John Wayne has a long history in theater, spanning 50 years. He was born Marion Morrison, but his name was changed to the more masculine John Wayne.
The Early Years: John Wayne's family moved to California, and that is when John Wayne was introduced to the theater. He worked at odd jobs, and attended USC where he played football. However his USC career ended with an injury, and so he turned more to the theater...He started with bit parts, and then started doing B movies. He was the original singing cowboy, even though he couldn't sing nor play guitar. Others did that for him. Gene Autry and others took over this genre. He would finally get his big break in a John Ford film called "Stagecoach."
The Later Years: This movie takes up his more successful period, with a few flops added. But even the flops usually eventually made a profit. Usually after a flop usually a John Ford collaboration showed and he was on top again. He did fourteen shows with John Ford as the director starting in 1939. He was in the top ten of box office movies for 25 consecutive years, meaning one of his movies was always doing well. Between 1950 and 1970 he was consistently in the top three. He made five film with Maureen O'Hara as his costar, starting with Rio Grande in 1950. John Wayne was in 175 movies over his 50 year career. He won the Oscar in 1969 for best actor for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit." He recreated this roll with Katherine Hepburn in 1975 in the film "Rooster Cogburn."
Cancer finally caught up with him. His last film, "The Shootist" he portrays a gunslinger dying of cancer. This was 1976. He would die of cancer in 1979.
This film is very enjoyable. The best part is the movie clips. It also has many trailers. There is a sketch with Dean Martin talking about their movie together. Raquel Welch talks about humanitarian efforts Wayne did in Mexico.
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