1- John Wayne’s Born name is Marion Robert Morrison
2- John Wayne’s height: 6’4
3- He did so with a variety of odd jobs, including stints as a delivery boy and as a trucker’s helper
4- John Wayne’s nickname is “The Duke”
5- John Wayne Born in Winterset, Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California.
6- Wayne’s hair began to thin when he was in his 30s, and he wore a hairpiece, at least in public, for much of his career.
7- As a lifelong chess enthusiast, Wayne had a star-studded list of chess partners: Marlene Dietrich, Rock Hudson, and Robert Mitchum.
8- in 1967 he parodied himself by appearing on the hit television series “The Beverly Hillbillies”. All he asked for payment for the cameo was a bottle of bourbon.
9- Wayne’s voice was used in the original “Star Wars.” It became the voice of the Imperial spy Garindan
10- Wayne studied at the Wilson Middle School, located in Glendale
11- He had spent some time while at college working at the Fox studio lots in Los Angeles as a laborer, prop boy, and extra
12- He was fluent in Spanish and all of wives were of Latin descent.
13- As a boy, Wayne—whose birth name was Marion Robert Morrison—went everywhere with the family dog, an Airedale terrier named Duke.
14- While a USC football player, he often worked for filmmakers during summers as an extra or prop man; can be spotted in several late 1920s silent films.
15- John Wayne Received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1979; also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumously) in 1980.
16- He was offered the lead role in the 1967 film “The Dirty Dozen”. He turned down the part to direct the film “The Green Berets” which he also starred in.
17- He has appeared as the leading actor in a total of 142 films
18- In 1974, Wayne was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
19- Wayne received his stage name of John Wayne from director Raoul Walsh when Walsh cast him in his first starring role as Breck Coleman in The Big Trail (1930).
20- He has been awarded two medals by the United States government
21- Although he spent time in the saddle in scores of Westerns, Wayne didn’t especially enjoy riding horses
22- His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh’s widescreen epic The Big Trail, which led to leading roles in many B movies throughout the 1930s, most of them in the Western genre.
23- John Wayne owned a yacht named “The Wild Goose”
24- Eighteen years after his death, John Wayne ranked #16 in Empire magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list.
25- He Won a Golden Globe in 1953 for World Film Favorite.
26- Wayne won his first and only Best Actor Oscar in 1969, for his portrayal of U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit.”
27- While at the University of Southern California, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
28- In 1956, Wayne played the Mongol warlord Genghis Khan in a Howard Hughes-produced movie, “The Conqueror.”
29- For decades, Wayne smoked five to six packs of unfiltered Camels a day, making him one of the heaviest smokers in Hollywood
30- During the filming of The Undefeated in 1969, Wayne fell from his horse and suffered three broken ribs as well as torn ligament in his shoulder which prevented use of that arm
31- In his leisure time, John Wayne enjoyed playing chess, poker and bridge, and was quite accomplished at all of them.
32- John Wayne never served in the military
33- John Wayne’s Last role: “The Shootist,” 1976
34- After appearing in some minor roles in movies and television shows throughout the 1930s, Wayne got his big break in the movie “Stagecoach“, released in 1939.
35- Best Roles of John Wayne
The Ringo Kid in “Stagecoach,” 1939; Sgt. John Stryker in “Sands of Iwo Jima,” 1949; Dan Roman in “The High and the Mighty,” 1954; Ethan Edwards in “The Searchers,” 1956; Tom Doniphon in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” 1962; Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoot in “The Longest Day,” 1962; Col. Mike Kirby in “The Green Berets,” 1968; Marshall Rueben “Rooster” Cogburn in “True Grit,” 1969.
36- John Wayne died in Los Angeles, California on June 11, 1979. He was suffering from lung and stomach cancer.
sources
http://tonsoffacts.com/30-awesome-and-interesting-facts-about-john-wayne/
http://dukefanclub.weebly.com/john-wayne-fun-facts–trivia.html
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