Dana Andrews on John Wayne

From a 1958 interview:

"As to John Wayne--I don't think anybody who observes acting as such would say that John Wayne is an actor. He's John Wayne, a big hulk of a man who has learned how to walk in a very masculine sort of way, with high boots. He can talk to some extent, but it's always the same. In Ghengis Khan, for instance, it was just ludicrous to see this cowboy speaking as Ghengis Khan. Ward Bond, a very good friend of his, said, "Just when I thought he'd had it, he became the biggest star in the business!"

This is directly attributable to the kind of character that Mr. John Ford is very able to get onto the screen, and he did that in the case of John Wayne in two or three pictures. These pictures made fabulous amounts of money, because of the type of pictures they were, because of the John Ford direction, and because of the characters that were written in there for Mr. Wayne. I think for three or four years running after that he was the top money drawer. Of course, he isn't now such a drawer, but I think he was for five or six years in a row top box office with Alan Ladd, who nobody would say is an actor. This Gun for Hire is the best thing he did, and he didn't say anything in it, much."