- Home
- John Wayne
John Wayne
Known for: ActingMarion 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 139
Baby Face
as Jimmy McCoy Jr. 
The Searchers
as Ethan Edwards 
The Longest Day
as Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort 
Rio Bravo
as Sheriff John T. Chance 
True Grit
as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn 
How the West Was Won
as William Sherman 
Fort Apache
as Capt. Kirby York 
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
as Tom Doniphon 
The Shootist
as J.B. Books 
The Alamo
as Col. Davy Crockett 
El Dorado
as Cole Thornton 
The Cowboys
as Wil Andersen 
Stagecoach
as The Ringo Kid 
3 Godfathers
as Robert Marmaduke Sangster Hightower 
McLintock!
+1
as George Washington McLintock 
Rio Grande
as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke 
The Quiet Man
as Sean Thornton 
Rio Lobo
as Col. Cord McNally 
Red River
as Thomas Dunson 
Chisum
as John Chisum 
The Sons of Katie Elder
as John Elder 
Angel and the Badman
as Quirt Evans 
The War Wagon
as Taw Jackson 
Hatari!
as Sean Mercer 
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
as Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles 
The Green Berets
as Colonel Mike Kirby 
In Harm's Way
as Capt. Rockwell Torrey 
The Comancheros
as Jake Cutter 
The Undefeated
as Colonel John Henry Thomas 
Cahill: United States Marshal
as J.D. Cahill 
North to Alaska
as Sam McCord 
Cast a Giant Shadow
as Gen. Mike Randolph 
Rooster Cogburn
as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn 
Sands of Iwo Jima
as Sgt. John M. Stryker 
Big Jake
as Jacob McCandles 
The Horse Soldiers
as Col John Marlowe 
Hondo
as Hondo Lane 
In Old Oklahoma
as Daniel F Somers 
The High and the Mighty
as Dan Roman 
7 Men from Now
Producer 
The Sea Chase
as Captain Karl Ehrlich 
Blood Alley
as Capt. Tom Wilder 
Back to Bataan
as Colonel Joseph Madden 
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
as Self (archive footage) 
Legend of the Lost
as Joe January 
Donovan's Reef
as Michael "Guns" Donovan 
Reap the Wild Wind
as Captain Jack Stuart 
The Train Robbers
as Lane 
They Were Expendable
as Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan 
The Conqueror
as Temujin 
Tall in the Saddle
as Rocklin 
Wake of the Red Witch
as Capt. Ralls 
The Fighting Kentuckian
as John Breen 
McQ
as McQ 
The Long Voyage Home
as Ole Olsen 
The Big Trail
as Breck Coleman 
Operation Pacific
as Duke E. Gifford 
Hellfighters
as Chance Buckman 
Brannigan
as Lt. Jim Brannigan 
The Wings of Eagles
as Frank W. 'Spig' Wead 
The Shepherd of the Hills
as Young Matt Matthews 
Jet Pilot
as Col. Jim Shannon 
'Neath the Arizona Skies
as Chris Morrell 
Seven Sinners
as Dan 
Flying Tigers
as Jim Gordon 
Dark Command
as Bob Seton 
Reunion in France
as Pat Talbot 
A Lady Takes a Chance
as Duke Hudkins 
Track of the Cat
Producer 
Directed by John Ford
as Self (1969) 
Island in the Sky
as Captain Dooley 
The Fighting Seabees
as Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan 
Circus World
as Matt Masters 
Without Reservations
as Rusty Thomas 
West of the Divide
as Ted Hayden aka Gat Ganns 
Winds of the Wasteland
as John Blair 
Trouble Along the Way
as Stephen Aloysius Williams 
Flying Leathernecks
as Maj. Daniel Xavier Kirby 
The Man from Utah
as John Weston 
The Spoilers
as Glennister 
Flame of Barbary Coast
as Duke Fergus 
The Trail Beyond
as Rod Drew 
In Old California
as Tom Craig 
Big Jim McLain
as Jim McLain 
Lady for a Night
as Jackson Morgan 
Born to the West
as Dare Rudd 
The Star Packer
+1
as U.S. Marshal John Travers 
Blue Steel
+1
as John Carruthers 
The Barbarian and the Geisha
as Townsend Harris 
Good-bye, My Lady
Producer 
The Desert Trail
as John Scott / John Jones 
Riders of Destiny
as Singin' Sandy Saunders 
Tycoon
as Johnny Munroe 
Allegheny Uprising
as Jim Smith 
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) 
Randy Rides Alone
as Randy Bowers 
Sagebrush Trail
as John Brant 
New Frontier
as Stony Brooke 
The Shadow of the Eagle
as Craig McCoy 
A Man Betrayed
as Lynn Hollister 
The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout
as Self (archive footage) 
Westward Ho
as John Wyatt 
King of the Pecos
as John Clayborn 
The Black Watch
as Black Watch Soldier (uncredited) 
Dakota
as John Devlin 
Born Reckless
as Extra (uncredited) 
Hell Town
as Dare Rudd 
The Lucky Texan
as Jerry Mason 
The American West of John Ford
as Self - Narrator 
Three Faces West
as John Phillips 
The Western: A Lost TV Special
as Self 
Three Texas Steers
as Stony Brooke 
Men Without Women
as Radioman on Surface (uncredited) 
Atomic People
as Self (archive footage) 
Ring of Fear
Producer 
The Lawless Frontier
as John Tobin 
The Dawn Rider
as John Mason 
John Ford & Monument Valley
as Self (archive footage) 
John Wayne - America at All Costs
as Himself (archive footage) 
Ride Him, Cowboy
as John Drury 
The Hurricane Express
as The Air Pilot 
John Wayne: Cowboys & Demons
as Self (Archive Footage) 
His Private Secretary
as Dick Wallace 
The Man from Monterey
as John Holmes 
Overland Stage Raiders
as Stony Brooke 
The Lonely Trail
as Captain John Ashley 
Santa Fe Stampede
as Stony Brooke 
Guns Along The Trail
as John Wyatt 
Texas Terror
as John Higgins 
The Range Feud
as Clint Turner 
No Substitute for Victory
as Sekf 
Texas Cyclone
as Steve Pickett 
The Telegraph Trail
as John Trent 
Lawless Range
as John Middleton 
The Three Musketeers
as Lt. Tom Wayne 
Salute
as Midshipman Bill 
The Big Stampede
as Deputy Sheriff John Steele