Happy Birthday, Pilgrim!
Posted on 05/26/2006 4:19:18 PM PDT by kellynla
John Wayne, an actor who came to epitomize the American West, is born in Winterset, Iowa.
Born Marion Michael Morrison, Wayne's family moved to Glendale, California, when he was six years old. As a teen, he rose at four in the morning to deliver newspapers, and after school he played football and made deliveries for local stores. When he graduated from high school, he hoped to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. However, after the school rejected him, he accepted a full scholarship to play football at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
In the summer of 1926, Wayne's football coach found him a job as an assistant prop man on the set of a movie directed by John Ford. Ford started to use Wayne as an extra, and he eventually began to trust him with some larger roles. In 1930, Ford recommended Wayne for Fox's epic Western The Big Trail. Wayne won the part, but the movie did poorly, and Fox let his contract lapse.
During the next decade, Wayne worked tirelessly in countless low-budget western films, sharpening his talents and developing a distinct persona for his cowboy characters. Finally, his old mentor John Ford gave Wayne his big break, casting him in his brilliant 1939 western, Stagecoach. Wayne played the role of Ringo Kid, and he imbued the character with the essential traits that would inform nearly all of his subsequent screen roles: a tough and clear-eyed honesty, unquestioning valor, and a laconic, almost plodding manner.
After Stagecoach, Wayne's career took off. Among the dozens of Westerns he appeared in-many of them directed by Ford-were memorable classics like Tall in the Saddle (1944), Red River (1948), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). In all these films, The Duke, as he was known, embodied the simple, and perhaps simplistic, cowboy values of decency, honesty, and integrity.
Besides Westerns, Wayne also acted in war films. It was a small leap from the valorous cowboy or cavalry soldier to the brave WWII fighters of films like Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and Flying Leathernecks (1951). Deeply conservative in his politics, Wayne also used his 1968 film, The Green Berets, to express his support of the American government's war in Vietnam.
By the late 1960s, some Americans had tired of Wayne and his simplistically masculine and patriotic characters. Increasingly, western movies were rejecting the simple black-and-white moral codes championed by Wayne and replacing them with a more complex and tragic view of the American West. However, Wayne proved more adaptable than many expected. In his Oscar-winning role in True Grit (1969), he began to escape the narrow confines of his own good-guy image. His final film, The Shootist (1976), won over even his most severe critics. Wayne--who was himself battling lung cancer--played a dying gunfighter whose moral codes and principles no longer fit in a changing world.
Three years later, Wayne died of cancer. To this day, public polls identify him as one of the most popular actors of all time.
My John Wayne is in Iraq.
Rio Bravo
The Green Berets
Thank you Duke for the wonderful films.
And God bless him.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
John Wayne was a class act. Too bad Hollywood hasn't got anybody like him today.
My fav is the "Quiet Man"...I can't imagine why. LOL
Yep, he sure is missed. He played a huge role in the formation of my own cultural landscape as well.
One Patriotic American, He really Loved this Country with Passion and Pride. Wonder what Ole Duke would be saying now with the way Our Countrymen are acting. John Wayne. Happy Birthday and forever may you rest in peace. Listen to some of his speeches, Like I Pledge Allegience, or Face the Flag, or Why I Love Her,Taps or America the Good.It was only a few years after the Duke died that my Aunt called me on the phone to tell me about her family Tree discovery. Ends up... John Wayne, is my 4th cousin. Too Bad I never got to know him personally. Hats off to the Duke and his Tall in the Saddle Personality.
And here is a link to some of the great John Wayne mp3's Patriotic and True
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/john-wayne.htm
I once visited Clan Morrison at the highland games and was surprised to see that John Wayne was a member of the Clan.
John Wayne is a class act that NONE of the "new" crop could ever be.
Some words from The Duke:
http://www.pro-american.com/Music/Patriotic%20(John%20Wayne)%20Why%20Are%20You%20Marching%20Son.mp3
http://www.uspatrioticpictures.com/music/Patriotic%20-%20John%20Wayne%20-%20America%20The%20Good.mp3
Happy Birthday, Sir! God Love Ya!
I met John Wayne at Fort Benning where they were filming "The Green Beret". He just walked over started a conversation with me and 3-4 other guys who happened to be nearby. He was very impressive - a big friendly guy with a big grin, and a big handshake. Just like I imagined. A legend in his own time.
One of the best western ever made IMHO.
Corn dodgers?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.