John Wayne broke Maureen O’Hara’s hand and John Ford enraged her on The Quiet Man set | Films | Entertainment

It was 70 years ago today that The Quiet Man hit UK cinemas. John Wayne teamed up with director collaborator John Ford once again for the Oscar-winning classic. Considered by the filmmaker to be his sexist movie, the plot saw Duke’s retired boxer Sean Thornton making a pilgrimage to his home village in Ireland to claim his family estate during the 1920s.

In Ireland, Wayne’s character met his match with Maureen O’Hara’s Mary Kate Danaher and her difficult brother Red, played by Victor McLaglen.Shot in County Mayo and County Galway, the leading lady had a difficult time on set after filming the scene where Duke’s Sean kisses her for the first time. In that moment, her character slaps him across the face, but the Western star’s block proved so powerful that he accidentally broke her hand. The Quiet Man was shot in chronological order, so the poor actress and to deal with the pain without a cast to reset the bone for the rest of principal photography.

Only those three knew what the line was and took it to their graves. Given that the director considered The Quiet Man to be his steamiest picture, presumably, it was something considered risqué in the early 1950s.