On this episode of Our American Stories, before his stories became classic Hollywood films, James Warner Bellah was writing pulp fiction about cavalry, frontier warfare, and American identity. His short stories and screenplays were later brought to the screen by John Ford and helped define the on-screen voice of John Wayne. But Bellah’s life was shaped not only by Hollywood. He also served during World War I, an experience that deeply influenced his writing and worldview. As part of our ongoing Hollywood Goes to War series, Roger McGrath shares the story of the writer whose words helped shape American war films and one of cinema’s most enduring icons.

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