John Wayne
0 FOLLOWERS • 41 CREDITS • MAY 26, 1907 - JUN 11, 1979 • 72
Biography
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.
Known For
The Ed Sullivan Show
Gunsmoke
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
What's My Line?
The Merv Griffin Show
The Oscars
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
The Red Skelton Show
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
The Lucy Show
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Wagon Train
Maude
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
I Love Lucy
Star Wars
The Jack Benny Program
The Movie Orgy
CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years
This Is Your Life
The Shootist: The Legend Lives On
Lady and Gent
Reap the Wild Wind
The Selling of the Pentagon
Producers' Showcase
True Grit
Stagecoach
The Longest Day
The Sons of Katie Elder
In Harm's Way
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
El Dorado
Born to the West
The Shootist
The American West of John Ford
The Shepherd of the Hills
Circus World
The Searchers
Donovan's Reef
Hatari!
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