 John Wayne (May 26, 1907 - June 11, 1979), popularly known as The Duke, was an
Academy Award winning, American film actor whose career began in silent movies
in the 1920s. He was a major star from the 1940s to the 1970s. He is most famous
for his Westerns and World War II epics, but he also made a wide range of films
from various Genres, biographies, romantic comedies, police dramas, and more. He
epitomized a certain kind of rugged individualistic masculinity, and has become
an enduring American icon.
Early Life and College
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa in 1907, but his
name was changed to Marion Michael Morrison when his parents decided to name
their next son Robert. His family was Presbyterian; father Clyde Leonard
Morrison was of Irish and Scottish descent and the son of an American Civil War
veteran while mother Mary Alberta Brown was of Irish descent. Wayne's family
moved to Glendale, California in 1911; it was neighbors in Glendale who started
calling him Big Duke because he never went anywhere without his Airedale Terrier
dog, who was Little Duke. He preferred Duke to Marion, and the name stuck for
the rest of his life.
Duke Morrison's early life was marked by poverty; his father was a man who did
not manage money well. Duke was a good and popular student. Tall from an early
age, he was a star football player for Glendale High School and was recruited by
the University of Southern California. As a teen, Wayne also worked in an ice
cream shop for an individual who shoed horses for local Hollywood studios.
Wayne applied to the US Naval Academy, but was not accepted. He instead attended
the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the Trojan
Knights and joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Wayne also played on the USC
football team under legendary coach Howard Jones. An injury while supposedly
swimming at the beach curtailed his athletic career, however; Wayne would later
note that he was too terrified of Jones' reaction to reveal the actual cause of
his injury. He lost his athletic scholarship and with no funds was unable to
continue at USC.
While at the university, Wayne began working around the local film studios.
Western star Tom Mix got him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for
football tickets, and Wayne soon moved on to bit parts, establishing a long
friendship with director John Ford. During this period, Wayne appeared with his
USC teammates as one of the featured football players in Columbia Pictures'
Maker of Men (filmed in 1930 and released in 1931), which starred Richard
Cromwell and Jack Holt. In the film, Wayne was billed with his given name of
Marion Morrison.
Acting Career, Production Company
 After two years working as a prop man at the William Fox Studios for $35 a week,
his first starring role was in the 1930 movie The Big Trail; the director of
that movie, Raoul Walsh, (who discovered Wayne) gave him the stage name John
Wayne, after Revolutionary War general Mad Anthony Wayne. His pay was raised to
$75 a week. He was tutored by the studio's stuntmen in riding and other western
skills.
The Big Trail, the first western epic sound motion picture, established his
screen credentials, although it was a commercial failure. Nine years later, his
performance in the 1939 film Stagecoach made him a star. In between, he made
westerns, most notably at Monogram Pictures, and serials for Mascot Studios,
where he played the role of d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, set in modern
North Africa, with co-stars Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune. In this same year
(1933), Wayne had a small part in Alfred E Green's succes de scandale Baby Face.
Beginning in 1928, Wayne appeared in more than twenty of John Ford's films over
the next 35 years, including Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949),
The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).
According to the Internet Movie Database, Wayne played the male lead in 142 of
his film appearances. One of Wayne's most praised roles was in The High and the
Mighty (1954), directed by William Wellman and based on a novel by Ernest K.
Gann. His portrayal of a heroic airman won widespread acclaim. Island in the Sky
(1953) is related to it, and both films were made one year apart with the same
producers, director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and distributor.
In 1949 Robert Rossen, the director of All the King's Men, offered the starring
role to Wayne. Wayne indignantly refused, finding the script of the projected
film to be un-American in many ways. Broderick Crawford, who eventually took the
role, won the 1950 Oscar for best male actor, beating out Wayne, who had been
nominated for his role in The Sands of Iwo Jima.
John Wayne won an Best Actor Oscar in True Grit (1969). The award was fitting
but belated as he had previously been ignored for performances in movies such as
Red River (1948) and The Searchers (1956). Wayne was also nominated for Best
Actor in Sands of Iwo Jima, and as the producer of Best Picture nominee The
Alamo, one of two films he directed. The other was The Green Berets (1968), the
only film made during the Vietnam War to support the conflict.
The Searchers continues to be widely regarded as perhaps Wayne's finest and most
complex performance. In 2006 Premiere Magazine ran an industry poll in which his
portrayal of Ethan Edwards was rated the 87th greatest performance in film
history. Spielberg and Lucas believe that his performance as Ethan Edwards was
in fact the greatest performance ever by any film actor.
Wayne was known for his conservative ideals. He took part in creating the Motion
Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, and was the president
of that organization at one time. He was an ardent anti-communist, and was a
vocal supporter of HUAC and the blacklisting of actors and actresses that were
accused of being sympathetic to communist ideals.
Batjac, the production company co-founded by Wayne, was named after the
fictional shipping company in The Wake of the Red Witch.
In 1964 Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer, and underwent surgery to remove
his entire left lung and two ribs. Despite rumors that the cancer was caused by
filming The Conqueror in Utah where the US government had tested nuclear
weapons, Wayne himself believed his three pack a day cigarette habit was the
cause. After the operation he smoked cigars.
Perhaps due to his sheer popularity, or his status as the most famous Republican
star in Hollywood, the Republican Party asked Wayne to run for President in
1968. He declined because he did not believe the public would seriously consider
an actor in the White House. He did support his friend Ronald Reagan's runs for
Governor of California in 1966 and 1970, however. In 1968 Wayne was also asked
to be conservative Democratic governor George Wallace's running mate in the
presidential election, however, this too did not come to pass.
John Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979, and was interred in the
Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar. Rumours regarding Duke's
death bed conversions to Catholicism circulated for a brief while following his
death. However. many close to John Wayne including Dave Grayson and Duke's
daughter Aissa have dismissed these allegations stating that Duke was not
conscious when the 'alleged' conversion actually took place. Although Wayne was
a Freemason, his family did not request a Masonic funeral.
Wayne was married three times, always to Spanish-speaking brides; to Josephine
Alicia Saenz, Esperanza Baur, and Pilar Palette. He had four children with
Josephine and three with Pilar, most notably actor Patrick Wayne and Aissa
Wayne, who wrote a memoir of her life as the daughter of John Wayne.
His romance with Josie Saenz began when he was a college student and continued
for seven years before their marriage. Miss Saenz was 15 or 16 at their first
meeting at a beach party at Balboa. The daughter of a successful Spanish
businessman, Josie resisted considerable opposition from her family to maintain
her relationship with Duke. In the years prior to his death, Wayne was happily
involved with his former secretary Pat Stacy.
At the time of his death, John Wayne resided in a bay front house in Newport
Beach, California. The site of his last residence remains a point of interest in
Newport Harbor. After his death, his house was torn down and replaced by the new
owners.
Various things have been named in memoriam of John Wayne. They include John
Wayne Airport, in Orange County, California, and the 100-plus mile trail named
the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in Washington state's Iron Horse State Park.
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