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John Wayne

Known for: Acting

Marion 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 1933Movie as Jimmy McCoy Jr.
The Searchers 1956Movie HBO Max as Ethan Edwards
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949Movie as Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles
Stagecoach 1939Movie Plex as The Ringo Kid
The Longest Day 1962Movie as Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort
Hondo 1953Movie as Hondo Lane
Red River 1948Movie as Thomas Dunson
Rio Bravo 1959Movie HBO Max as Sheriff John T. Chance
The Cowboys 1972Movie as Wil Andersen
True Grit 1969Movie as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
Fort Apache 1948Movie as Capt. Kirby York
The Alamo 1960Movie Amazon Prime Video as Col. Davy Crockett
El Dorado 1966Movie as Cole Thornton
New Frontier 1939Movie as Stony Brooke
3 Godfathers 1948Movie as Robert Marmaduke Sangster Hightower
McLintock! 1963Movie ArtiflixJustWatch TVPublic Domain Movies as George Washington McLintock
Rio Grande 1950Movie as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke
The Quiet Man 1952Movie as Sean Thornton
Rio Lobo 1970Movie Plex as Col. Cord McNally
Chisum 1970Movie as John Chisum
The Undefeated 1969Movie as Colonel John Henry Thomas
The Green Berets 1968Movie as Colonel Mike Kirby
In Harm's Way 1965Movie as Capt. Rockwell Torrey
Brannigan 1975Movie as Lt. Jim Brannigan
Hatari! 1962Movie as Sean Mercer
Cast a Giant Shadow 1966Movie as Gen. Mike Randolph
Rooster Cogburn 1975Movie as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
Sands of Iwo Jima 1950Movie as Sgt. John M. Stryker
The Horse Soldiers 1959Movie Amazon Prime Video as Col John Marlowe
Circus World 1964Movie as Matt Masters
Big Jake 1971Movie as Jacob McCandles
In Old Oklahoma 1943Movie Public Domain Movies as Daniel F Somers
The Sea Chase 1955Movie as Captain Karl Ehrlich
Blood Alley 1955Movie as Capt. Tom Wilder
Back to Bataan 1945Movie as Colonel Joseph Madden
Donovan's Reef 1963Movie as Michael "Guns" Donovan
Reap the Wild Wind 1942Movie as Captain Jack Stuart
They Were Expendable 1945Movie as Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan
The Big Trail 1930Movie as Breck Coleman
The Wings of Eagles 1957Movie as Frank W. 'Spig' Wead
Jet Pilot 1957Movie as Col. Jim Shannon
Hellfighters 1968Movie as Chance Buckman
The Fighting Seabees 1944Movie as Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan
West of the Divide 1934Movie JustWatch TVPublic Domain Movies as Ted Hayden aka Gat Ganns
Trouble Along the Way 1953Movie as Stephen Aloysius Williams
Flying Leathernecks 1951Movie as Maj. Daniel Xavier Kirby
The Star Packer 1934Movie ArtiflixJustWatch TVPublic Domain Movies +1 as U.S. Marshal John Travers
Atomic People 2024Movie as Self (archive footage)
Blue Steel 1934Movie JustWatch TVPublic Domain MoviesArtiflix +1 as John Carruthers
The Desert Trail 1935Movie JustWatch TVPublic Domain Movies as John Scott / John Jones
Riders of Destiny 1933Movie Public Domain Movies as Singin' Sandy Saunders
Tycoon 1947Movie as Johnny Munroe
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still 1974Movie as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Man Betrayed 1941Movie as Lynn Hollister
Dakota 1945Movie as John Devlin
The Black Watch 1929Movie Public Domain Movies as Black Watch Soldier (uncredited)
Men Without Women 1930Movie as Radioman on Surface (uncredited)
Lawless Range 1935Movie as John Middleton
John Ford & Monument Valley 2013Movie as Self (archive footage)
The Lonely Trail 1936Movie as Captain John Ashley
Born Reckless 1930Movie as Extra (uncredited)
Texas Terror 1935Movie JustWatch TVPublic Domain Movies as John Higgins
Texas Cyclone 1932Movie as Steve Pickett
Salute 1929Movie Public Domain Movies as Midshipman Bill
The Big Stampede 1932Movie as Deputy Sheriff John Steele