New in Paperback Reveals details of secret Communist plot to assassinate Wayne Author worked with Wayne Book draws on interviews with close family and friends To many generations of filmgoers John Wayne epitomlses the slow-talking sharp-shooting hero of the Wild West. He starred in over 200 films during his lifetime and his famous screen persona, based on patriotism and a clearcut perception of right and wrong, came to represent the real John Wayne. Michael Munn draws on the time he spent working with Wayne and almost 100 interviews with Wayne's close family, friends and colleagues to reveal the real man behind the myth. He analyses Wayne's professional highs and lows, his three failed marriages and two desperate battles with cancer. But most startlingly, Munn discloses the details of a Communist plot to have Wayne assassinated - a secret he kept from even his own family - proving that Wayne was as much a hero off screen as he ever was on it.