John Wayne

Actor, Film Director and Film Producer. John Wayne is noted mostly for his military and cowboy roles and was an American icon. Fiercely patriotic and a staunch American, he represented an American ideal of rugged individualism. Politically conservative and hawkish, he was directly the opposite of many Hollywood stars and was often ridiculed for his political opinions. Born Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, his family moved to Southern California where his father owned a ranch and he learned to ride a horse. When the ranch failed, his family moved from Palmdale to Glendale, California, where he attended elementary school through high school. He had an Airedale Terrier dog named Duke, which was the source of his later nickname. When he narrowly missed getting an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, he went to the University of Southern California (USC) on a football scholarship. Cowboy actor Tom Mix got him a summer job as a prop man, in exchange for USC football tickets. On the set, he became lifelong friends with director John Ford, for whom he began doing bit parts. His first film in 1930 was "Men Without Women." His first lead role was Raoul Walsh's widescreen Western epic "The Big Trail" (1930). After bit parts in some 70 films, his breakthrough came in the 1939 film "Stagecoach," where he emerged as a star. He holds the record for an actor, playing the most leading parts in 142 movies. He stayed mostly with his best acting roles, those of strong military men or fierce independent cowboys. He was exempt from military service in World War II due to a separated shoulder injury from college and an ear infection that left him partially deaf. In 1948, he starred in Howard Hawks' "Red River," giving a dynamic performance which made critics take notice. However, he is best remembered for his performance in the John Ford cavalry trilogy, "Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," and "Rio Grande." He had great film chemistry with Maureen O'Hara, and, in 1952, he made "The Quiet Man" with her, considered by many to be Wayne's most endearing film. Other classic Wayne films include: "The Searchers" (1956) and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962). When Republic Pictures refused to make "The Alamo," Wayne started his own studio, Batjac, and made the film in 1960. In 1968, during the Vietnam War, he made the film "The Green Berets," considered the only pro-Vietnam War film made in that period. He won his only Oscar for his role as a boozy, one-eyed, over-the-hill lawman in "True Grit" (1969), a role he reprised in "Rooster Cogburn" (1975). His acting abilities were often underrated by critics, yet he was always a professional actor who knew his lines and his mark and was always on time for shooting. During his storied career, Wayne would quietly slip off movie sets to attend Catholic Mass. Wayne was not a Catholic, but the spark of faith was there. In the waning days of John Wayne's life, Maureen O'Hara made an impassioned plea for him to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. "John Wayne is the United States of America," she told the U.S. Congress. Congress honored him on May 26, 1979, his 72nd birthday. Fifteen days later, as he prepared to slip from the bonds of earth, he was baptized into the Catholic Church. A sunrise Funeral Mass, attended only by family, was celebrated by Archbishop Marcos McGrath at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Corona Del Mar, California, on June 15. Music from Wayne's movies played, including the theme from the 1954 "The High and the Mighty."