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== Illness ==
== Illness ==
In 1964, Wayne was diagnosed with [[lung cancer]], and underwent surgery to remove his entire left [[lung]] and two [[ribs]]. Despite rumors that the cancer was caused by filming ''The Conqueror'' in [[Utah]] where the US government had tested [[nuclear weapons]], Wayne himself believed his two pack a day cigarette habit was the cause. After the operation he smoked cigars.
In 1964, Wayne was diagnosed with [[lung cancer]], and underwent surgery to remove his entire left [[lung]] and two [[ribs]]. Despite rumors that the cancer was caused by filming ''The Conqueror'' in [[Utah]] where the US government had tested [[nuclear weapons]], Wayne himself believed his five pack a day cigarette habit was the cause. After the operation he smoked cigars.
Perhaps due to his sheer popularity, or his status as the most famous [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] star in Hollywood, the Republican Party asked Wayne to run for President in 1968. {{citeneeded}} He declined because he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the [[White House]]. He did support his friend [[Ronald Reagan]]'s runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970, however. In 1968 Wayne was also asked to be conservative Democratic governor [[George Wallace]]'s running mate in the presidential election; however, this too did not come to pass.<ref>[http://www.jwayne.com/biography.shtml jwayne.com]</ref>
Perhaps due to his sheer popularity, or his status as the most famous [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] star in Hollywood, the Republican Party asked Wayne to run for President in 1968. {{citeneeded}} He declined because he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the [[White House]]. He did support his friend [[Ronald Reagan]]'s runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970, however. In 1968 Wayne was also asked to be conservative Democratic governor [[George Wallace]]'s running mate in the presidential election; however, this too did not come to pass.<ref>[http://www.jwayne.com/biography.shtml jwayne.com]</ref>


Revision as of 21:13, 29 December 2006

For other people named John Wayne, see John Wayne (disambiguation).
John Wayne
John Wayne in The Challenge of Ideas (1961).
Born
Marion Robert Morrison
Other namesMarion Michael Morrison
Height6-ft 4-in
WebsiteWayne Enterprises

John Wayne (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), born Marion Robert Morrison, popularly known as "The Duke," was an iconic, Academy Award winning, American film actor whose career began in silent movies in the 1920s. He was a major star from the 1940s to the 1970s. He is famous for his distinctive delivery and walk. While his acting didn't show great range, he was very effective within his limits. He featured heavily in Westerns and World War II epics, but he also made a wide range of films from various genres, biographies, romantic comedies, police dramas, and more. He epitomized a certain kind of rugged individualistic masculinity, and has become an enduring American icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Wayne among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 13.

Early life and college

File:US postal service john wayne.jpg
Official US stamp of John Wayne from 2004.
John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, Iowa

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, but his name was changed to Marion Michael Morrison when his parents decided to name their next son Robert. His family was Presbyterian; father Clyde Leonard Morrison was of Irish and Scottish descent and the son of an American Civil War veteran while mother Mary Alberta Brown was of Scots-Irish descent. Wayne's family moved to Glendale, California in 1911; it was 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.[1]

Duke Morrison's early life was marked by poverty; his father was a man who did not manage money well. Duke was a good and popular student. Tall from an early age, he was a star football player for Glendale High School and was recruited by the University of Southern California.[2] As a teen, Wayne worked in an ice cream shop for an individual who shoed horses for local Hollywood studios. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth organization run by the Freemasons, whom he would also join when he came of age.

Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but was not accepted. He instead attended the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the Trojan Knights and joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Wayne also played on the USC football team under legendary coach Howard Jones. An injury while supposedly swimming at the beach curtailed his athletic career; however, Wayne would later note he was too terrified of Jones' reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury. He lost his athletic scholarship and with no funds was unable to continue at USC.[3]

While at the university, Wayne began working at 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, establishing a long friendship with director John Ford. During this period, Wayne appeared with his USC teammates as one of the featured football players in Columbia Pictures' Maker of Men (filmed in 1930 and released in 1931), which starred Richard Cromwell and Jack Holt. In the film, Wayne was billed with his given name of Marion Morrison.[4]

Acting career, production company

John Wayne in The Searchers

After two years working as a prop man at the William Fox Studios for $35 a week, his first starring role was in the 1930 movie The Big Trail; the director of that movie, Raoul Walsh, (who "discovered" Wayne) gave him the stage name "John Wayne", after Revolutionary War general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. His pay was raised to $75 a week. He was tutored by the studio's stuntmen in riding and other western skills.[5]

The Big Trail, the first "western" epic sound motion picture, established his screen credentials, although it was a commercial failure. Nine years later, his performance in the 1939 film Stagecoach made him a star. In between, he made westerns, most notably at Monogram Pictures, and serials for Mascot Studios, including a modernized version of The Three Musketeers (1933), set in modern North Africa. In this same year (1933), Wayne had a small part in Alfred E. Green's succes de scandale Baby Face.[6]

Beginning in 1928, Wayne appeared in more than twenty of John Ford's films over 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).

According to the Internet Movie Database, Wayne played the male lead in 142 of his film appearances. One of Wayne's most praised roles was in The High and the Mighty (1954), directed by William Wellman and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann. His portrayal of a heroic airman won widespread acclaim. Island in the Sky (1953) is related to it, and both films were made one year apart with the same producers, director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and distributor.

In 1949 Robert Rossen, the director of All the King's Men, offered the starring role to Wayne. Wayne indignantly refused, finding the script of the projected film to be un-American in many ways. Broderick Crawford, who eventually took the role, won the 1950 Oscar for best male actor, beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for his role in The Sands of Iwo Jima.

John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar in True Grit (1969). Wayne was also nominated for Best Actor in Sands of Iwo Jima, and as the producer of Best Picture nominee The Alamo, one of two films he directed. The other was The Green Berets (1968), one of the few films made during the Vietnam War to support the conflict.[7]

The Searchers continues to be widely regarded as perhaps Wayne's finest and most complex performance. In 2006 Premiere Magazine ran an industry poll in which his portrayal of Ethan Edwards was rated the 87th greatest performance in film history.

Wayne was known for his conservative ideals. He took part in creating the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, and was the president of that organization at one time. He was an ardent anti-communist, and was a vocal supporter of HUAC and the blacklisting of actors and actresses that were accused of being sympathetic to communist ideals.[8]

In a controversial interview to the Playboy magazine in 1971, Wayne was asked about the subject of black people making strides towards equality in the U.S. He stated that he believed in "white supremacy" until blacks were educated enough to take a more prominent role in American society.[9]

Batjac, the production company co-founded by Wayne, was named after the fictional shipping company in The Wake of the Red Witch.

Illness

In 1964, Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer, and underwent surgery to remove his entire left lung and two ribs. Despite rumors that the cancer was caused by filming The Conqueror in Utah where the US government had tested nuclear weapons, Wayne himself believed his five pack a day cigarette habit was the cause. After the operation he smoked cigars. Perhaps due to his sheer popularity, or his status as the most famous Republican star in Hollywood, the Republican Party asked Wayne to run for President in 1968. [citation needed] He declined because he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the White House. He did support his friend Ronald Reagan's runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970, however. In 1968 Wayne was also asked to be conservative Democratic governor George Wallace's running mate in the presidential election; however, this too did not come to pass.[10]

Death

John Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979, and was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar. Rumors regarding Duke's death bed conversions to Catholicism circulated for a brief time following his death. The story was circulated once more in 2003 when his grandson was ordained a priest and again with the death of convert and fellow actor Bob Hope. However, many close to John Wayne including Dave Grayson and Duke's daughter Aissa have dismissed these rumors stating that Duke was not conscious when the alleged conversion actually took place. This is not surprising as his early anti-Catholicism was a constant strain in the Wayne family and the purported cause of his first failed marriage. Although Wayne was a Freemason, his family did not request a Masonic funeral.

Wayne was married three times, always to Spanish-speaking brides; to Josephine Alicia Saenz, Esperanza Baur, and Pilar Palette. He had four children with Josephine and three with Pilar. Most notably actor Patrick Wayne and Aissa Wayne, who wrote a memoir of her life as the daughter of John Wayne.

His romance with Josie Saenz began when he was a college student and continued for seven years before their marriage. Miss Saenz 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 from her family to maintain her relationship with Wayne. In the years prior to his death, Wayne was happily involved with his former secretary Pat Stacy.[11]

At the time of his death, John Wayne resided in a bayfront house in Newport Beach, California. The site of his last residence remains a point of interest in Newport Harbor. After his death, his house was torn down and replaced by the new owners.

Various things have been named in memory of John Wayne. They include John Wayne Airport, in Orange County, California, and the 100-plus mile trail named the "John Wayne Pioneer Trail" in Washington state's Iron Horse State Park.

Iconic status

File:TheGreenBerets.jpg
John Wayne in Green Beret

In his own lifetime, John Wayne rose far beyond recognition as a famous actor to that of an enduring American icon. Wayne sought to maintain his idealized image off screen by what he did on screen. In his last film The Shootist (1976), Wayne refused to allow his character to shoot a man in the back as was scripted, since this countered his lifetime's work of film portrayals as a more honorable hero.[2] This contrasts with other famous actors including Clint Eastwood and Humphrey Bogart who willingly played hero and anti-hero roles.

Wayne's rise to a quintessential icon of a patriotic war hero began to take shape five years after World War II when Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) was released and for which Wayne got a Best Actor nomination. His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975 he asked to meet John Wayne. However, Wayne elected not to serve in the military in World War II claiming that he would have been sued by Republic Studios had he taken a leave of absence to fight, as well as that he had "chronic injuries" from doing his own movie stunts. In 1941 he got a deferral rating of 3-A for family dependency (he had several children at the time); this was later changed in 1944 to 2-A deferral based on "national interest". Not serving in WWII was unlike fellow actors such as Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, and Clark Gable, and director Henry Ford. Despite this he was held in great respect by many servicemen and supported the troops throughout his life. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_004.html] [12][3]

John Wayne's iconic status as a "war hero" in his movie roles served in rallying support during the Vietnam War (he was critical of those who failed to serve in the so-called "undeclared war"), where he contributed his acting and co-direction to the popular box-office hit The Green Berets (1968), although the film was critically panned for its highly idealized, fictionalized depiction of war. [4] In an interview, Oliver Stone credited his own gung-ho patriotic enlistment to fight in the Vietnam War to being inspired by the "John Wayne image of America". However, while Stone returned from the war as a decorated veteran he had become an embittered anarchist, eventually creating Platoon, a movie that starkly counters the heroic and patriotic images idealized by the John Wayne icon and the The Green Berets. [5][6]

Congressional Gold Medal of Honor

John Wayne's enduring status as an iconic American was formally recognized by the United States Congress on May 26, 1979 when he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor [7][8]. Numerous actors and politicians testified to Congress of the merit and deservedness of this award, most notably Maureen O'Hara, who requested the words that would be on placed onto the medal: "It is my great honor to be here. I beg you to strike a medal for Duke, to order the President to strike it. And I feel that the medal should say just one thing, "John Wayne, American"." The medal crafted by the United States Mint has on one side John Wayne riding on horseback and the other side has a headshot of Wayne with the words "John Wayne, American". This Congressional Gold Medal of Honor was presented to the family of John Wayne in a ceremony held on March 6, 1980 at the United States Capitol. This medal is now at the John Wayne Museum in Winterset, Iowa.

Filmography

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

Preceded by Academy Award for Best Actor
1969
for True Grit 		Succeeded by

Missed roles

  • Wayne was approached by Mel Brooks to play the part of Mr. Taggert in the film Blazing Saddles. After reading the script he said, "I can't be in this picture, it's too dirty...but I'll be the first in line to see it."[13] The part eventually went to another cowboy actor, Slim Pickens. One can only speculate just how it would have looked with Wayne playing what could have been the biggest parody of himself in film history.[14]

Character deaths

Template:Spoiler

  • Contrary to popular belief, Wayne's character did die in seven of his films. His death is seen in the following films:
  1. The Shootist — After winning a seemingly hopeless gunfight with three opponents simultaneously, he is shot by the bartender, played by Hobbie Hutton (Damiper) and is then avenged by Ron Howard's character.
  2. The Cowboys — He is killed by Bruce Dern's character.
  3. The Alamo — Playing Davy Crockett, he's stabbed with a lance, then staggers into the ammunition room with a lit torch and blows it up.
  4. Sands of Iwo Jima — He is killed at the end of the film by a bullet fired by a Japanese sniper who was hiding in a concealed hole who was played by Hobie Hutton (Daimper).
  5. Wake of the Red Witch — He drowns when the sunken ship he is trying to salvage shifts and drops further into the ocean, carrying him with it.
  6. The Fighting Seabees — He is shot by a sniper as he attempts to egress from a bulldozer loaded with TNT aimed at a fuel depot.
  7. Reap the Wild Wind — He is trapped inside the wreck of a sunken ship after a fight with a giant squid and drowns.
  • His character death is not shown in the following:
  1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance — His character is dead at the beginning of the film and the story is told in flashback by James Stewart, who is attending his funeral.
  2. The Sea Chase — Lana Turner and Wayne are on a ship when it sinks, but the possibility that the characters survived is left open.
  3. The Deceiver — Ian Keith's character died, but the corpse was played by John Wayne.
  4. Central Airport — John Wayne has a very minor role as the co-pilot of an aircraft that crashes into the ocean.

Template:Endspoilers

See also

References

  1. ^ jwayne.com
  2. ^ jwayne.com
  3. ^ geocities site. See also jwayne.com
  4. ^ library.thinkquest.org article
  5. ^ thinkquest.org article
  6. ^ biography.com article. See also jwayne.com article
  7. ^ jwayne.com
  8. ^ Scott Wise The Film 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential People in the History of the Movies, Citadel Press Book/Carol Publishing Group: Secaucus, New Jersey (1998)
  9. ^ IMDB
  10. ^ jwayne.com
  11. ^ jwayne.com
  12. ^ William Manchester, "The Bloodiest battle of All", New York Times Magazine, June 14, 1987, pg 84
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ washingtonpost.com

Further reading

  • Campbell, James T. "Print the Legend: John Wayne and Postwar American Culture". Reviews in American History, Volume 28, Number 3, September 2000, pp. 465-477
  • Shepherd, Donald, and Robert Slatzer, with Dave Grayson. Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne. New York: Doubleday, 1985 ISBN 0-385-17893-X
  • Carey, Harry Jr. A Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1994 ISBN 0-8108-2865-0
  • Clark, Donald & Christopher Anderson. John Wayne's The Alamo: The Making of the Epic Film. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1995 ISBN 0-8065-1625-9 (pbk.)
  • Eyman, Scott. Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999 ISBN 0-684-81161-8
  • McCarthy, Todd. Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood. New York: Grove Press, 1997 ISBN 0-8021-1598-5
  • Zolotow, Maurice., Shooting Star: A Biography of John Wayne. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974 ISBN 671-80211-9
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