This week marks the 75th anniversary of John Wayne Western The Fighting Kentuckian.

In the classic movie, Duke played a Kentucky militiaman man returning home from the War of 1812, with Oliver Hardy as his comic sidekick Willie Paine.

This was one of just five times that Hardy worked without Stan Laurel, outside of their Laurel and Hardy partnership.

Having performed on stage with Duke in a touring charity production of John Ford’s What Price Glory?, Hardy was offered the role of…