John Wayne correctly predicted that a scene in The Cowboys would be detrimental to the career of his co-star, Bruce Dern. Directed by Mark Rydell, The Cowboys was released in 1972, making it one of the final Western movies of John Wayne’s career.

In The Cowboys, John Wayne played a grumpy rancher, who, in the twilight years of his life, found himself having to hire a group of young, reckless cowboys to replace the farmhands who have abruptly left his ranch. While serving as a mentor for the men, Wayne’s Will Anderson and his new hired help had to fight off a gang of criminals looking to steal his herd.

The gang in The Cowboys was led by Asa Watts, who was played by Bruce Dern. Asa Watts was a memorable turn for the actor, and while it would make sense for a movie with John Wayne to be a boon to his career, that was not the case at all. In fact, John Wayne knew in advance that one of Bruce Dern’s scenes in The Cowboys would generate significant backlash.

John Wayne Told Bruce Dern He Would Be Hated For His Role In The Cowboys

Toward the end of the movie, Andersen and his hirelings get into a fight with Watts’ gang over the herd, with Wayne’s character ultimately emerging victorious in a fist fight. But rather than accept defeat, Watts makes a cowardly move and shoots Andersen when he’s walking away. His actions led to what is now remembered as one of John Wayne’s only onscreen deaths.

Unsurprisingly, many John Wayne fans expressed outraged at the scene. After all, it wasn’t often that a character played by John Wayne – someone seen as a larger-than-life American icon – lost a fight or died in a film. And to The Cowboys’ credit, it didn’t let Wayne lose to Dern, but it did allow him to meet an unceremonious end, and one that seemed uncharacteristic of a John Wayne Western.

Apparently, John Wayne foresaw the fan reaction that Andersen’s death in The Cowboys garnered. In an interview with the Cowboys & Indians magazine, Dern recounted the conversation he had with Wayne before the pair sH๏τ the scene.

He recalled Wayne telling him, “Oh, I want to remind you of one thing. When this picture comes out, and audiences see you kill me, they’re going to hate you for this.” It didn’t take long for Dern to realize that “The Duke” was right; a considerable amount of hate mail followed the release of The Cowboys.

Reflecting on it, Dern indicated that despite the warning, he was already conscious of the fact that his scene with Wayne was far from different from what came before. Most of Wayne’s movie deaths occurred before he had established himself as a star. And as Dern correctly pointed out, his death scene in The Sands of Iwo Jima came at the hands of an unknown enemy.

The difference between that and The Cowboys that fans had a face and a name to connect with the demise of Wayne’s character. Bruce Dern was subsequently criticized heavily for “killing” John Wayne, and it actually went on for years. As of 2015, when the interview was given, he was still getting hate mail over it from time to time.

How John Wayne’s Death Scene Impacted Bruce Dern’s Career

The hate directed at Bruce Dern extended beyond a vocal minority. In fact, the actor was able to feel the impact on his career. Obviously, the scene didn’t ruin it, as he still went on to appear in many successful films afterward, but it did influence the types of roles he received in the immediate aftermath.

Thanks in large part to the act of killing a John Wayne character onscreen, the Asa Watts role was seemingly deemed so despicable that it became interlaced with Bruce Dern’s image. Dern later said, “Producers had me pegged for a villain,” and thus he had become typecast.

His comments accurately reflect the types of roles Bruce Dern played after moving on from The Cowboys. For instance, he played the villain in Posse, a Kirk Douglas-led Western, and portrayed a terrorist in Black Sunday. And when not playing outright villains, he had a tendency to portray characters meant to be seen as detestable jerks, especially in Westerns.

Dern’s career had been going for a few years prior to The Cowboys, and he admittedly already had plenty of experience playing villains. But that scene with John Wayne effectively cemented that status for him. Dern has acknowledged this in interviews, telling The Oklahoman that “knocking off John Wayne” was a “big” moment for him and his career.

That said, Dern eventually accepted this, acknowledging that being a lead actor wasn’t for him. Dern said that he was “satisfied” with the career he had. Eventually, he came to embrace the villainous reputation that came with his role in The Cowboys.