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Rooster Cogburn (character)
Encyclopedia
Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn is a fictional character who first appeared in the 1968 Charles Portis
novel, True Grit
.
The novel was adapted into a 1969 film, True Grit, and from that a 1975 sequel entitled Rooster Cogburn (also known as Rooster Cogburn (... and the Lady)) was also produced. The character was also featured in a made-for-television
sequel, entitled True Grit: A Further Adventure
, made in 1978. The Coen brothers
released a new film version
of the novel in 2010.
In the 1969 and 1975 theatrical releases, Cogburn was portrayed by John Wayne
. Cogburn is portrayed as an anti-hero
, which was an unusual role for Wayne, who usually played a strait-laced hero. The 1978 TV sequel starred Warren Oates
in the featured role. The 2010 film stars Jeff Bridges
as Cogburn.
John Wayne
won the Academy Award for Best Actor
for his role as Cogburn in the 1969 film. On January 24, 2011, Jeff Bridges was nominated for the same award for his portrayal of Cogburn.
Reuben Cogburn was born on July 15, 1825. Cogburn was a veteran of the American Civil War
who served under Confederate
guerrilla leader William Quantrill
, where he lost his eye. He was twice married, first to an Illinois
woman who left him to return to her first husband after bearing Cogburn a single, extremely clumsy son (of whom Cogburn says, "He never liked me anyway"), and second to a Texas woman who wanted him to be a lawyer. Cogburn is described as a "fearless, one-eyed U.S. marshal
who never knew a dry day in his life
." He was "the toughest marshal" working the Indian Territory
(present-day Oklahoma
) on behalf of Judge Isaac Parker
, the real-life judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
(having criminal jurisdiction in the Indian Territory
, as the bailiff
repeatedly announces in both films). Cogburn shot a total of 64 men in eight years, killing 60 (not counting the men he killed after the first of Rooster Cogburn, as then it would have been 70 shot and 66 killed). He killed 23 in four years and 60 by eight, all of whom he claimed to have killed in self defense, in the line of duty, or fleeing justice.
In the 1969 film, Cogburn helped a headstrong 14-year-old girl, named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby
), along with Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Glen Campbell
), to track down Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey
), the man who drunkenly killed her father. In the sequel, he teamed up with elderly spinster Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn
) and an Indian boy named Wolf (Richard Romancito) while on the trail of the desperado, Hawk (Richard Jordan
), who had stolen a shipment of nitroglycerin from the U.S. Army and killed family members of both Goodnight and Wolf.
Cogburn lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas
in the back of a Chinese dry-goods store, along with the proprietor, his friend and gambling buddy Chen Lee, and an orange tabby cat named after Confederate General Sterling Price
for his entire life as a marshal.
In the 2010 film, while Cogburn demonstrated a ruthless attitude towards the criminals and fugitives he pursued, he was generally very fair with Mattie and was shown to have a distaste for what he viewed as unnecessary cruelty. When LaBoeuf is birching
Mattie for her refusal to return to Fort Smith, Cogburn demanded that he stop, and drew his pistol in threat to make LeBoeuf stop. Later in the film, when Cogburn and Mattie witnessed two children caning
a mule with sharpened sticks, Cogburn quickly intervened, cutting the mule loose and roughly throwing the two children onto the ground in retaliation. After Mattie was snakebitten, he rode through the night, holding her, in order to get her medical care. When the horse collapsed, he shot it
and then carried her a long distance quickly to get her to a doctor, both saving her life and proving he really had the true grit Mattie thought he did.
Cogburn's relationship with LaBoeuf was strained throughout the film, with the two arguing frequently. Cogburn often made light of the Texas Rangers
, much to LaBoeuf's outrage, and irritatedly criticized LaBoeuf's tendency to talk longwindedly. Likewise, LaBoeuf patronized Cogburn for being an ineffective drunk who routinely relents to Mattie's stubbornness. Their greatest point of contention came during an argument about their military service during the American Civil War
, during which Cogburn ended their agreement of splitting the reward on Tom Chaney when they brought him back to Texas when LaBoeuf insulted Capt Quantrill. He did, however, thank LaBoeuf for saving his life when "Lucky" Ned Pepper was about to kill him and said he was in his debt before leaving with the snakebitten Mattie and promising to send help back.
In both True Grit films, Cogburn confessed to having robbed something after the war before becoming a marshal, a bank in his youth in the 2010 film, and a federal paymaster in the 1969. He spoke admiringly of Quantrill, with whom he served during the Civil War. Twenty-five years after the Tom Chaney hunt, Cogburn wrote Mattie Ross a letter with a flyer enclosed saying he was traveling with a Wild West show and asked if she would like to come visit him when the show came to Memphis and swap stories with an old trailmate. He said he would understand if the journey were too long. Cogburn died three days before she arrived while the show was still in Arkansas and was buried there in a confederate cemetery in Jonesboro, Arkansas. When Mattie arrived in Memphis and learned of his death, she had his body removed to her family farm plot in Yell County Arkansas and has visited it over the years. His gravestone is entitled Reuben Cogburn.
Charles Portis
Charles McColl Portis is an American author best known for his novels Norwood and the 1968 classic Western novel True Grit , both adapted as films. The latter also inspired a film sequel and made-for-TV movie sequel...
novel, True Grit
True Grit (novel)
True Grit is a 1968 novel by Charles Portis that was first published as a 1968 serial in The Saturday Evening Post. The novel is told from the perspective of a woman named Mattie Ross who recounts the time when she was 14 years old and sought retribution for the murder of her father by a scoundrel...
.
The novel was adapted into a 1969 film, True Grit, and from that a 1975 sequel entitled Rooster Cogburn (also known as Rooster Cogburn (... and the Lady)) was also produced. The character was also featured in a made-for-television
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
sequel, entitled True Grit: A Further Adventure
True Grit: A Further Adventure
True Grit: A Further Adventure is a 1978 television film sequel to the films True Grit and Rooster Cogburn.While John Wayne played the role of Rooster Cogburn in the first two films, Warren Oates played him in this 1978 television film.-Plot:...
, made in 1978. The Coen brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
released a new film version
True Grit (2010 film)
True Grit is a 2010 American Western film written and directed by the Coen brothers. It is the second adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name, which was previously filmed in 1969 starring John Wayne. This version stars Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges as U.S....
of the novel in 2010.
In the 1969 and 1975 theatrical releases, Cogburn was portrayed by John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
. Cogburn is portrayed as an anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
, which was an unusual role for Wayne, who usually played a strait-laced hero. The 1978 TV sequel starred Warren Oates
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
in the featured role. The 2010 film stars Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
as Cogburn.
John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his role as Cogburn in the 1969 film. On January 24, 2011, Jeff Bridges was nominated for the same award for his portrayal of Cogburn.
Fictional character biography
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
who served under Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
guerrilla leader William Quantrill
William Quantrill
William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. After leading a Confederate bushwhacker unit along the Missouri-Kansas border in the early 1860s, which included the infamous raid and sacking of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863, Quantrill eventually ended up in...
, where he lost his eye. He was twice married, first to an Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
woman who left him to return to her first husband after bearing Cogburn a single, extremely clumsy son (of whom Cogburn says, "He never liked me anyway"), and second to a Texas woman who wanted him to be a lawyer. Cogburn is described as a "fearless, one-eyed U.S. marshal
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
who never knew a dry day in his life
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
." He was "the toughest marshal" working the Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
(present-day Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
) on behalf of Judge Isaac Parker
Isaac Parker
Isaac Charles Parker served as a U.S. District Judge presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for 21 years and also one-time politician. He served in that capacity during the most dangerous time for law enforcement during the western expansion...
, the real-life judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
The United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas is a United States District Court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties: Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Clarke, Columbia, Crawford, Franklin, Garland, Hempstead, Hot Springs, Howard,...
(having criminal jurisdiction in the Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
, as the bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
repeatedly announces in both films). Cogburn shot a total of 64 men in eight years, killing 60 (not counting the men he killed after the first of Rooster Cogburn, as then it would have been 70 shot and 66 killed). He killed 23 in four years and 60 by eight, all of whom he claimed to have killed in self defense, in the line of duty, or fleeing justice.
In the 1969 film, Cogburn helped a headstrong 14-year-old girl, named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby
Kim Darby
Kim Darby is an American actress perhaps best known for co-starring with John Wayne and country singer/actor Glen Campbell in the 1969 western True Grit.-Early life and film career:...
), along with Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
), to track down Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey
Jeff Corey
Jeff Corey was an American stage and screen actor and director who became a well-respected acting teacher after being blacklisted in the 1950s.-Biography:...
), the man who drunkenly killed her father. In the sequel, he teamed up with elderly spinster Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
) and an Indian boy named Wolf (Richard Romancito) while on the trail of the desperado, Hawk (Richard Jordan
Richard Jordan
Richard Jordan was an American stage, screen and film actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays...
), who had stolen a shipment of nitroglycerin from the U.S. Army and killed family members of both Goodnight and Wolf.
Cogburn lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
in the back of a Chinese dry-goods store, along with the proprietor, his friend and gambling buddy Chen Lee, and an orange tabby cat named after Confederate General Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
for his entire life as a marshal.
In the 2010 film, while Cogburn demonstrated a ruthless attitude towards the criminals and fugitives he pursued, he was generally very fair with Mattie and was shown to have a distaste for what he viewed as unnecessary cruelty. When LaBoeuf is birching
Birching
Birching is a corporal punishment with a birch rod, typically applied to the recipient's bare buttocks, although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders.-Implement:...
Mattie for her refusal to return to Fort Smith, Cogburn demanded that he stop, and drew his pistol in threat to make LeBoeuf stop. Later in the film, when Cogburn and Mattie witnessed two children caning
Caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...
a mule with sharpened sticks, Cogburn quickly intervened, cutting the mule loose and roughly throwing the two children onto the ground in retaliation. After Mattie was snakebitten, he rode through the night, holding her, in order to get her medical care. When the horse collapsed, he shot it
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
and then carried her a long distance quickly to get her to a doctor, both saving her life and proving he really had the true grit Mattie thought he did.
Cogburn's relationship with LaBoeuf was strained throughout the film, with the two arguing frequently. Cogburn often made light of the Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, much to LaBoeuf's outrage, and irritatedly criticized LaBoeuf's tendency to talk longwindedly. Likewise, LaBoeuf patronized Cogburn for being an ineffective drunk who routinely relents to Mattie's stubbornness. Their greatest point of contention came during an argument about their military service during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, during which Cogburn ended their agreement of splitting the reward on Tom Chaney when they brought him back to Texas when LaBoeuf insulted Capt Quantrill. He did, however, thank LaBoeuf for saving his life when "Lucky" Ned Pepper was about to kill him and said he was in his debt before leaving with the snakebitten Mattie and promising to send help back.
In both True Grit films, Cogburn confessed to having robbed something after the war before becoming a marshal, a bank in his youth in the 2010 film, and a federal paymaster in the 1969. He spoke admiringly of Quantrill, with whom he served during the Civil War. Twenty-five years after the Tom Chaney hunt, Cogburn wrote Mattie Ross a letter with a flyer enclosed saying he was traveling with a Wild West show and asked if she would like to come visit him when the show came to Memphis and swap stories with an old trailmate. He said he would understand if the journey were too long. Cogburn died three days before she arrived while the show was still in Arkansas and was buried there in a confederate cemetery in Jonesboro, Arkansas. When Mattie arrived in Memphis and learned of his death, she had his body removed to her family farm plot in Yell County Arkansas and has visited it over the years. His gravestone is entitled Reuben Cogburn.