John Wayne, Memorable Movie Legend

John Wayne May 1907- June 1979

John was born 'Marion Robert Morrison, the name Robert dropped later for Mitchell when his parents planned on naming their second son Robert. American born in Iowa,  his parent's relocated to L.A. when he was 4 years old. John played football and lost his Scholarship to S.C.A. due to a body surfing accident.  He landed his first real movie role in 1939 with Fox Films in John Ford's, Stagecoach after having a few bit parts leading up to the movie that launched his career as an Iconic Western movie Hero and later a war Movie Hero.  John was an instant success and went on to film 142 movies as an Actor, Director and Producer. A true Legend. 


John was so much of an American movie War Hero Icon that Emperor Hirohito himself requested that he have an audience with the Duke when he came to the U.S.   in 1975,  as he wanted to meet this man that so epitomized the American GI's no nonsense reputation of tenacity and perseverance during the campaigns against Japan. 


In 1949, John Wayne's footprints were installed at Grauman's Chinese Theater in 
Hollywood.


In 1999 John Wayne was given the distinction of being honored with, 13th place by The American Film Institute's Greatest Male Screen Legends of all time. 






A Few Notable Movies in no specific order :


 1949       Sands Of Iwo Jima


 1952       The Quiet Man    As an Irish American Boxer.


 1956       The Searchers   As a Civil War Veteran.


 1959        Rio Bravo         As a Sheriff with Dean Martin.


 1969        True Grit    As a U.S. Marshall.


 1976        The Shootist  John's last role as an aging Gunfighter dying of Cancer.


 1942        The Flying Tigers


 1968        The Green Berets






The movie, The Conquerors, filmed in Southern Utah, 1956,  turned out to be the worst film location anyone could have ever picked.  It was downwind and not far away from a Government,  nuclear weapons testing site and a large percentage of the crew developed forms of cancer afterwards, including Wayne.  Sadly he passed away from stomach cancer in 1979. John had been a chain smoker for years and was first diagnosed with Cancer in 1964 and probably as a result of the contaminated film location that time.  


John Wayne was an icon looked up to and admired by all and like any icon,  his image was marketed on everything from lunch pails,  toilet paper and buck knives to having an an airport named after him in California.


One mystery to me has always been how this picture of John Wayne and another fellow, unidentified,  below ever got into my Mother's  Photo Album in London Ontario Canada, and my Mother was too sick to ask before she passed away recently.  I rescued it and have saved it.

( If anyone has any information about this picture, please contact me.)

John Wayne

John in The Wake Of The Red Witch

Reap The Wild Wind

The Searchers

Operation Pacific

The Green Berets

American Film Institute's  Greatest Male Screen Legends Of All Time.

Number 1 To John Wayne  

1  Humphrey Bogart

2  Cary Grant

3  James Stewart

4  Marlon Brando

5  Fred Astaire

6  Henry Fonda

7  Clark Gable

8  James Cagney

9  Spencer Tracy

10  Charles Chaplin

11  Gary Cooper

12  Gregory Peck

13 John Wayne

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Do Have A Good Day  :  Have Ya Got That,  Pilgrim ?

Jeffrey R Hilton