John Wayne
AKA: Duke
Birthday: 1907-05-26
Died: 1979-06-11
Birthplace: Winterset, Iowa, USA
Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed Duke, was an American actor and filmmaker. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades.
Born in Winterset, Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California. He was president of Glendale High class of 1925. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to the University of Southern California as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he appeared mostly in small bit parts. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail (1930), which led to leading roles in numerous B movies throughout the 1930s, many of them in the Western genre.
Wayne's career took off in 1939, with John Ford's Stagecoach making him an instant star. He went on to star in 142 pictures. Biographer Ronald Davis said, "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them, he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth."
Wayne's other well-known Western roles include a cattleman driving his herd north on the Chisholm Trail in Red River (1948), a Civil War veteran whose young niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches in The Searchers (1956), and a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer for a woman's hand in marriage in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He is also remembered for his roles in The Quiet Man (1952), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Longest Day (1962). In his final screen performance, he starred as an aging gunfighter battling cancer in The Shootist (1976). He appeared with many important Hollywood stars of his era, and his last public appearance was at the Academy Awards ceremony on April 9, 1979.
Filmography
Character: Col. Davy Crockett
Character: Jacob McCandles
Character: Colonel Mike Kirby
Character: Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan
Character: Singin' Sandy Saunders
Character: Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke
Character: Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Character: Temujin, later Genghis Khan
Character: Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort
Character: Chance Buckman
Character: Lynn Hollister
Character: Colonel Cord McNally
Character: Lt. Jim Brannigan
Character: Jimmy McCoy Jr.
Character: Captain Karl Ehrlich
Character: Captain Dooley
Character: Stephen Aloysius Williams
Character: Jackson Morgan
Character: Duke E. Gifford
Character: Daniel F Somers
Character: Ted Hayden aka Gat Ganns
Character: Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles
Character: Robert Marmaduke Sangster Hightower
Character: Capt. Tom Wilder
Character: Young Matt Matthews
Character: Capt. Kirby York
Character: George Washington McLintock
Character: Charles 'Pittsburgh' Markham
Character: Capt. Rockwell Torrey
Character: Michael "Guns" Donovan
Character: U.S. Marshal John Travers
Character: George Abitbol (archive footage)
Character: Captain Jack Stuart
Character: Frank W. 'Spig' Wead
Character: Townsend Harris
Character: Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
Character: Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
Character: Maj. Daniel Xavier Kirby
Character: Col John Marlowe
Character: Sgt. John M. Stryker
Character: Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan
Character: Deputy Sheriff John Steele
Character: Colonel John Henry Thomas
Character: Colonel Joseph Madden
Character: John Scott / John Jones
Character: John Carruthers
Character: Col. Jim Shannon
Character: John Middleton
Character: Lt. Bob Denton
Character: Captain John Ashley
Character: Football Player / Extra in Stands
Character: Centurion at crucifixion
Character: Opposing Football Player
Character: Gen. Mike Randolph
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Capt John Delmont
Character: Self - Narrator
Character: Marine Sergeant
Character: Horse Race Spectator / Condemned Man in Flashback
Character: Himself/Narrator
Character: (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (staged 'archive' footage) (uncredited)
Character: (archive footage)
Character: Self - Actor / Various Roles (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Himself (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self - Roaster (archive footage)
Character: Himself - Host
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: (archive footage)
Character: John Carruthers
Character: U.S. Marshal John Travers
Character: Ted Hayden aka Gat Ganns
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Actor in a Movie (uncredited)
Character: Extra (uncredited)
Character: Radioman on Surface (uncredited)
Character: Black Watch Soldier (uncredited)
Character: Flood Extra (uncredited)
Character: Extra (uncredited)
Character: Guard (uncredited)
Character: Yale Football Player (uncredited)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (Archive Footage)
Character: (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Character: Self (archive footage)