10 Movie Performances That Got Too Real
3. John Wayne - The Shootist
John Wayne was often derided for basically "playing himself" throughout his inestimable acting career, though the western legend did so in uncommonly heartbreaking terms in his 1976 western The Shootist.
In his final film role, Wayne plays aged gunfighter J.B. Books, who in addition to being a quaint relic in a world moving on without him, also has his days numbered by a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Wayne's casting is incredibly poignant both for the fact that his brand of grizzled western hero was falling out of favour in the '70s, and that Wayne had himself suffered with lung cancer years prior, leaving his breathing and physical movements incredibly limited.
Three years after the film's release Wayne passed away from stomach cancer, ensuring that The Shootist is a near-literal cinematic eulogy for one of the most statuesque movie stars of all time.