John Wayne

John Wayne. . , Born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26, 1907, John Wayne’s parents originally named him Marion Robert Morrison, which was changed to Marion Mitchell Morison several years later when they wanted to name a younger brother Robert. The Morison family moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where Wayne attended First Grade. The family lived in Keokuk for about a year in an apartment on Main Street. The family then moved to Palmdale, California, and finally settled in Glendale, California, in 1911. , After college and a great football career, Marion, who was nicknamed “Duke”, began working at a film studio in the prop division. There he met director, John Ford, who became his friend and got him his first acting roles. The Big Trail in 1930 was Wayne’s first starring role and was also the first movie in which he went by the name “John Wayne,” a name he was given by its director. Wayne got his first big break in the movie Stagecoach in 1939, which was directed by Ford. Wayne appeared in more than twenty of Ford’s films after that. The first colored film Wayne appeared in was Shepherd of the Hills (1941), co-starring with friend, Harry Carey. , Wayne was known to be very patriotic and in 1949 he refused the role of Willie Stark in All the King’s Men because he considered the script to be un-American. Indeed, Wayne appeared in only one film where he played a character of questionable morals, the 1942 film Reap the Wild Wind. In 1956, Wayne starred in what many think was his finest movie, The Searchers. In 1969, Wayne received the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Wayne also co-founded a production company called Batjac and produced many films for himself and other stars. , Overall, John Wayne played the lead in 142 films and for 25 years was listed on the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll in film. He was a chain smoker and in 1964 was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had surgery to remove his left lung and was pronounced cancer free. Unfortunately, he continued to chew tobacco and smoke and died of stomach cancer at the UCLA medical center on June 11, 1979. He is buried at Pacific View Memorial Park Cemetery in Corona del Mar.