John Wayne

Wayne was born as Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, at 224 South Second Street in Winterset, Iowa. The local paper, Winterset Madisonian, reported on page 4 of its May 30, 1907 edition that he weighed 13 lb (around 6 kg) at birth. Wayne later claimed that his middle name was changed from Robert to Michael when his parents decided to give the name Robert to their next son, but extensive research has found no record of a legal change. His legal name apparently remained Marion Robert Morrison throughout his life, although his original name is almost always referred to as Marion Michael Morrison.

Wayne's father, Clyde Leonard Morrison (1884–1937), was the son of Marion Mitchell Morrison (1845–1915), a Union Army veteran of the American Civil War. His mother, Mary "Molly" Alberta Brown (1885–1970), was from Lancaster County, Nebraska. Wayne had Scottish, Scotch-Irish, English, and Irish ancestry. His great-great-grandfather Robert Morrison (b. 1782) left County Antrim, Ireland, with his mother, arriving in New York in 1799 and later settling in Adams County, Ohio. The Morrisons were originally from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Wayne was raised Presbyterian.

The family moved to Palmdale, California, and in 1916 to Glendale, where they lived at 404 Isabel Street and his father worked as a pharmacist. Wayne attended Wilson Middle School and then Glendale Union High School, where he performed well in both sports and academics. He played on the school's football team and joined its debating team. He was president of the Latin Society and contributed to the school's newspaper sports column.

A local fireman on his route to school began calling him "Little Duke" because he was always accompanied by his large Airedale Terrier, Duke. Wayne preferred "Duke" to "Marion", and the nickname stayed with him. As a teenager, he worked in an ice-cream shop owned by a man who shod horses for Hollywood studios. He was active in the Order of DeMolay and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame. He played football for the 1924 league-champion Glendale High School team.

Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy but was not accepted because of poor grades. He instead attended the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law. He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi fraternity. Standing at 6 feet 4+1⁄2 inches (1.94 metres) tall, he played on the USC Trojans football team under coach Howard Jones. A broken collarbone curtailed his athletic career, and Wayne later said he was too afraid of Jones's reaction to admit that the injury had occurred during a bodysurfing accident. He lost his athletic scholarship and, without funds, left the university.

Early works and first lead role

As a favor to coach Jones, who had given silent Western film star Tom Mix tickets to USC games, director John Ford and Mix hired Wayne as a prop boy and extra. Wayne later credited his walk, talk, and persona to his acquaintance with Wyatt Earp, who was good friends with Mix. Wayne soon moved to bit parts, establishing a longtime friendship with Ford, who provided most of those roles. Early in this period, he had a minor, uncredited role as a guard in the 1926 film Bardelys the Magnificent. He also appeared with his USC teammates playing football in Brown of Harvard (1926), The Dropkick (1927), Salute (1929), and Columbia's Maker of Men (filmed in 1930, released in 1931). While working for Fox Film Corporation in bit roles, Wayne received on-screen credit as "Duke Morrison" only once, in Words and Music (1929). Director Raoul Walsh saw him moving studio furniture while working as a prop boy and cast him in his first starring role in The Big Trail (1930). Walsh suggested "Anthony Wayne" as a screen name, after Revolutionary War General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Fox Studios chief Winfield Sheehan rejected it as sounding "too Italian". Walsh then suggested "John Wayne". Sheehan agreed, and the name was set. Wayne was not present for the discussion. His pay was raised to $105 a week.

The Big Trail was intended as the first big‑budget outdoor spectacle of the sound era, made at a then‑staggering cost of $1.25 million ($25.08 million equivalent in 2026), using hundreds of extras and wide vistas of the American Southwest, still largely unpopulated at the time. To take advantage of the scenery, it was filmed in two versions: a standard 35 mm version and another in the new 70 mm Grandeur film process, using an innovative camera and lenses. Many in the audience who saw it in Grandeur stood and cheered, but only a handful of theaters were equipped to show the film in its widescreen format, and the effort was largely wasted. The film was considered a major box‑office failure at the time, but later came to be highly regarded by modern critics.

Subsequent films and breakthrough

After the commercial failure of The Big Trail, Wayne was relegated to small roles in A pictures, including Columbia's The Deceiver (1931), in which he played a corpse. From 1932 to 1933, he starred in six B movie Westerns for Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures. Wayne disliked their constant reuse of footage starring Ken Maynard and their extremely cheap production value, which reflected Schlesinger's focus on his more successful Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated film series.

Wayne appeared in the serial The Three Musketeers (1933), an updated version of the Alexandre Dumas novel in which the protagonists were soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in then-contemporary North Africa. He played the lead, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures, and in serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about 80 of these horse operas from 1930 to 1939. In Riders of Destiny (1933), he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, albeit via dubbing. He also appeared in some of the Three Mesquiteers Westerns, whose title was a play on the Dumas classic.

He was mentored by stuntmen in riding and other Western skills. Stuntman Yakima Canutt and Wayne developed and perfected stunts and onscreen fisticuffs techniques that are still in use. One of Wayne's main innovations in these early Poverty Row Westerns was allowing heroes to fight as convincingly as villains, by not always making them fight clean. Wayne said, "Before I came along, it was standard practice that the hero must always fight clean. The heavy was allowed to hit the hero in the head with a chair or throw a kerosene lamp at him or kick him in the stomach, but the hero could only knock the villain down politely and then wait until he rose. I changed all that. I threw chairs and lamps. I fought hard and I fought dirty. I fought to win".

Wayne's second breakthrough role came with John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). Because of Wayne's B movie status and track record in low-budget Westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty securing financing for what was intended as an A‑budget film. After rejection by all the major studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor—a much bigger star at the time—received top billing. Stagecoach was a major critical and financial success, and Wayne became a mainstream star. Cast member Louise Platt later credited Ford as saying that Wayne would become the biggest star ever because of his appeal as the archetypal "everyman".

Wayne was married three times and divorced twice. His wives included Josephine Alicia Saenz, of Spanish American descent, and two women from Latin America, Esperanza Baur and Pilar Pallete. He had four children with Josephine: Michael Wayne (1934–2003), Mary Antonia "Toni" Wayne LaCava (1936–2000), Patrick Wayne (born 1939), and Melinda Wayne Munoz (1940–2022). He had three more children with Pilar: Aissa Wayne (born 1956), John Ethan Wayne (born 1962), and Marisa Wayne (born 1966).

Several of Wayne's children entered the film and television industry. Ethan, billed as John Ethan Wayne in a few films, played one of the leads in the 1990s update of the Adam-12 television series. He has also appeared on the History Channel show Pawn Stars to help authenticate merchandise related to his father's career. Granddaughter Jennifer Wayne, daughter of Aissa, is a member of the country music group Runaway June.

In 1973, Wayne was encouraged by Pilar, an avid tennis player, to build the John Wayne Tennis Club in Newport Beach, California. In 1995, the club was sold to former general manager Ken Stuart and became the Palisades Tennis Club. In The Quiet Man (1952), Wayne tells Michaeleen "Óg", (Irish: Young), Flynn, played by Barry Fitzgerald, that he is six feet "four and a half" (194 cm), a claim corroborated by Pilar's book John Wayne: My Life With the Duke.

His divorce from Baur, a Mexican former actress, was stormy. She believed that Wayne and co-star Gail Russell were having an affair, a claim both denied. On the night Angel and the Badman (1947) wrapped, a party was held for cast and crew, and Wayne came home very late. Esperanza, in a drunken rage, attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door.

Wayne had several high-profile affairs, including one with Merle Oberon that lasted from 1938 to 1947. After his separation from Pilar in 1973, Wayne became romantically involved with his former secretary Pat Stacy (1941–1995), with whom he lived until his death in 1979. Stacy published a book about their life together in 1983, titled Duke: A Love Story.

Wayne's hair began to thin in the 1940s, and he began wearing a hairpiece by the end of the decade. He was occasionally seen in public without it, including, according to Life, at Gary Cooper's funeral. During an appearance at Harvard University, a student asked, "Is it true that your toupée is real mohair?" Wayne replied: "Sir, that's real hair. Not mine, but real hair."

California Congressman Alphonzo Alphonzo E. Bell Jr., a close friend, wrote of Wayne: "Duke's personality and sense of humor were very close to what the general public saw on the big screen. It is perhaps best shown in these words he had engraved on a plaque: 'Each of us is a mixture of some good and some not so good qualities. In considering one's fellow man, it's important to remember the good things. [...] We should refrain from making judgments just because a fella happens to be a dirty, rotten S.O.B.'"

Wayne was fond of literature. His favorite authors included Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. His favorite books were David Copperfield and Conan Doyle's historical novels The White Company and Sir Nigel.

Wayne was a chess player. Roger Ebert recalled that on the set of Chisum, "we were playing a chess game, both of us bending over the board on an upended apple crate. Wayne, slouched in his old stitched leather director's chair, had a crowd of kibitzers: wranglers, extras, old cronies, drinking buddies, a couple of Mexican stuntmen. He studied the board, roared with laughter, and said, 'God...damn it! You've trapped my queen!' We studied the board. I made a decisive move. 'Why the hell did I just say that?' he asked. If I hadn't-a...said it, you wouldn't-a...seen it.'" According to Michael Munn, when Wayne was asked about Rock Hudson's sexuality, he replied, "Who the hell cares if he's a queer? The man plays great chess."

He used the same 1873 Colt Single Action Army revolver in many of his Westerns.

Wayne had been a chain smoker since young adulthood and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964. He underwent surgery to remove his entire left lung and two ribs. Despite efforts by business associates to keep his illness private for fear it would cost him work, Wayne announced he had cancer and urged the public to get preventive examinations. Five years later, he was declared cancer‑free. He has been credited with coining the term "the Big C" as a euphemism for cancer. Wayne biographer Michael Munn chronicled his drinking habits. According to Sam O'Steen's memoir Cut to the Chase, studio directors knew to shoot Wayne's scenes before noon because by afternoon he "was a mean drunk". Ebert quoted him as saying: "Tequila makes your head hurt. Not from your hangover. From falling over and hitting your head."

Wayne was an active Freemason. He was made a Master Mason at Marion McDaniel Lodge No. 56 F&AM in Tucson, Arizona. He became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason and later joined the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple in Los Angeles, along with fellow actor Roy Rogers. He later became a member of the York Rite. During his childhood, he was a member of a local Demolay chapter in Glendale.

During the early 1960s, Wayne traveled frequently to Panama and purchased the island of Taborcillo off the nation's Pacific coast. It was sold by his estate after his death.

Wayne's yacht, the Wild Goose, was one of his favorite possessions. He kept it docked in Newport Beach Harbor, and it was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

John Wayne Cancer Foundation

The John Wayne Cancer Foundation was founded in 1985 in honor of John Wayne, after his family granted the use of his name (and limited funding) for the continued fight against cancer. The foundation's mission is to "bring courage, strength, and grit to the fight against cancer". The foundation provides funds for innovative programs that improve cancer patient care, including research, education, awareness, and support.

Throughout most of his life, Wayne was a vocally prominent conservative Republican in Hollywood, supporting anti-communist positions. However, he voted for Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election and expressed admiration for Roosevelt's successor, fellow Democratic President Harry S. Truman, despite having supported Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. He took part in creating the conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in February 1944 before being elected its president in 1949. An ardent anti-communist and vocal supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), he made Big Jim McLain (1952) with himself as a HUAC investigator to demonstrate his support for the cause of anti-communism. His personal views found expression as a proactive inside enforcer of the "Black List", denying employment and undermining careers of many actors and writers who had expressed their personal political beliefs earlier in life. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is alleged to have said that Wayne should be assassinated for his frequently espoused anti-communist politics, despite being a fan of his movies. Wayne was a supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Wayne supported Vice President Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1960, but expressed his vision of patriotism when John F. Kennedy won the election: "I didn't vote for him, but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job." He used his star power to support conservative causes, including rallying support for the Vietnam War by producing, co-directing, and starring in the financially successful film The Green Berets (1968). In 1960, he joined the anti-communist John Birch Society, but quit after the organization denounced fluoridation of water supplies as a communist plot. In 1964, Wayne was a staunch supporter of Barry Goldwater, and actively campaigned for him.

Due to his status as the highest-profile Republican star in Hollywood, wealthy Texas Republican Party backers asked Wayne to run for national office in 1968, like his friend and fellow actor Senator George Murphy. He declined, joking that he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the White House. Instead, he supported his friend Ronald Reagan's campaigns for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970. He was asked to be the running mate for Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace, who had been nominated for president by the American Independent Party, in his 1968 campaign, but he immediately rejected the offer and actively campaigned for Nixon; Wayne addressed the 1968 Republican National Convention on its opening day.

In 1971, Wayne wrote to President Nixon, who was a friend, to oppose Nixon's planned trip to China. Wayne enclosed some hate literature on "that Jew, Kissinger", who had negotiated the historic meeting with Chinese leaders.

Wayne openly differed with many conservatives over the issue of returning the Panama Canal, as he supported the Panama Canal Treaty in the mid-1970s; while Republican leaders such as Reagan, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond had wanted the U.S. to retain full control of the canal, Wayne and fellow conservative William F. Buckley believed that the Panamanians had the right to the canal and sided with President Jimmy Carter. Wayne was a close friend of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos Herrera, and Wayne's first wife Josephine was a native of Panama. His support of the treaty brought him hate mail for the first time in his life.

In 1973, actor Marlon Brando refused an Oscar he had won, due to "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry"; Brando did not attend the award ceremony but asked Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather to attend and deliver a refusal speech in the event that he won. Wayne was allegedly waiting in the wings and was so angry about her presence there that Littlefeather said "he was coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage, and he had to be restrained by six security men to prevent him from doing so." However, an investigation in 2022 found that this is unlikely to have happened, that Littlefeather had no way of witnessing this take place, that the supposed situation was never attested in contemporary reporting of the Oscars, and that the story grew as an urban legend through years of repeated exaggeration without sources.

In 1974, his personal conservative views were notably brought to light to a television audience on the Maude episode "Maude Meets the Duke," on which Wayne also guest starred.

Roger Ebert wrote that Wayne had a sense of humor about his politics. He recalls Wayne giving him a tour of his house: "He pointed out autographed photos of Eisenhower, Nixon, Goldwater, and J. Edgar Hoover. I said I had to take a pee. On the wall of the bathroom opening off the den, he had a photo of Hubert Humphrey, inscribed 'with warm appreciation for your continued Support.'" Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder recalled that "John Wayne gave me a silver cigarette lighter during the Vietnam War that said 'Fuck Communism' on it. I didn't know how to do that. I still don't."

Left-wing activist Abbie Hoffman paid tribute to Wayne's singularity, saying, "I like Wayne's wholeness, his style. As for his politics, well—I suppose even cavemen felt a little admiration for the dinosaurs that were trying to gobble them up." Maoist avant garde film maker and critic Jean Luc Godard, in his Cahiers du Cinéma text "3000 heures de cinéma" ("3000 hours of cinema"), asked rhetorically:How can I hate John Wayne upholding Goldwater and yet love him when abruptly he takes Natalie Wood in his arms in the last reel of The Searchers?

In a video clip which aired posthumously on People for the American Way's 1982 I Love Liberty TV special, Wayne stated that while he disagreed with Jane Fonda, he still believed she had the right to say what she believed.