Victor McLaglen(actor,boxer)

**brutu** · 04-29-2006, 04:37 PM

Any of you, see the photograph of him standing with Jack Johnson either before or after their 6 round exhibition bout in Vancouver in 1909 in disc one of UNFORGIVABLE BLACKNESS.
Victor McLaglen was huge!
He made Jack Johnson almost look like a middle weight in size.
Was this bout filmed?
I saw the movie ,Gunga Din last week.
Victor McLaglin had his shirt off in it, and he still looked massive at 56 years old when the movie was made in 1939.
He had a physique like a pioneer did 200 years ago,huge sinewy arms from chopping tree's,digging wells,building log cabins.
Not a gymasium physique.
Did you know he was 70 years old when he brawled with John Wayne(on film) in the classic movie THE QUIET MAN?

Roberto Aqui · 04-29-2006, 06:16 PM

No, I didn't know he was that old in Quietman. That was a great flick, but I was always a sucker for Maureen Ohara. To be honest, it was hard to buy the fighting part, not that it wasn't entertaining.

Yeah, I was surprised to see that young pic of Vic. He was not only good sized, but an incredible physical speciman and an handsome man in his youth to boot. I'm sure a good tell all bio died when he died. I would like to know more about the Johnson exhibition. It sounds like his boxing career sort of petered out from lack of commitment, but it'd be nice to hear his impressions of that era.

**BoxofDaylight** · 04-29-2006, 06:26 PM

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.ph...en.Johnson.jpg
http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Victor_McLaglen

**brutu** · 04-29-2006, 06:38 PM

He looks like he was about 14 years old in that pic at this web site(Cyber boxing zone White Hopes).
You know who he kind of looked like when I was watching Gunga Din?
I thought he looked a lot like middle aged Gerrie Coetzee(both were/are from South Africa).

**HE Grant** · 04-29-2006, 07:55 PM

Any of you see him in his greatest role in the Informer ? He was a great character actor. As a fighter, he was levels below Johnson.

Roberto Aqui · 04-29-2006, 08:50 PM

I wonder if that is Pop Blanken beside Johnson? As the trainer of both Peter Jackson and Jack Johnson, I would think ol' Pop merits a posthumous HOF induction.

Roberto Aqui · 05-15-2006, 09:24 PM

PBS had a JohnFord/JohnWayne special on and I got to see part of the famous fight scene.

Man, the fight starts off so funny with a little Irish jig being played in the background. McLaughlin is HUGE, hard to believe he's about 70, and he hauls off with a straight right and drops Wayne into a loose hay pile that he disappears into.

As he struggles out and emerges, a local throws a pail of water into his face to revive him, and Wayne had the funniest look of shock on his face imaginable. I imagine Ford didn't tell him about that part of the script!

Maureen Ohara, how I loved her. Never a woman existed with more passion mixed with beauty and harder to handle, though I struggled mightily for 14 yrs with my battle ex.

**PeteLeo** · 05-16-2006, 01:47 AM

The guy who wrote a bio of Wayne called SHOOTING STAR (I forget his name) claimed that Big John actually had some pro fights out West in between movies back in the Thirties. He fought under a ring name and got his ass kicked every time. PeteLeo.

**brutu** · 05-16-2006, 03:22 PM

Probably some anti-authorian liberal college puffesor wrote that book.
Everybody knows they hate America founding father roots and all its cherished icons.
I notice in some of those counter-culture movies like Midnight Cowboy and Cheech&Chong movies they make fun of the"Duke".

**kikibalt** · 05-16-2006, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by brutu

Probably some anti-authorian liberal college puffesor wrote that book.
Everybody knows they hate America founding father roots and all its cherished icons.
I notice in some of those counter-culture movies like Midnight Cowboy and Cheech&Chong movies they make fun of the"Duke".

John Wayne was a member of the John Birch Society , a organization of the Radical Right.

Frank B.

Roberto Aqui · 05-16-2006, 03:43 PM

The Duke also famously appeared late in life at the Harvard Hasty Pudding Club for a searing roast as their man of the year. The local guard unit provided a tank and crew to drive him through the city to the steps of the club as he waved to the crowds from atop the tank. Duke could cut up with the best of em.

**brutu** · 05-16-2006, 04:48 PM

Anyone know if Tommy"The Duke" Morrison was really related to the Duke?(real name Marion Morrison)height 6 feet four and a half inches tall.
I remember he use to say it,then you didnt hear it anymore.
Also I know John Wayne use to throw at least one'haymaker' in almost all his movies,but how many did he play a boxer?
(other then The Quiet Man of course).

**brutu** · 05-18-2006, 05:58 PM

Who is the author of the book SHOOTING STAR.
Was it written by Ward Churchill?
Anyway I asked about this over at boxrec forum,if this is true,
hopefully someone will know.
Personally I think its a load of cr*p.

**PeteLeo** · 05-18-2006, 06:39 PM

Its complete title is SHOOTING STAR: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN WAYNE, author Maurice Zolotow, Simon & Shuster, 1974. I'm 98% sure that this was the book I read in the library one warm summer afternoon, though it's been a good thirty years or so ago. PeteLeo.

PS. I also read in a bio of Steve McQueen that the Cool One tried boxing for a few matches when he first got into acting. He wasn't very good at it, either. PL.