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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
The Searchers
The Longest Day
Rio Bravo
True Grit
How the West Was Won
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Stagecoach
The Shootist
The Alamo
El Dorado
Fort Apache
The Cowboys
3 Godfathers
McLintock!
Rio Grande
The Quiet Man
Rio Lobo
Red River
Chisum
The Sons of Katie Elder
Angel and the Badman
The War Wagon
Hatari!
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Green Berets
In Harm's Way
The Comancheros
The Undefeated
Cahill: United States Marshal
North to Alaska
Cast a Giant Shadow
Rooster Cogburn
Sands of Iwo Jima
Big Jake
The Horse Soldiers
Hondo
In Old Oklahoma
The High and the Mighty
7 Men from Now
The Sea Chase
Blood Alley
Back to Bataan
Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend
Legend of the Lost
Donovan's Reef
Reap the Wild Wind
The Train Robbers
They Were Expendable
The Conqueror
Tall in the Saddle
Wake of the Red Witch
The Fighting Kentuckian
The Long Voyage Home
McQ
The Big Trail
Operation Pacific
Hellfighters
Brannigan
The Wings of Eagles
The Shepherd of the Hills
Jet Pilot
'Neath the Arizona Skies
Dark Command
Seven Sinners
Flying Tigers
Reunion in France
A Lady Takes a Chance
as Duke Hudkins
Track of the Cat
Directed by John Ford
as Self (1969)
Island in the Sky
The Fighting Seabees
Circus World
Without Reservations
West of the Divide
Winds of the Wasteland
Trouble Along the Way
Flying Leathernecks
The Man from Utah
The Spoilers
Flame of Barbary Coast
The Trail Beyond
In Old California
Big Jim McLain
Lady for a Night
Born to the West
The Star Packer
Blue Steel
The Barbarian and the Geisha
Good-bye, My Lady
The Desert Trail
Riders of Destiny
Tycoon
Allegheny Uprising
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Randy Rides Alone
Sagebrush Trail
New Frontier
The Shadow of the Eagle
A Man Betrayed
The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout
Westward Ho
King of the Pecos
The Black Watch
Dakota
Born Reckless
Hell Town
The Lucky Texan
The American West of John Ford
Three Faces West
The Western: A Lost TV Special
Three Texas Steers
Men Without Women
Atomic People
Ring of Fear
The Lawless Frontier
The Dawn Rider
John Ford & Monument Valley
John Wayne - America at All Costs
Ride Him, Cowboy
The Hurricane Express
John Wayne: Cowboys & Demons
His Private Secretary
The Man from Monterey
Overland Stage Raiders
The Lonely Trail
Santa Fe Stampede
Guns Along The Trail
Texas Terror
The Range Feud
No Substitute for Victory
Texas Cyclone
Lawless Range
The Telegraph Trail
The Three Musketeers
Salute
The Big Stampede