In addition to the role of Will Kane in High Noon, Gary Cooper almost ended up with another role meant for John Wayne. Like John Wayne, Gary Cooper was an A-list actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood and one of the industry’s most prominent Western actors.
Having become famous long before “the Duke,” Gary Cooper was a major star during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, pumping out a long list of successful films. And like the situation Wayne’s career, Gary Cooper’s Westerns make up the vast majority of the actor’s best movies.
Of course, Gary Cooper made several great movies from other genres, such as Sergeant York and Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, but what is arguably his crowning achievement in Hollywood was the character of Will Kane in High Noon.
After all, High Noon is widely regarded as one of the greatest Westerns ever made. Interestingly, there was a scenario where instead of being Gary Cooper’s best movie, it may have been remembered as one of John Wayne’s Westerns instead.
John Wayne Was Offered The Lead Role In High Noon
Before Gary Cooper was cast as Will Kane in High Noon, multiple actors were offered the part, the first of which being John Wayne himself. However, the Duke was quick to refuse the role, upset by the themes present in the script. John Wayne considered the entire story to be “un-American” and took issue with its depiction of the Wild West, or America in general.
In the movie, Will Kane tries to rally the people of his town to help battle a gang he doesn’t think he can beat alone, but no one is willing to help him. Ultimately, he and his wife (played by Grace Kelly) find themselves on their own.
John Wayne’s frustration with High Noon was so great that not only did he refuse the role, he made a movie (Rio Bravo) that flipped the story beats he had disliked about the Gary Cooper film. In Rio Bravo, Wayne doesn’t wait for the town’s help, but they eventually develop the courage to ᴀssist him regardless.
This vision clashed considerably with Wayne’s viewpoints. He was unhappy with its cynical portrayal of the American spirit, believing the townsfolk should have joined the battle. He was extremely critical of the Will Kane character as well, believing that Kane acted cowardly by focusing on getting help rather than taking on the enemy himself from the start.
As a result of Wayne’s decision to turn down the part, other actors were consulted, including Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, and Gregory Peck. After a string of actors turned it down, it was finally offered to Gary Cooper, who accepted the gig – and one of the greatest Westerns was born.
John Wayne’s Role In Stagecoach Was Almost Given To Gary Cooper
High Noon was not the first – or the last – time that a role intended for John Wayne ultimately wound up being held by Gary Cooper. The first was actually Stagecoach, the 1939 Western that morphed John Wayne from a B-movie actor into a true star.
Stagecoach director John Ford, who had directed Wayne in The Big Trail, planned to cast Wayne as the Ringo Kid when the project was greenlit. But his idea wasn’t shared by the studio, with Paramount Pictures executive Walter Wanger being opposed to Wayne being cast, on account of the actor’s reputation for B-movie Westerns.
John Wayne lobbied for the role of Wild Bill Hickok in The Plainsman, but director Cecil B. DeMille chose Gary Cooper over him.
Instead, Wanger hoped to cast Gary Cooper, who had already established himself as a top star in Hollywood with roles in movies like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and The Plainsman.
Two factors prevented this scenario from coming to pᴀss; budget concerns lessening the appeal of hiring Gary Cooper and John Ford’s insistence on John Wayne getting the part. Ford won out in the end, and as a result, Gary Cooper was never formally offered the role.
Gary Cooper Was Offered The Starring Role In Red River
A similar situation unfolded years later, long after John Wayne had solidified his status as the biggest Western star in Hollywood. By 1948, the actor was already the go-to choice for several big-budget Westerns, yet John Wayne was supposedly not first on Howard Hawks’ list for the role of Thomas Dunson in Red River. Rather, that was Gary Cooper.
According to Michael Munn’s biography of John Wayne, John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth, Hawks – who had directed Cooper in Ball of Fire and Today We Live – turned to Cooper first, but Cooper had declined the part. Munn explained that he was told by Hawks directly that Cooper’s decision was based on the violent nature of the Thomas Dunson character.
Cooper felt that such a role went against his image. That ᴀssessment wouldn’t be wrong, given that Cooper generally played more traditional, heroic Western characters, ala the ones played by James Stewart and Randolph Scott. Munn writes in his book that Hawks turned his attention to Wayne after his agent, Charles Feldman, made a case for the actor.
However, Wayne himself needed some convincing too, as he expressed some hesitation to Hawks about playing Thomas Dunson. Dunson was an aging rancher, and Wayne didn’t want to play an “old man.” In the end, he took the part, and thanks to an opportunity being pᴀssed up by Gary Cooper, John Wayne was able to deliver one of the most memorable performances in his entire career.
In a way, what had happened with Red River was the reverse of what happened four years later when Gary Cooper was cast as Will Kane in High Noon. As two of the biggest stars in the history of the Western, it perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that despite never acting opposite each other, John Wayne and Gary Cooper’s paths in the industry were intertwined.
