Bodie Thoene, coauthor of bestselling Christian fiction such as the Zion Chronicles, once worked for John Wayne as a script writer. In Today’s Christian Woman, Thoene tells how that opportunity came about.

By the time I was nineteen, I was commuting to Los Angeles and doing feature articles on different stunt men and other film personalities for magazines. Four years later, an article I co-wrote with John Wayne’s stuntman won the attention of the Duke himself. One day he called and invited [my husband,] Brock, and me to come to his house. He talked to us as if we were friends, showing keen interest in us as individuals. From that day on, I began writing for his film company, Batjac Productions. Brock helped me with the historical research.

We were awestruck. Here was this man who had been in film for fifty years and he takes a young couple with small children under his wing! Once I asked him, “Why are you doing this? You’re so good to us.”

He replied, “Because somebody did it for me.”