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John Wayne
Age: 72 (passed away Jun. 11th, 1979)
Height: 6' 4"
Birth Place: Winterset, Iowa, USA
Born: May. 26th, 1907
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John Wayne's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: John Wayne (born Marion Morrison) was the son of pharmacist Clyde Morrison and his wife Mary. Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern California, where they tried ranching in the Mojave Desert. Until the ranch failed, Marion and his younger brother Robert E. Morrison swam in an irrigation ditch and rode a horse to school. When the ranch failed, the family moved to Glendale, California, where Marion delivered medicines for his father, sold newspapers and had an Airedale dog named "Duke" (the source of his own nickname). He did well at school both academically and in football. When he narrowly failed admission to Annapolis he went to USC on a football scholarship 1925-7. Tom Mix got him a summer job as a prop man in exchange for football tickets. On the set he became close friends with director John Ford (I) for whom, among others, he began doing bit parts, some billed as John Wayne (I). His first featured film was Men Without Women (1930). After more than 70 low-budget westerns and adventures, mostly routine, Wayne's career was stuck in a rut until Ford cast him in Stagecoach (1939), the movie that made him a star. He appeared in nearly 250 movies, many of epic proportions. From 1942-43 he was in a radio series, "The Three Sheets to the Wind", and in 1944 he helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political organization, later becoming its President. His conservative political stance was also reflected in The Alamo (1960), which he produced, directed and starred in. His patriotic stand was enshrined in The Green Berets (1968) which he co-directed and starred in. Over the years Wayne was beset with health problems. In September 1964 he had a cancerous left lung removed; in March 1978 there was heart valve replacement surgery; and in January 1979 his stomach was removed. He received the Best Actor nomination for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and finally got the Oscar for his role as one-eyed Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). A Congressional Gold Medal was struck in his honor in 1979. He is perhaps best remembered for his parts in Ford's cavalry trilogy - Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).
TRIVIA:
- In the mid-1930s Wayne was hired by Columbia Pictures to make several westerns for its "B" unit. Columbia chief 'Harry Cohn (I)' (qv), a married man, soon got the idea that Wayne had made a pass at a Columbia starlet with whom Cohn was having an affair. When he confronted Wayne about it Wayne denied it, but Cohn called up executives at other studios and told them that Wayne would show up for work drunk, was a womanizer and a troublemaker and requested that they not hire him. Wayne didn't work for several months afterward, and when he discovered what Cohn had done, he burst into Cohn's office at Columbia, grabbed him by the neck and threatened to kill him. After he cooled off he told Cohn that "as long as I live, I will never work one day for you or Columbia no matter how much you offer me." Later, after Wayne had become a major star, he received several lucrative film offers from Columbia, including the lead in _The Gunfighter (1950)_ (qv), all of which he turned down cold. Even after Cohn died in 1958, Wayne still refused to entertain any offers whatsoever from Columbia Pictures, including several that would have paid him more than a a million dollars.
- His TV appearances in the late 1960s showed that Wayne had overcome his indifference to television. In addition to appearing on _"The Dean Martin Show" (1965)_ (qv), _"The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" (1969)_ (qv), he became a semi-regular visitor to _"Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (1967)_ (qv), often good-naturedly spoofing his macho image and even dressing up as The Easter Bunny in a famous 1972 episode.
- Re-mortgaged his house in Hollywood in order to finance _The Alamo (1960)_ (qv). While the movie was a success internationally, it lost him a great deal of money personally. For the next four years he had to made one film after another, including _The Longest Day (1962)_ (qv) for which he was paid $250,000 for four days work. By early 1962 his financial problems were resolved.
- He was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
- An entry in the logbook of director 'John Ford (I)' (qv)'s yacht "Araner", during a voyage along the Baja peninsula, made a reference to one of Wayne's pranks on 'Ward Bond' (qv): "Caught the first mate [Wayne] pissing in [Ward] Bond's flask this morning - must remember to give him a raise."
- In 1920, lived at 404 N. Isabel Street, Glendale, California, according to U.S. Census.
- His image appeared on a wide variety of products including: 1950 popcorn trading cards given at theaters, 1951 Camel cigarettes, 1956 playing cards, Whitman's Chocolates and - posthumously - Coors beer. The money collected on the Coors beer cans with his image went to the John Wayne Cancer Institute. One of the most unusual was as a puppet on _"H.R. Pufnstuf" (1969)_ (qv), who also put out a 1970 lunch box with his image among the other puppet characters.
- During a visit to London in January 1974 to appear on _"The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" (1969)_ (qv) and _"Parkinson" (1971)_ (qv), Wayne caught pneumonia. For a 66-year-old man with one lung this was very serious, and eventually he was coughing so hard that he damaged a valve in his heart. This problem went undetected until March 1978, when he underwent emergency open heart surgery in Boston. 'Bob Hope (I)' (qv) delivered a message from the _The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978) (TV)_ (qv), saying, "We want you to know Duke, we miss you tonight. We expect you to amble out here in person next year, because there is nobody who can fill John Wayne's boots." According to 'Loretta Young' (qv), that message from Hope made Wayne determined to live long enough to attend the Oscars in 1979.
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