John Wayne was born Marion Michael Morrison on May 26th, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. His father, Clyde, was a pharmacist with tuberculosis which required him to move his wife, Marry, and his son, Marion, to the warm climate of Palmdale, California.

He excelled in school both athletically and academically and went on to win a football scholarship at USC. At that time he held various behind-the-scenes jobs at Fox before he moved in-front of the cameras in the early 20's with some small parts.

In 1930, Raoul Walsh, the director who made the first outdoor western, was contracted by Fox Studios to make the western "The Big Trail." He required a young trail scout for the film but couldn't find anyone suitable until he auditioned Marion, who passed with ease. The problem was the Duke's name and the fact that it wouldn't fare well with the American public. The Duke decided on the screen name of John Wayne.

When the depression hit, Wayne was fortunate enough to keep working. He waited for stardom and between 1930 and 1938 he made a whopping 56 movies, mainly "B" grade westerns.

John Ford asked Wayne to read the script "Stage to Lordsburg" in the spring of 1938 which was written by Ernest Heycox. The Duke was certain that he would be perfect for the central character of the story. The title was changed to "Stagecoach" and Wayne was cast as The Ringo Kid. The success was paramount and it catapulted Duke into super stardom.

Throughout the 40's Wayne kept up his career but it were the films at the end of that decade, such as "Red River," "Fort Apache," and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," that secured his standing in Hollywood.

Most of the 50's and 60's were a mixture of mediocre pictures with pure brilliance. Wayne produced such classics as "The Searchers" (1956), "Rio Bravo"(1959), and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962). In 1969 Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar for "True Grit."

His best role was perhaps his last. It was in "The Shootist" in 1976 where he played a dying gunman who is only just beginning to understand his own life and legend. The role was close to home as Wayne himself was dying of cancer at the time.

He finally succumbed to the deadly disease on June 11, 1979 at the UCLA Medical Centre. Before his death, he requested a simple epitaph carved on his headstone, "Feo, Fuerte y Formal." It translates to "Ugly, Strong, and with Dignity."