John Wayne

John Wayne in The Challenge of Ideas (1961)

John Wayne (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), nicknamed "Duke," ¹ was an American film actor whose career began in silent movies in the 1920s. He was a major star from the 1940s to the 1970s. Wayne is most famous for his work in one of America's greatest native art forms, the Western movie. In more than 200 films made over 50 years, he also made a surprising variety of other kinds of films. Wayne epitomized a certain kind of rugged individualistic masculinity, and has become an enduring icon in American culture.

In the last decades of his career, Wayne transformed into a kind of American folk figure. He had become a hero to some, while he was a villain to others, for his outspoken, politically conservative views. Although Wayne carefully avoided political roles for himself, he was a highly enthusiastic supporter of Richard M. Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Spiro T. Agnew, Ronald Reagan, and others who, he felt, represented the best ideals of Americanism and anti-Communism.

But for the vast throng of moviegoing fans who idolized him on the big screen, Wayne was an icon of conservatism had little significance compared to Wayne, the movie star. Although he did not always play clean-cut "good guys," as other Western heroes such as Gene Autry did, he was a leader in casting the role of the Western hero who fought the conflict between good and evil on the Western Plains. Indeed, it was impossible to mention the word "Western" without thinking of "The Duke."

Life and Early career

Early life

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa in 1907, but the name became Marion Mitchell Morrison when his parents decided to name their next son Robert. However, in later life, Wayne often stated that his middle name was Michael. His family was Presbyterian; father Clyde Leonard Morrison was of Scottish descent and the son of a Civil War veteran, while mother Mary Alberta Brown was of Irish ancestry. Wayne's family moved to Glendale, California in 1911. It was his neighbors in Glendale who started calling him "Big Duke," because he never went anywhere without his Airedale Terrier dog, who was Little Duke. He preferred "Duke" to "Marion," and the name stuck for the rest of his life.

Duke Morrison's early life was marked by poverty. His father was a pharmacist, but did not manage money well. As a teen, Wayne worked in an ice cream shop for a person who shoed horses for local Hollywood studios. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth organization associated with the Freemasons, that he joined when he came of age. He attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. He played football for the 1924 champion Glendale High School team. Duke was a good student and popular, but had a bad reputation as a drinker. Tall from an early age, he played football for his high school in Glendale and was recruited by the University of Southern California (USC).

After nearly gaining admission to the U.S. Naval Academy, he instead attended the USC, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Wayne also played on the USC football team under legendary coach Howard Jones, however his football career and scholarship ended because of an injury.

Film career begins

While at university, Wayne began working around the local film studios. Western star Tom Mix got him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets, and Wayne soon moved on to bit parts in the late 1920s in films by director John Ford, with whom he established a longtime friendship. During the period from 1925 to 1929, Wayne was to to appear in nine silent films, including Brown of Harvard (1925), Great K&A Train Robbery (1926), The Drop Kick (1927), and Hangman's House (1928). Wayne's imposing presence and exaggerated mannerisms translated very effectively on the silent screen.

Wayne's first starring role, at the recommendation of Ford, was in the 1930 epic Western, The Big Trail. It was the director of that movie, Raoul Walsh, who gave him the stage name "John Wayne," after Revolutionary War general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. His pay was raised from $35.00 a week to $75.00 a week, and he was tutored by the studio's stunt men in riding and other western skills.

During the next nine years, Wayne occupied himself in a number of B-Westerns and serials, such as Shadow of the Eagle and The Three Musketeers series, with occasional bit parts in larger productions such as Warner Bros.' Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck. But it was in roles that brought out his manliness that was to make Wayne a huge star with men and women, alike.

Although appearing in many war films and frequently being eulogized as an "American hero," Wayne never served in the Armed Forces. However, his friend Bob Hope speculated that Wayne did more for the WWII war effort as an actor than he ever could on the battlefield. Between 1940, when the military draft was reinstated, and the end of World War II in 1945, he remained in Hollywood and made 21 movies. He was of draft age (34) at the time of Pearl Harbor in 1941, but asked for and received a deferral for family dependency, a classification of 3-A. This was later changed to a deferment in the national interest, 2-A.

A major star

John Ford films

Wayne in The Searchers

His friendship with Ford led them to work together on films which featured some of Wayne's most iconic roles. Beginning with three minor parts in 1928, Wayne would appear in over 20 of Ford's films in the next 35 years, including Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

Diversity of roles

Wayne played the male lead in 142 of his film appearances, an as-yet, unsurpassed record. However, he also had a down-to-earth sense of humor that allowed him to appear in a pink bunny suit for an episode of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, as well as in comedy movies.

One of Wayne's best roles was ironically in one of the few films he made that was not a Western or war picture, The High and the Mighty, released in 1954. Directed by William Wellman and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann, the movie featured Wayne as "Whistling" Dan Roman, the first officer of a DC-4 civilian flight that develops serious engine problems traveling from Hawaii to San Francisco. His portrayal of the heroic airman won widespread acclaim.

The High and the Mighty is one of four films (the others are Hondo, Island in the Sky, and McLintock!) that are owned outright by Batjac, a production company co-founded by Wayne and named after the fictional shipping company in The Wake of the Red Witch. Batjac now belongs to the Wayne family estate.

Despite his prolific output, John Wayne won only a single Best Actor Oscar, for the 1969 movie True Grit. He received a nomination for Best Actor in Sands of Iwo Jima, and another as the producer of Best Picture nominee The Alamo, which he also directed. In 1973, he released a best-selling spoken word album titled America, Why I Love Her, that was nominated for a Grammy, and re-released with similar success in 2001.

Conservative views

Wayne was well known for his pro-American, conservative political views. In 1968 he directed The Green Berets, the only feature film of the time to openly support the Vietnam War. It was produced in close collaboration with the Armed Forces. It was also ironic that he appeared in an episode of the TV series Maude, created by ultra-liberal Norman Lear, and stared with the liberal actress Bea Arthur, who stood five feet, nine inches, and to whom Wayne referred to as "little lady." Wayne seemed to enjoy acting with actresses of a liberal bent, such as Lauren Bacall, Colleen Dewhurst, and Katharine Hepburn.

Wayne's personal life

Family

Wayne was married three times, always to Spanish-speaking Latina women: Josephine Alicia Saenz, Esperanza Baur, and Pilar Palette. His romance with Ms. Saenz began when he was a college student and continued for seven years before their marriage. She was 15 or 16 at their first meeting at a beach party at Balboa. The daughter of a successful Spanish businessman, Josie resisted considerable opposition on the part of her family to maintain her relationship with Duke. Wayne had seven children from his marriages, the first two of which ended in divorce, and more than 15 grandchildren. All but one of his children went on to have minor Hollywood careers.

Although Wayne had not managed his money carefully earlier in his career, later in his life he invested successfully in a Panamanian shrimp business, among other ventures. He lived with his third wife, the Peruvian Pilar Palette Wayne, in an 11-room, seven-bathroom house in Newport Beach, California, where he had docked a 135-foot yacht. He also owned cattle ranches in Stanfield and Springerville, Arizona.

Death

John Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979 at the age of 72 at the UCLA Medical Center. He was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar, Orange County, California. Some trace his cancer back to his work in The Conqueror, filmed about 100 miles downwind of Nevada nuclear-weapons test sites. However, it should also be noted that until 1964 Wayne was a chain smoker, which was more likely to have caused his cancer. Other actors who worked on that movie and later died of cancer were also heavy smokers, including Dick Powell, Agnes Moorehead, Pedro Armendariz, Susan Hayward and John Hoyt.

Wayne converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before his death. At the time of his death, he resided in a bay front home in Newport Beach, California. His home remains a point of interest to tourists.

John Wayne in American culture

Easily imitated, with his signature swaggered walk and the use of the word "pilgrim," Wayne has been both honored and mocked with great frequency by other actors, comics, writers, and musicians.

The persona that Wayne often portrayed in his movies has become part of Americana. His screen characterizations have taken on lives of their own. In real life, however, Wayne was a quiet man who enjoyed his yacht, fishing, and playing cards. It was the screen John Wayne, however, that became an American icon. Tough, rugged, larger-than-life, taming the West, and saving democracy from fascism, his characters represented the spirit of the men who built the country.

Wayne was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1974.

John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California is named after him.

Filmography

1920s

• Brown of Harvard (1926)
• Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)
• The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926)
• Annie Laurie (1927)
• The Drop Kick (1927)
• Mother Machree (1928)
• Four Sons (1928)
• Hangman's House (1928)
• Speakeasy (1929)
• The Black Watch (1929)
• Noah's Ark (1929)
• Words and Music (1929)
• Salute (1929)
• The Forward Pass (1929)

1930s

• Men Without Women (1930)
• Born Reckless (1930)
• Rough Romance (1930)
• Cheer Up and Smile (1930)
• The Big Trail (1930)
• Girls Demand Excitement (1931)
• Three Girls Lost (1931)
• Arizona (1931)
• The Deceiver (1931)
• Range Feud (1931)
• Maker of Men (1931)
• The Voice of Hollywood No. 13 (1932) (short subject)
• Running Hollywood (1932) (short subject)
• The Shadow of the Eagle (1932)
• Texas Cyclone (1932)
• Two-Fisted Law (1932)
• Lady and Gent (1932)
• The Hurricane Express (1932)
• The Hollywood Handicap (1932) (short subject)
• Ride Him, Cowboy (1932)
• That's My Boy (1932)
• The Big Stampede (1932)
• Haunted Gold (1932)
• The Telegraph Trail (1933)
• The Three Musketeers (1933)
• Central Airport (1933)
• Somewhere in Sonora (1933)
• His Private Secretary (1933)
• The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933)
• Baby Face (1933)
• The Man From Monterey (1933)
• Riders of Destiny (1933)
• College Coach (1933)
• Sagebrush Trail (1933)
• The Lucky Texan (1934)
• West of the Divide (1934)
• Blue Steel (1934)
• The Man from Utah (1934)
• Randy Rides Alone (1934)
• The Star Packer (1934)
• The Trail Beyond (1934)
• The Lawless Beyond (1934)
• 'Neath the Arizona Skies (1934)
• Texas Terror (1935)
• Rainbow Valley (1935)
• The Desert Trail (1935)
• The Dawn Rider (1935)
• Paradise Canyon (1935)
• Westward Ho (1935)
• The New Frontier (1935)
• Lawless Range (1935)
• The Oregon Trail (1936)
• The Lawless Nineties (1936)
• King of the Pecos (1936)
• The Lonely Trail (1936)
• Winds of the Wasteland (1936)
• Sea Spoilers (1936)
• Conflict (1936)
• California Straight Ahead! (1937)
• I Cover the War (1937)
• Idol of the Crowds (1937)
• Adventure's End (1937)
• Born to the West (1937)
• Pals of the Saddle (1938)
• Overland Stage Raiders (1938)
• Santa Fe Stampede (1938)
• Red River Range (1938)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• The Night Riders (1939)
• Three Texas Steers (1939)
• Wyoming Outlaw (1939)
• New Frontier (1939)
• Allegheny Uprising (1939)

1940s

• Meet the Stars: Cowboy Jubilee (1940) (short subject)
• Three Faces West (1940)
• The Long Voyage Home (1940)
• Seven Sinners (1940)
• A Man Betrayed (1941)
• Lady from Louisiana (1941)
• The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)
• Meet the Stars: Past and Present (1941) (short subject)
• Lady for a Night (1942)
• Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
• The Spoilers (1942)
• In Old California (1942)
• Flying Tigers (1942)
• Pittsburgh (1942)
• Reunion in France (1942)
• A Lady Takes a Chance (1943)
• In Old Oklahoma (1943)
• The Fighting Seabees (1944)
• Tall in the Saddle (1944)
• Flame of Barbary Coast (1945)
• Back to Bataan (1945)
• They Were Expendable (1945)
• Dakota (1945)
• Without Reservations (1946)
• Angel and the Badman (1947) (also producer)
• Tycoon (1947)
• Red River (1948)
• Fort Apache (1948)
• 3 Godfathers (1948)
• Wake of the Red Witch (1948)
• The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) (also producer)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Rodeo (1949) (short subject)
• Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

1950s

• Rio Grande (1950)
• Screen Snapshots: Reno's Silver Spur Awards (1951) (short subjects)
• Operation Pacific (1951)
• The Screen Director (1951) (short subject)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards (1951) (short subject)
• Flying Leathernecks (1951)
• Miracle in Motion (1952) (short subject) (narrator)
• The Quiet Man (1952)
• Big Jim McLain (1952) (also producer)
• Trouble Along the Way (1953)
• Island in the Sky (1953) (also producer)
• Hondo (1953) (also producer)
• The High and the Mighty (1954) (also producer)
• The Sea Chase (1955)
• Screen Snapshots: The Great Al Jolson (1955) (short subject)
• Blood Alley (1955) (also director and producer)
• The Conqueror (1956)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The Wings of Eagles (1957)
• Jet Pilot (1957)
• Legend of the Lost (1957)
• I Married a Woman (1958) (Cameo)
• The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)
• Rio Bravo (1959)
• The Horse Soldiers (1959)

1960s

• The Alamo (1960) (also director and producer)
• North to Alaska (1960)
• The Challenge of Ideas (1961) (short subject) (narrator)
• The Comancheros (1961) (also director)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• Hatari! (1962)
• The Longest Day (1962)
• How the West Was Won (1962)
• McLintock! (1963)
• Donovan's Reef (1963)
• Circus World (1964)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
• In Harm's Way (1965)
• The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
• Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
• El Dorado (1966)
• A Nation Builds Under Fire (1967) (short subject) (narrator)
• The War Wagon (1967)
• The Green Berets (1968) (also director)
• Hellfighters (1968)
• True Grit (1969)
• The Undefeated (1969)

1970s

• No Substitute for Victory (1970) (documentary)
• Chisum (1970)
• Rio Lobo (1970)
• Big Jake (1971) (also co-director)
• Directed by John Ford (1971) (documentary)
• The Cowboys (1972)
• Cancel My Reservation (1972) (Cameo)
• The Train Robbers (1973)
• Cahill U.S. Marshall (1973)
• McQ (1974)
• Brannigan (1975)
• Rooster Cogburn (1975)
• Chesty: Tribute to a Legend (1976) (documentary) (narrator)
• The Shootist (1976)

Notes

• Note 1: He was, and is, called "Duke" by his friends and when he was present, he was, and is, called "The Duke" when being referred to in third person on television shows, in magazines, or by people in casual conversation.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Campbell, James T. "Print the Legend: John Wayne and Postwar American Culture" in: Reviews in American History - Volume 28, Number 3, September 2000, pp. 465-477.
• Carey Jr., Harry. A Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company, Scarecrow Press, 1994. ISBN 0810828650
• Clark, Donald, & Anderson, Christopher. John Wayne's The Alamo: The Making of the Epic Film, Carol Publishing Group, 1995. ISBN 0-8065-1625-9
• Eyman, Scott Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford, Simon & Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0-684-81161-8
• McCarthy, Todd. Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, Grove Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8021-1598-5
• Shepherd, Donald, & Slatzer, Robert. Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne. Doubleday, 1985. ISBN 038517893X
• Zolotow, Maurice. Shooting Star: A Biography of John Wayne. Pocket, 1975. ISBN 978-0671802110

External links

• John Wayne at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 20, 2007.
• Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): John Wayne. www.thegoldenyears.org. Retrieved June 20, 2007.

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