James W. Parker interested in Cynthia Ann but rather in her uncle James who had searched for her for eight years after her abduction." Historians and film critics have speculated on the inspiration for the character of Ethan Edwards in the John Ford movie The Searchers, with many saying that the character was based on James Parker. Critics and historians noted that James W. Parker, Cynthia Ann's uncle, spent much of his life and fortune in what became an obsessive search for his niece, like Ethan Edwards in the film. In addition, the "rescue" of Cynthia Ann, during a Texas Ranger attack on
John Wayne filmography Monogram, and Republic. Wayne kept on friendly terms with John Ford who, as a result, gave Wayne a career boost with "Stagecoach" (1939). John Wayne had achieved stardom in motion pictures by 1941 and, by the end of the decade, was one of the cinema's top ten box office attractions. During the latter half of the 1940s Wayne starred in what many film fans and critics regard as being among his finest work, notably the "cavalry trilogy" "(Fort Apache", "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", and "Rio Grande)" for director John Ford, "3 Godfathers", also for Ford, and "Red River" for