John Wayne

Biography

Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison) (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed Duke, was an American actor and filmmaker. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. Born in Winterset, Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California. He was president of Glendale High class of 1925. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to the University of Southern California as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he appeared mostly in small bit parts. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail (1930), which led to leading roles in numerous B movies throughout the 1930s, many of them in the Western genre. Wayne's career took off in 1939, with John Ford's Stagecoach making him an instant star. He went on to star in 142 pictures. Biographer Ronald Davis said, "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them, he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth." Wayne's other well-known Western roles include a cattleman driving his herd north on the Chisholm Trail in Red River (1948), a Civil War veteran whose young niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches in The Searchers (1956), and a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer for a woman's hand in marriage in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He is also remembered for his roles in The Quiet Man (1952), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Longest Day (1962). In his final screen performance, he starred as an aging gunfighter battling cancer in The Shootist (1976). He appeared with many important Hollywood stars of his era, and his last public appearance was at the Academy Awards ceremony on April 9, 1979.

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Mike Douglas Show

The Mike Douglas Show

Golden Globe Awards

Wagon Train

The Beverly Hillbillies

The Merv Griffin Show

The Red Skelton Show

All Movies (267)

• Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas2026 · as Ethan Edwards (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Spiritual day in Minneapolis2026
• Elway2025 · as Self (archive footage)
• Naughty America: Guns & Stripes2025 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout2024 · as Self (archive footage)
• Atomic People2024 · as Self (archive footage)
• Remembering Gene Wilder2024 · as Self (archive photo)
• John Wayne: Cowboys & Demons2023 · as Self (Archive Footage)
• Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend2022 · as Self (archive footage)
• John Ford and Throwing2022
• Gérard Blain : adultes, je vous hais2019 · as Self (archive)
• John Wayne - America at All Costs2019 · as Himself (archive footage)
• John Ford: The Man Who Invented America2019 · as Self - Actor / Various Roles (archive footage)
• The Fabulous Allan Carr2017 · as Self (archive)
• John Wayne on Film2016 · as Himself
• Dictator: One Crazy Job2013 · as Self (archive footage)
• John Ford & Monument Valley2013 · as Self (archive footage)
• Christmas Around the World with Perry Como2012 · as Self
• Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff2010 · as Self (archive footage)
• Nuke 'Em, Duke2010 · as Self (archive footage)
• 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year2009 · as Self (archive footage)
• Edith Head: The Paramount Years2002 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Shootist: The Legend Lives On2001
• The Duke at Fox2001 · as Self (archive footage)
• John Wayne-A Life on Film2000 · as Himself
• Television: The First Fifty Years1999 · as Self (archive footage)
• JOHN WAYNE - AMERICAN LEGEND1998 · as Himself
• The Best of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts1998 · as Self - Roaster (archive footage)
• The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender1997 · as Self (archive footage)
• La Classe américaine1993 · as George Abitbol (archive footage)
• Young Duke: Making Of A Movie Star1993 · as Himself
• The John Wayne Story - The Later Years1993 · as Himself
• The John Wayne Story: The Early Years1993
• The Making of 'Rio Grande'1993 · as Self (archive footage)
• John Wayne's 'The Alamo'1992 · as Davy Crockett
• Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire1991 · as Self (archive footage)
• John Wayne - Eine amerikanische Legende1991 · as (archive footage)
• Movie Tough Guys1991 · as Self (archive footage)
• John Wayne: American Hero Of The Movies1990
• Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC1988 · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Going Hollywood: The '30s1984 · as (archive footage)
• Showbiz Goes to War1982 · as Self (archive footage)
• Perry Como's Early American Christmas1978 · as Self
• Johnny, weil Du Geburtstag hast1977 · as Self
• This Little Bullet1977 · as Host
• That's Action1977 · as self
• Bob Hope's Comedy Christmas Special1976
• CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years1976 · as Self
• Bob Hope's World of Comedy1976 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Shootist1976 · as J.B. Books
• Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch1976 · as Jerry Mason
• Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend1976 · as Himself/Narrator
• It's Showtime1976 · as Self (archive footage)
• Hooray for Hollywood1976 · as Self (archive footage)
• Rooster Cogburn1975 · as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
• Texaco Presents: A Quarter Century of Bob Hope on Television1975 · as (archive footage)
• Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?1975 · as Self (archive footage)
• Brannigan1975 · as Lt. Jim Brannigan
• Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still1974 · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• McQ1974 · as McQ
• Cahill: United States Marshal1973 · as J.D. Cahill
• The Man Behind the Star1973 · as Self
• Wayne Train1973 · as Self
• The Train Robbers1973 · as Lane
• The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks1973 · as Self (archive footage)
• Cancel My Reservation1972 · as Himself (uncredited)
• The Cowboys1972 · as Wil Andersen
• The American West of John Ford1971 · as Self - Narrator
• Directed by John Ford1971 · as Self (1969)
• Big Jake1971 · as Jacob McCandles
• The Selling of the Pentagon1971 · as Self (archive footage)
• Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo1970 · as Self
• Chisum1970 · as John Chisum
• Raquel!1970 · as Self
• Rio Lobo1970 · as Col. Cord McNally
• No Substitute for Victory1970 · as Sekf
• Swing Out, Sweet Land1970 · as Self - Host
• The Undefeated1969 · as Colonel John Henry Thomas
• True Grit1969 · as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn
• Hellfighters1968 · as Chance Buckman
• The Green Berets1968 · as Colonel Mike Kirby
• The Movie Orgy1968 · as Self (archive footage)
• The War Wagon1967 · as Taw Jackson
• A Nation Builds Under Fire1967 · as Narrator
• El Dorado1966 · as Cole Thornton
• The Victory Squad1966 · as Self - Host
• Cast a Giant Shadow1966 · as Gen. Mike Randolph
• The Sons of Katie Elder1965 · as John Elder
• The Greatest Story Ever Told1965 · as Centurion at crucifixion
• In Harm's Way1965 · as Capt. Rockwell Torrey
• The Making of A Movie1965 · as Himself
• Circus World1964 · as Matt Masters
• Choice1964 · as Host
• McLintock!1963 · as George Washington McLintock
• Donovan's Reef1963 · as Michael "Guns" Donovan
• How the West Was Won1962 · as William Sherman
• Flashing Spikes1962 · as Marine Sergeant
• The Longest Day1962 · as Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort
• Hatari!1962 · as Sean Mercer
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance1962 · as Tom Doniphon
• The Comancheros1961 · as Jake Cutter
• The Challenge of Ideas1961 · as Self
• The 10 from Texas1961 · as (archive footage)
• The Colter Craven Story1960
• North to Alaska1960 · as Sam McCord
• The Alamo1960 · as Col. Davy Crockett
• The Horse Soldiers1959 · as Col John Marlowe
• Rio Bravo1959 · as Sheriff John T. Chance
• The Barbarian and the Geisha1958 · as Townsend Harris
• The Western: A Lost TV Special1958 · as Self
• I Married a Woman1958 · as Actor in a Movie (uncredited)
• Legend of the Lost1957 · as Joe January
• Jet Pilot1957 · as Col. Jim Shannon
• The Wings of Eagles1957 · as Frank W. 'Spig' Wead
• The Searchers1956 · as Ethan Edwards
• The Conqueror1956 · as Temujin
• Blood Alley1955 · as Capt. Tom Wilder
• The Sea Chase1955 · as Captain Karl Ehrlich
• The High and the Mighty1954 · as Dan Roman
• Hondo1953 · as Hondo Lane
• Three Lives1953 · as Self
• Island in the Sky1953 · as Captain Dooley
• Trouble Along the Way1953 · as Stephen Aloysius Williams
• You're the Star1953 · as Self
• Big Jim McLain1952 · as Jim McLain
• The Quiet Man1952 · as Sean Thornton
• Flying Leathernecks1951 · as Maj. Daniel Xavier Kirby
• The Screen Director1951 · as Self (staged 'archive' footage) (uncredited)
• Operation Pacific1951 · as Duke E. Gifford
• Rio Grande1950 · as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke
• Sands of Iwo Jima1950 · as Sgt. John M. Stryker
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon1949 · as Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles
• The Fighting Kentuckian1949 · as John Breen
• 3 Godfathers1948 · as Robert Marmaduke Sangster Hightower
• Wake of the Red Witch1948 · as Capt. Ralls
• Red River1948 · as Thomas Dunson
• Fort Apache1948 · as Capt. Kirby York
• Tycoon1947 · as Johnny Munroe
• Angel and the Badman1947 · as Quirt Evans
• Desert Command1946 · as Tom Wayne
• Without Reservations1946 · as Rusty Thomas
• Dakota1945 · as John Devlin
• They Were Expendable1945 · as Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan
• Back to Bataan1945 · as Colonel Joseph Madden
• Flame of Barbary Coast1945 · as Duke Fergus
• Tall in the Saddle1944 · as Rocklin
• Memo for Joe1944 · as Self
• The Fighting Seabees1944 · as Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan
• In Old Oklahoma1943 · as Daniel F Somers
• A Lady Takes a Chance1943 · as Duke Hudkins
• Reunion in France1942 · as Pat Talbot
• Pittsburgh1942 · as Charles 'Pittsburgh' Markham
• Flying Tigers1942 · as Jim Gordon
• The Spoilers1942 · as Glennister
• In Old California1942 · as Tom Craig
• Reap the Wild Wind1942 · as Captain Jack Stuart
• Lady for a Night1942 · as Jackson Morgan
• The Shepherd of the Hills1941 · as Young Matt Matthews
• Lady from Louisiana1941 · as John Reynolds
• A Man Betrayed1941 · as Lynn Hollister
• The Long Voyage Home1940 · as Ole Olsen
• Seven Sinners1940 · as Dan
• Three Faces West1940 · as John Phillips
• Dark Command1940 · as Bob Seton
• Allegheny Uprising1939 · as Jim Smith
• New Frontier1939 · as Stony Brooke
• Wyoming Outlaw1939 · as Stony Brooke
• Three Texas Steers1939 · as Stony Brooke
• The Night Riders1939 · as Stony Brooke
• Stagecoach1939 · as The Ringo Kid
• Red River Range1938 · as Stony Brooke
• Santa Fe Stampede1938 · as Stony Brooke
• Overland Stage Raiders1938 · as Stony Brooke
• Pals of the Saddle1938 · as Stony Brooke
• Born to the West1937 · as Dare Rudd
• Hell Town1937 · as Dare Rudd
• Adventure's End1937 · as Duke Slade
• Idol of the Crowds1937 · as Johnny Hanson
• I Cover the War!1937 · as Bob Adams
• California Straight Ahead1937 · as Biff Smith
• Conflict1936 · as Pat Glendon
• Sea Spoilers1936 · as Bob Randall
• Winds of the Wasteland1936 · as John Blair
• The Stagecoach Race1936 · as John Blair
• The Lonely Trail1936 · as Captain John Ashley
• King of the Pecos1936 · as John Clayborn
• The Lawless Nineties1936 · as John Tipton
• The Oregon Trail1936 · as Capt John Delmont
• Lawless Range1935 · as John Middleton
• The New Frontier1935 · as John Dawson
• Texas Terror1935 · as John Higgins
• Guns Along The Trail1935 · as John Wyatt
• Westward Ho1935 · as John Wyatt
• Cowboy G-Man1935 · as John Wyatt
• Paradise Canyon1935 · as John Wyatt
• The Dawn Rider1935 · as John Mason
• Avenging Angel1935 · as John Mason
• On the Run1935 · as John Jones
• The Desert Trail1935 · as John Scott / John Jones
• Rainbow Valley1935 · as John Martin
• 'Neath the Arizona Skies1934 · as Chris Morrell
• The Lawless Frontier1934 · as John Tobin
• Vengence is Mine1934 · as John Tobin
• The Trail Beyond1934 · as Rod Drew
• Klondike Gold1934 · as Rod Drew
• The Star Packer1934 · as U.S. Marshal John Travers
• The Drifter1934 · as Randy
• Randy Rides Alone1934 · as Randy Bowers
• Bandits of the Badlands1934 · as John Carruthers
• The Shadow Gang1934 · as U.S. Marshal John Travers
• Next Of Kin1934 · as Ted Hayden aka Gat Ganns
• The Man from Utah1934 · as John Weston
• Rodeo Rocketeers1934 · as John Weston
• Blue Steel1934 · as John Carruthers
• West of the Divide1934 · as Ted Hayden aka Gat Ganns
• The Lucky Texan1934 · as Jerry Mason
• Claim Jumpers1934 · as Jerry Mason
• Sagebrush Trail1933 · as John Brant
• Fugitive1933 · as John
• College Coach1933 · as Football player (uncredited)
• Riders of Destiny1933 · as Singin' Sandy Saunders
• The Man from Monterey1933 · as John Holmes
• Baby Face1933 · as Jimmy McCoy Jr.
• His Private Secretary1933 · as Dick Wallace
• The Life of Jimmy Dolan1933 · as Smith
• Somewhere in Sonora1933 · as John Bishop
• Central Airport1933
• The Three Musketeers1933 · as Lt. Tom Wayne
• The Telegraph Trail1933 · as John Trent
• Haunted Gold1932 · as John Mason
• The Big Stampede1932 · as Deputy Sheriff John Steele
• Ride Him, Cowboy1932 · as John Drury
• The Hollywood Handicap1932
• The Hurricane Express1932 · as The Air Pilot
• Lady and Gent1932 · as Buzz Kinney
• Two-Fisted Law1932 · as Duke
• Texas Cyclone1932 · as Steve Pickett
• The Shadow of the Eagle1932 · as Craig McCoy
• Running Hollywood1932 · as Emcee
• The Deceiver1931 · as Reginald Thorpe as a corpse
• The Range Feud1931 · as Clint Turner
• Maker of Men1931 · as Dusty Rhodes
• Arizona1931 · as Lt. Bob Denton
• Three Girls Lost1931 · as Gordon Wales
• Girls Demand Excitement1931 · as Peter Brooks
• The Big Trail1930 · as Breck Coleman
• Cheer Up and Smile1930
• Rough Romance1930 · as Lumberjack (uncredited)
• Born Reckless1930 · as Extra (uncredited)
• Men Without Women1930 · as Radioman on Surface (uncredited)
• Salute1929
• Words and Music1929 · as Pete Donahue (as Duke Morrison)
• The Black Watch1929 · as Black Watch Soldier (uncredited)
• Speakeasy1929 · as Extra
• Noah's Ark1928 · as Flood Extra (uncredited)
• A Home Made Man1928 · as Man on Stool
• Hangman's House1928 · as Horse Race Spectator / Condemned Man in Flashback
• Four Sons1928
• Mother Machree1927
• The Drop Kick1927 · as Football Player / Extra in Stands
• Annie Laurie1927
• The Draw-Back1927 · as Opposing Football Player
• The Great K&A Train Robbery1926 · as Extra (uncredited)
• Bardelys the Magnificent1926 · as Guard (uncredited)
• Brown of Harvard1926 · as Yale LIneback Player
• Rodeo Racketeers—
• Desert Command— · as Tom Wayne

All TV Shows (44)

• Talking Pictures2013 · as Self (archive footage)
• Battleground2004 · as Self (archive footage)
• Sacrée soirée1987 · as Self (archive footage)
• Hollywood1980 · as Self
• Western von gestern1978 · as John Wyatt aka John Allen (archive footage)
• Western von gestern1978 · as John Wyatt aka John Allen
• Western von gestern1978 · as Stony Brooke (archive footage)
• Spécial cinéma1974 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts1973 · as Self
• The American Film Institute Salute to ...1973 · as Self
• Maude1972 · as Himself
• V.I.P. Schaukel1971 · as Self
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour1969 · as Self
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In1968 · as Self (uncredited)
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In1968 · as Self
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In1968 · as Self (uncredited)
• Dateline: Hollywood1967
• Hollywood and the Stars1963 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Lucy Show1962 · as John Wayne
• The Merv Griffin Show1962 · as Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson1962 · as Self
• The Beverly Hillbillies1962 · as John Wayne (uncredited)
• The Mike Douglas Show1961 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Mike Douglas Show1961 · as Self
• Alcoa Premiere1961
• Wagon Train1957 · as Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
• Tonight Starring Jack Paar1957 · as Self
• Cinépanorama1956 · as Self
• Screen Director's Playhouse1955 · as Mike Cronin
• Casablanca1955
• Gunsmoke1955 · as Self - Host, Introduction to the Series
• Producers' Showcase1954 · as Self
• The Oscars1953 · as Self
• I Love Lucy1951 · as John Wayne
• The Red Skelton Show1951 · as Self (uncredited)
• The Red Skelton Show1951 · as John Wayne
• The Red Skelton Show1951 · as Rooster Cogburn
• The Jack Benny Program1950 · as John Wayne
• The Colgate Comedy Hour1950 · as Self
• The Bob Hope Show1950 · as Self - Cameo
• The Bob Hope Show1950 · as Self
• What's My Line?1950 · as Self - Mystery Guest
• The Ed Sullivan Show1948 · as Self
• Golden Globe Awards1944 · as Self - Nominee