Quotes

[In 1974] I don't think I'll ever be any more than a personality, but that's alright with me.

[In 1985] In acting, there is no perfect performance. To me, if you can do a perfect performance, then there is no reason to continue. There's always working to do better. I haven't accomplished everything I've wanted to,

[In a 1985 interview] There were incredible privileges and experiences in my life that obviously other children did not enjoy. I mean traveling around the world and meeting not only people within the industry, but others who gravitated to him; Presidents, politicians, royalty. When I was with him, I was treated differently - just because I was John Wayne's son... When I was very young, I didn't understand that being his son was like an extension of meeting John Wayne. I was very suspicious of people, very confused. It was on reflection later that I realized what was going on.

I don't know what it's like to be anyone else's son; it's the only life I have known.

[on his acting debut in Rio Grande (1950) in a 1985 interview] I was visiting my father on location. It was the first time I was able to do that, and my father asked if I'd like to be in the picture.. He told me, "You come in, put the water on, and they give you $10." There followed other films, and he considers his work in them as being comparable to a summer job. If my father had worked in a paint store, I might have been stocking the shelves.