John Wayne
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
A tall man, a well worn stetson on his head, and a six gun at his hip. This perhaps is everyone's perception of the actor John Wayne, but he was so much more, read on the learn more about this remarkable man.
John Wayne was born on May 26th 1907, weighing a healthy 13 pounds, in the state of Iowa in the USA. He was named Marion Micheal Morrison, by his mother and father, Mary and Clyde Morrison.
Clyde Morrison was a pharmecist, whose business was not doing well, and after Clyde contracted Tuberculosis the family decided to move Southern California in 1917, where they took up ranching in the Mojave desert. This is how Wayne learned to ride, along with his younger brother Robert (Bob), born in 1911, Wayne used to travel to school every day by horseback.
When the ranch failed as well, the family moved once more to Glendale, in Los Angeles, and they set up home. It was at this time that the Morrison family got an Airedale Dog called Big Duke, Wayne used to follow the dog around, so people took to calling him Little Duke, and even today, people still refer to him as, 'The Duke'.
His parents divorced in 1926, and Wayne had to help his father by delivering medicines for his father and getting other jobs to help support himself.
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John Wayne Quote!!
On winning the best actor award for 'True Grit'
"Wow! If I had known, I would have put that eye patch on 35 years earlier."
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Wayne did well in school at Glendale, both academically and in football, which he loved. He also acted in several school plays, and was very vocal on the school debate team.
After High School Wayne wanted to go to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, but did not get in, and instead won a football scholarship to the University of Southern California in 1925. Unfortuanatly he lost the scholarship after a football accident in 1927, and was unable to fund himself through University.
Whilst he had been at University he had taken a summer vacation job at the Fox film studios, where he was a labourer, a propman and extra, using the screen name of Duke Morrison. It was while he was here that he met his lifelong friend John Ford, the director, and in 1929/30, Ford helped Wayne get cast as a lead role in a major Fox film, The Big Trail, using the name John Wayne. Sadly the film flopped, and he went back to doing odd jobs and acting in B movies.
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John Wayne Fact!!
The title role of Dirty Harry was originally intended for Frank Sinatra. After he turned it down, it was offered to John Wayne and Paul Newman before it was given to Clint Eastwood.
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In 1939, John Ford once more took a hand in Wayne's career and cast him in the lead role of his latest western, Stagecoach'. The film was an instant success, and was a turning point in Wayne's career.
He went on to play a leading role in 142 movies, and holds the record for the actor with most leading parts.
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John Wayne Quote!!
On faith
"When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man Upstairs' and the word H-O-P-E. Hang onto both and 'Tough it out'."
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John Wayne in the Movies
1926 Bardelys the Magnificent
1926 Brown of Harvard
1926 The Great K and A Train Robbery
1927 Annie Laurie
1927 The Drop Kick (aka Glitter)
1928 Hangman's House
1928 Mother Machree
1928 Four Son's
1929 Words and Music
1929 The Forward Pass
1929 Salute
1929 Noah's Ark
1929 Speakeasy
1929 The Black Watch
1930 Men Without Women
1930 The Big Trail
1930 Rough Romance
1930 Cheer Up and Smile
1930 Born Reckless
1931 The Deceiver
1931 Range Feud
1931 Men Are Like That (aka Arizona)
1931 Three Girls Lost
1931 Maker of Men (aka Yellow)
1931 Girls Demand Excitement
1932 Shadow of the Eagle
1932 Lady and Gent (aka The Challenger)
1932 Ride Him, Cowboy (aka The Hawk)
1932 The Voice of Hollywood No. 13
1932 Haunted Gold
1932 The Hollywood Handicap
1932 Texas Cyclone
1932 The Hurricane Express
1932 That's My Boy
1932 The Big Stampede
1932 Two-Fisted Law
1933 Central Airport
1933 Somewhere in Sonora
1933 The Man From Monteray
1933 The Telegraph Trail
1933 Riders of Destiny
1933 Sagebrush Trail
1933 Baby Face
1933 His Private Secretary
1933 College Coach (aka Football Coach)
1933 The Life of Jimmy Dolan (aka The Kid's Last Fight)
1933 The Three Musketeers
1934 The Trail Beyond
1934 The Star Packer
1934 The Man From Utah
1934 The Lucky Texan
1934 The Lawless Frontier
1934 West of the Divide
1934 Randy Rides Alone
1934 Blue Steel
1934 'Neath the Arizona Skies
1935 Westward Ho
1935 Texas Terror
1935 The Desert Trail
1935 The Dawn Rider
1935 Lawless Range
1935 The New Frontier
1935 Paradise Canyon
1935 Rainbow Valley
1936 Conflict
1936 King of the Pecos
1936 Winds of the Wasteland
1936 The Lonely Trail
1936 The Lawless Nineties
1936 The Oregon Trail
1936 Sea Spoilers
1937 Idol of the Crowds
1937 Adventure's End
1937 I Cover the War
1937 California Straight Ahead
1937 Born to the West (aka Hell Town)
1938 Santa Fe Stampede
1938 Overland Stage Raiders
1938 Pals of the Saddle
1939 The Night Riders
1939 Stagecoach
1939 Wyoming Outlaw
1939 Three Texas Steers
1939 Allegheny Uprising
1939 New Frontier
1940 Seven Sinners
1940 Three Faces West
1940 The Long Voyage Home
1940 The Dark Command
1941 A Man Betrayed
1941 Lady for a Night
1941 The Shepherd of the Hills
1941 Lady from Louisiana
1942 The Spoilers
1942 Pittsburgh
1942 Reap the Wild Wind
1942 In Old California
1942 Reunion in France
1942 Flying Tigers
1943 A Lady Takes a Chance
1943 In Old Oklahoma
1944 Tall in the Saddle
1944 The Fighting Seabees
1945 Flame of Barbary Coast
1945 They Were Expendable
1945 Dakota
1945 Back to Bataan
1946 Without Reservations
1946 Desert Command
1947 Angel and the Badman
1947 Tycoon
1948 Fort Apache
1948 Red River
1948 3 Godfathers
1949 The Fighting Kentuckian
1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1949 Sands of Iwo Jima
1949 Wake of the Red Witch
1950 Rio Grande
1951 Flying Leathernecks
1951 Operation Pacific
1952 The Quiet Man
1952 Big Jim McLain
1953 Island in the Sky
1953 Trouble Along the Way
1953 Hondo
1954 The High and the Mighty
1955 Blood Alley
1955 The Sea Chase
1956 The Conqueror
1956 The Searchers
1957 Jet Pilot
1957 Legend of the Lost
1957 The Wings of Eagles
1958 I Married a Woman
1958 The Barbarian and the Geisha
1959 Rio Bravo
1959 The Horse Soldiers
1960 North to Alaska
1960 The Alamo
1961 The Comancheros
1962 The Longest Day
1962 How the West Was Won
1962 Hatari!
1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1963 Donovan's Reef
1963 McLintock!
1964 Circus World
1965 The Sons of Katie Elder
1965 In Harm's Way
1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told
1966 Cast a Giant Shadow
1967 El Dorado
1967 The War Wagon
1968 The Green Berets
1968 Hellfighters
1969 True Grit
1969 The Undefeated
1970 Rio Lobo
1970 Chisum
1971 Big Jake
1972 The Cowboys
1973 The Train Robbers
1973 Cahill: United States Marshal
1974 McQ
1975 Rooster Cogburn
1975 Brannigan
1976 The Shootist
