people who were close to John Wayne and we are so grateful that Teddy shared his stories with us!
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This week’s guest on the John Wayne Gritcast is Chairman of Texas Rangers 2023 and Vice Chairman of Texas Rangers Association Foundation, Russell Molina! Russell has a big job over the next 2 years, he is spearheading a statewide event in Texas celebrating the Texas Rangers Bicentennial.
In this episode, Ethan and Russel speak about the history and the importance of the Texas Rangers. John Wayne played a Texas Ranger in The Comancheros and was awarded an honorary Texas Ranger in 1979. That certificate will be on display in John Wayne: An American Experience, as we will be supporting the Texas Rangers in celebrating their Bicentennial anniversary.
Ethan and Russell also talk about the importance of classic American values that the Texas Rangers and John Wayne represent. They also speak about empowering the youth with practical skills and self-reliance.
We are so honored to be a part of the Texas Rangers Bicentennial celebration and to have had Russell as a guest on the podcast! For more information, you can visit https://texasranger2023.org/
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This week’s guest on the John Wayne Gritcast is Mark Rydell. The legendary Director of one of the most beloved John Wayne films of all time, The Cowboys. It is the 50th anniversary of the film’s release and Ethan and Mark haven’t seen each other since they were on location.
Ethan sits down with Mark in a very special location in Los Angeles to discuss Mark’s amazing career and working with John Wayne on The Cowboys. Mark describes being a little nervous to work with Duke, since the two were on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but he remembers that not being an issue at all. The two really enjoyed working together.
He also details working with his friend, Steve McQueen. He then tells the story about how he discovered Bette Midler and fought to get her cast in the Rose. The executives quickly apologized after 3 days of seeing her on set.
Mark turned 93 this week and it is such an honor to have Mark as a guest on the John Wayne Gritcast.
Also, make sure you’re signed up for our emails and follow us on social because we will be announcing some more exciting news in honor of the 50th anniversary of The Cowboys soon!
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This week on the John Wayne Gritcast, Ethan sits down with his sister, Aissa Wayne, to discuss growing up with their dad, John Wayne.
She talks about traveling on the Wild Goose and remembers a horrible storm where the ocean crashed through the salon of the boat. She also remembers travelling with her father and all of his friends, including Ernie Saftig (listen to Tom Saftig’s podcast here).
The two also talk about some of the lessons John Wayne taught them, including teaching Aissa not to lie in Africa on the set of Hatari. She then tells the story of how she snuck Bush Babies on the plane with them coming home from Africa!
This is a really great episode packed with stories about growing up with John Wayne! Stay tuned for a part 2 with Aissa.
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Today’s guest is the legendary Travis Tritt! Travis is a Grammy award winning country music icon. He is also a husband, a father, a songwriter, an actor, a proud American, and we are also lucky enough to call him a friend of the John Wayne team.
On this episode, Ethan and Travis talk about Travis’ career and how he connects with his audience. He knows the people that listen to him are hardworking Americans who are resilient and he wants to give them music to listen to which is similar to the way John Wayne connected with his audience through film.
He also tells Ethan about his dedication to his home state of Georgia. He draws inspiration from being able to drive down to his high school or on the roads he grew up on. Also in Georgia is his family. Travis talks about how close his family is and credits his wife for instilling a big love of family in to their children, which is something John Wayne passed along to his family too.
Travis really embodies a lot of the same values that were important to John Wayne. He is one of the nicest, genuine, and down-to-earth people and we think you guys will really enjoy listening to this episode!
Follow Travis on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/realtravistritt/
More information on Travis’ tour dates on https://travistritt.com/tour/
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Randy Wayne White is the author of the Doc Ford series and an extreme outdoorsman… and by extreme, we mean he hunts pythons. That takes some grit!
Ethan Wayne started reading the Doc Ford series and immediately saw some familiar names and reached out to Randy to see if John Wayne had any influence. It turns out, he was correct! The two connected and have stayed in touch ever since.
To say Randy lives John Wayne Grit, is an understatement. He is extremely adventurous, courageous, intelligent, and creative. We hope you enjoy this episode with our friend, Randy Wayne White!
To learn more about Randy, visit his website here: https://www.randywaynewhite.com/
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No one gets off the beaten path, literally and metaphorically, more than Matt and his crew from Matt’s Off Road Recovery! Matt and his team run a very popular YouTube channel that shows them recovering vehicles who get stuck off roading. Matt and his team were nice enough to let us come on an off-road excursion with them in St George, Utah, the scene for some of John Wayne’s films.
Ethan and Matt discuss how Matt got into the business of off-road recovery after years of owning his own roofing business and then how his off road recovery business turned into a very successful YouTube channel. Matt and his crew share so many of the same core values as John Wayne, including self-reliance, family, and adventure.
You can listen and watch the full interview with Matt on Apple Podcasts and Spotify but if you want to see the off road adventure they took us on, head to our YouTube channel for some exclusive Behind the Scenes footage!
Follow Matt’s Off-road Recovery on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MattsOffRoadRecovery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattsoffroadrecovery/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattsoffroadrecovery
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Run Pilgrim, run! Meet our John Wayne Grit Series Race Director, Molly Kassouf! If you have been to one of our runs, Molly has greeted you with a big smile. The John Wayne Grit Series is a series of trail runs set in beautiful rugged locations and bring awareness and raise funds for John Wayne Cancer Foundation.
Molly knows good trail runs, she is an avid Ultra Marathon runner and has ran all over the world. She also had a run in Newport Coast, CA for many years, which is how she got connected with Ethan and the JWCF team.
On this episode, Ethan and Molly sit down over coffee to discuss how Molly got into running, how the John Wayne Grit Series was created, and her favorite JWGS running locations!
To learn more about the John Wayne Grit Series, head to johnwayne.org/jwgs
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In the western world, there’s a saying “all hat and no cattle” which basically means someone is all talk but lacking the experience…. Well, Ricky Bolin is the opposite of this saying! He not only runs some of the most iconic western hat brands but he truly lives the western lifestyle.
Ricky Bolin is the President of Hatco which is the parent brand for iconic hat brands like Stetson, Charlie 1 Horse, Resistol, but he started out bullriding in Mesquite, Texas. He made the NFR several times in his life and was one of the first riders to get sponsored and opened the doors for other riders.
John Wayne worked his way up from being a propman’s assistant to a leading actor and Ricky has that same drive. After he stopped bullriding, he got a job working at an outlet store for Resistol then worked his way up to being the President of Hatco.
Ethan and Ricky also discuss the values of the western community and how those values are regaining popularity. How do you make a deal with George Strait, one of the biggest country music legends in the world? With a handshake. That’s the classic western values that Ricky and his team are keeping alive today.
This is a really fun interview with an interesting person and great friend of John Wayne Enterprise, we hope you enjoy!
Follow Stetson on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stetsonusa
Follow Resistol on Instagram: www.instagram.com/resistol1927
Follow Charlie 1 Horse on Instagram: www.instagram.com/charlie1horse
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