Is John Wayne Living or Dead?

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Is American film actor John Wayne dead? Or ... still alive?

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By Andrew Droid Webber

Updated 18 March 2023

Artist	Unknown photographer
Credit	eBay
License	pd
Desc	Publicity portrait of John Wayne. Frank Driggs Collection.
Usage	Public domain

Image info/credit

American film actor

John Wayne is ...

Dead

Born	26 May 1907 in Winterset
Died	11 June 1979 in Los Angeles
Age	72 years, 1 months
Cause	stomach cancer

Sex or gender	male
Country of citizenship	United States of America
Birth name	Marion Robert Morrison
Manner of death	natural causes
Spouse	Esperanza Baur, Pilar Pallete and Josephine Wayne
Child	Patrick Wayne, Michael Wayne and Ethan Wayne
Occupation	actor, film actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter and American football player
Nominated for	Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award for Best Actor and Academy Award for Best Picture
Awards	Presidential Medal of Freedom, Academy Award for Best Actor, Congressional Gold Medal and California Hall of Fame
Member of sports team	USC Trojans football

About John Wayne

John Wayne was the quintessential American hero, a larger-than-life figure who embodied the rugged individualism and frontier spirit of the nation. Born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa, he grew up in Southern California and developed a love of horses and the outdoors. After playing football at USC, he found work as a prop man and extra in Hollywood, and soon caught the eye of director John Ford, who cast him in his breakthrough role in "Stagecoach" (1939).

Over the next four decades, Wayne became one of the most iconic and beloved actors in American cinema, starring in over 170 films and winning an Academy Award for his role in "True Grit" (1969). He was known for his rugged good looks, his distinctive drawl, and his unwavering sense of honor and duty, which he brought to such classic films as "The Searchers" (1956), "Rio Bravo" (1959), and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962).

Offscreen, Wayne was a staunch conservative and a vocal supporter of the Vietnam War, which earned him both admiration and criticism. He was also a heavy smoker and drinker, and died of cancer in 1979 at the age of 72.

Despite his flaws, John Wayne remains an enduring symbol of American masculinity and heroism, a larger-than-life figure who embodied the best and worst of his country. As he once said, "I'm the stuff men are made of."

References:

- "John Wayne: The Life and Legend" by Scott Eyman

- "John Wayne: American" by Randy Roberts and James S. Olson

- "The Duke: A Life in Pictures" by John Wayne Enterprises

- "John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth" by Michael Munn

About Death

Although he enrolled in a cancer vaccine study in an attempt to ward off the disease, Wayne died of stomach cancer at the age of 72 on June 11, 1979, at the UCLA Medical Center, and was buried in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach. According to his son Patrick and his grandson Matthew Muñoz, a priest in the California Diocese of Orange, he converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before his death. He requested that his tombstone read "Feo, Fuerte y Formal", a Spanish epitaph Wayne described as meaning "ugly, strong, and dignified". The grave, which went unmarked for 20 years, is now marked with a quotation from his controversial 1971 Playboy interview: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

Films - which cast members have died?

John Wayne has been a part of these films.

Click to see which cast and crew are living and dead!

The Longest Day

1962 war film

The Searchers

1956 film by John Ford

The High and the Mighty

1954 film by William A. Wellman

The Alamo

1960 American historical epic film

The Quiet Man

1952 film by John Ford

True Grit

1969 American western film

How the West Was Won

1962 film by John Ford, Richard Thorpe, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall

The Green Berets

1968 film by John Wayne, Mervyn LeRoy, Ray Kellogg

Stagecoach

1939 film by John Ford

Rio Bravo

American Western film directed by Howard Hawks

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

1962 film by John Ford

The Sons of Katie Elder

1965 film by Henry Hathaway

The Greatest Story Ever Told

1965 film by George Stevens, David Lean

Hondo

1954 film by John Farrow

In Harm's Way

1965 film by Otto Preminger

The Shootist

1976 film by Don Siegel

El Dorado

1966 film by Howard Hawks

Red River

1948 Western film

Flying Tigers

1942 black-and-white war film, starring John Wayne and John Carroll as pilots in the mercenary fighter group fighting the Japanese in China prior to the U.S. entry into World War II

Tall in the Saddle

1944 film by Edwin L. Marin

Hatari!

1962 film by Howard Hawks

McLintock!

1963 film by Andrew V. McLaglen, James Edward Grant, Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Yvonne De Carlo, Patrick Wayne

Baby Face

1933 film by Alfred E. Green

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

1950 film by John Ford

The Big Trail

1930 film by Raoul Walsh

The Long Voyage Home

1940 film by John Ford

The Conqueror

1956 film by Dick Powell

Circus World

1964 film by Henry Hathaway

Sands of Iwo Jima

1950 film by Allan Dwan

Chisum

1970 Western film

Rooster Cogburn

1975 American western film

Rio Lobo

1970 film by Howard Hawks

Rio Grande

1950 film by John Ford

Angel and the Badman

1947 film by James Edward Grant

The Sea Chase

1955 film by John Farrow

North to Alaska

1960 film by Henry Hathaway, John Wayne

Island in the Sky

1953 film by William A. Wellman

Back to Bataan

1945 film by Edward Dmytryk

The Cowboys

1972 film

Jet Pilot

1957 film by Josef von Sternberg

Flying Leathernecks

1951 film by Nicholas Ray

Fort Apache

1948 film by John Ford

They Were Expendable

1945 film by John Ford, Robert Montgomery

Reap the Wild Wind

serialized story by Thelma Strabel

Noah's Ark

1928 film

Donovan's Reef

1963 film by John Ford

Brannigan

1975 film by Douglas Hickox

McQ

1974 film by John Sturges

The Horse Soldiers

1959 film by John Ford

The Undefeated

1969 film by Andrew V. McLaglen, John Wayne

Hellfighters

1968 film by Andrew V. McLaglen

Blood Alley

1955 seafaring adventure movie

Big Jake

1971 Western film

Wake of the Red Witch

1948 film by Edward Ludwig

The Barbarian and the Geisha

1958 film by John Huston

The Comancheros

1961 film by Michael Curtiz

The Wings of Eagles

1957 film by John Ford

Cast a Giant Shadow

1966 film by Melville Shavelson

Pittsburgh

1942 film

Operation Pacific

1951 film by George Waggner

Rainbow Valley

1935 western film starring John Wayne

The Three Musketeers

1933 serial

3 Godfathers

1948 film by John Ford

The Spoilers

1942 film by Rex Beach, Ray Enright

Allegheny Uprising

1939 film by William A. Seiter

Hangman's House

1928 film by John Ford

Bardelys the Magnificent

1926 film by King Vidor

The Fighting Seabees

1944 film by Edward Ludwig

Big Jim McLain

1952 film by Edward Ludwig

The War Wagon

1967 film by Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Bruce Dern, Robert Walker, Jr., Bruce Cabot, Burt Kennedy, John Wayne, Keenan Wynn, Gene Evans, Clair Huffaker, Joanna Barnes