Is John Wayne Living or Dead?
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Is American film actor John Wayne dead? Or ... still alive?
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Image info
Artist | Unknown photographer |
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Credit | eBay |
License | pd |
Desc | Publicity portrait of John Wayne. Frank Driggs Collection. |
Usage | Public domain |
American film actor
John Wayne is ...
Dead
Born | 26 May 1907 in Winterset |
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Died | 11 June 1979 in Los Angeles |
Age | 72 years, 1 months |
Cause | stomach cancer |
Sex or gender | male |
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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

Reunion in France
1942 feature film

The Fighting Kentuckian
1950 film by George Waggner

Trouble Along the Way
1953 film by Michael Curtiz

Dark Command
1940 film by Raoul Walsh

College Coach
1933 film by William A. Wellman

The Train Robbers
1973 film by Burt Kennedy

Cahill U.S. Marshal
1973 film by Andrew V. McLaglen

Legend of the Lost
1957 film by Henry Hathaway

The Shadow of the Eagle
1932 film by Ford Beebe, B. Reeves Eason

Flame of Barbary Coast
1945 film by John Wayne, Joseph Kane, Joseph Schildkraut, Ann Dvorak, Borden Chase, William Frawley

Riders of Destiny
1933 western film starring John Wayne

The Hurricane Express
1932 film by Armand Schaefer, J. P. McGowan

Without Reservations
1946 film by Mervyn LeRoy

In Old Oklahoma
1943 film by Albert S. Rogell

Lady for a Night
1942 American drama film

Blue Steel
1934 western film starring John Wayne

A Lady Takes a Chance
1943 film by William A. Seiter

Four Sons
1928 film by John Ford

Born to the West
1937 film by Charles Barton

'Neath the Arizona Skies
1934 western film starring John Wayne

The Shepherd of the Hills
1941 film by Henry Hathaway

The Trail Beyond
1934 western film starring John Wayne

Lady from Louisiana
1941 film by Bernard Vorhaus

The Lawless Frontier
1934 western film starring John Wayne

Sagebrush Trail
1933 western film starring John Wayne

Winds of the Wasteland
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