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12 JANUARY 2016
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masterpiece, and furthermore,
had given it unique credence
by suggesting a real-life WWII
hero for the lead role.
Audie Leon Murphy had risen
to national fame as the most
decorated combat soldier of
WWII. Amongst his 33 medals and
awards for conspicuous gallantry
was the US nation's highest
honour for bravery – the
Congressional Medal of Honour.
Returning from battle-torn Europe
in July 1945, he was featured on
the cover of LIFE magazine, where
actor James Cagney spotted the
handsome baby-faced 22-year-old
Texan soldier.
Following Murphy's army discharge, Cagney
signed him as a contract player with his Cagney
Productions in Hollywood. However, after
several months of actor training and numerous
disagreements, Cagney never cast Murphy in a
movie and their association ended acrimoniously
in 1947.
What Cagney never realised was that
Murphy was bedevilled with insomnia and deep
depression; in fact, he was suffering the early
symptoms of combat fatigue, known today as
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He stayed on in
Hollywood, appearing in bit parts in two movies,
which eventually led to his first starring role in Bad
Boy (1949). Universal Studios signed Murphy to a
seven-year contract and immediately cast him as
Billy the Kid for his first outing with them, and as
Jesse James for the second. For most of his film
career, Murphy would portray western characters
on the big screen.
John Huston had already negotiated with
Universal to loan Murphy out to MGM for The Red
M GM Studio Chief Louis B.
Mayer was having difficulty
controlling his anger as he
attempted to persuade Dore Schary,
MGM'S Vice President in Charge of
Production, not to film The Red Badge
of Courage. Leaning across
his huge cream-coloured desk, he
glared at Schary and said, "Dore, I have
been in this business for over a quarter
of a century and believe me when I tell
you, civil war movies do not make
money. American moviegoers don't
like to see Americans killing
Americans, it’s as simple as that."
Schary quietly replied, "But
Louis, Gone with the Wind was a
massive box office hit for MGM and
that had a civil war story."
"Yes, but it was never just a civil war
film," Mayer retorted, "it had Clark
Gable as its star, it had Vivien Leigh
and Olivia de Havilland as the female
leads; we made a romantic picture in glorious
Technicolor, that's what the people came to see.
"This proposed Huston picture has no female
role," Mayer continued, "therefore no love interest.
It has no discernible plot and worst of all, it has a
cast of complete unknowns. Goddammit! Dore,
trust me this picture will fail and fail badly."
For his second contracted movie for MGM,
director John Huston had written an adaptation
of Stephen Crane's classic novel, which relates
the story of a terrified boy
soldier's baptism of fire during
a battle of the American Civil
War. Although a fictional story,
Crane had based it on the
actual battle of Chancellorsville,
fought during late April and early
May 1863, and it read like an
authentic account of a common
soldier's war experiences. Huston
had presented the screenplay to
Dore Schary as a potential movie
[This proposed Huston
picture] has no discernible
plot... and a cast of
complete unknowns
Louis B. Mayer sitting at his huge raised desk in his MGM office
Audie Murphy