John Wayne
Birthday: 1907-05-26 | Place of Birth: Winterset, Iowa, USAMarion 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.
Known For
Acting
Role
as Self (archive footage)
as Himself
as Himself/Narrator
as J.B. Books
as Lt. Jim Brannigan
as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
as McQ
as J.D. Cahill
as Lane
as Wil Andersen
as Jacob McCandles
as Self (archive footage)
as Self - Narrator
as Colonel Cord McNally
as Himself
as John Chisum
as Colonel John Henry Thomas
as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
as Colonel Mike Kirby
as Cole Thornton
as Taw Jackson
as Gen. Mike Randolph
as Capt. Rockwell Torrey
as John Elder
as Matt Masters
as George Washington McLintock
as Michael "Guns" Donovan
as Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort
as Sean Mercer
as Tom Doniphon
