John Wayne

Born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26, 1907, John Wayne was originally named Marion Robert Morrison, and his name was later changed to Marion Mitchell Morison when his parents wanted to name a younger brother Robert. His family moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where he attended first grade and lived for about a year in an apartment on Main Street, then moved to Palmdale, California, and finally settled in Glendale, California, in 1911. After college and a great football career, Marion, nicknamed Duke, began working in the prop division at a film studio, where he met director John Ford, who became his friend and helped him get his first acting roles. The Big Trail in 1930 was his first starring role and the first film in which he used the name John Wayne, a name given to him by that film's director. He received his first big break in Stagecoach in 1939, directed by Ford, and afterward appeared in more than twenty of Ford's films. His first color film was Shepherd of the Hills in 1941, co-starring his friend Harry Carey. Known as very patriotic, he refused the role of Willie Stark in All the King's Men in 1949 because he considered the script un-American, and he appeared in only one film in which he played a character of questionable morals, Reap the Wild Wind in 1942. In 1956 he starred in The Searchers, considered by many his finest film, and in 1969 he received the Best Actor Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. He also co-founded the production company Batjac and produced many films for himself and other stars. Overall, he played the lead in 142 films and for 25 years was listed on the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll in film. A chain smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964, had his left lung removed in surgery, and was pronounced cancer free, but 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.

Keokuk, Iowa · United States