The Alamo (1960 film) of the former Alamo Mission. The set was an extensive three quarter-scale replica of the mission, and has since been used in 100 other westerns, including other depictions of the battle. It took more than two years to construct. Wayne was to have portrayed Sam Houston, a bit part that would have let him focus on his first major directing effort, but investors insisted he play a leading character. He took on the role of Davy Crockett, handing the part of Houston to Richard Boone. Wayne cast Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William Barrett Travis. Harvey
James Bowie some witnesses claiming that Bowie shot himself and others saying he was killed by soldiers while too weak to lift his head. Alcalde Ruiz said that Bowie was found "dead in his bed." According to Wallace O Chariton, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate" version is that Bowie died on his cot, "back braced against the wall, and using his pistols and his famous knife." One year after the battle, Juan Seguin returned to the Alamo and gathered the remaining ashes from the funeral pyre. He placed these in a coffin inscribed with the names of Bowie, Travis,