John Wayne - ©Theda Bara

The name I highlight in this post is that of the iconic American actor John Wayne, fabulous in the films he starred in, especially the classic Westerns, one of which earned him the Oscar for Best Actor in 1970 for his performance in “True Grit” (1969), playing “Rooster Cogburn”, an alcoholic, one-eyed ex-sheriff who becomes a bounty hunter.

In addition to the Oscar, John Wayne won 5 Golden Globes; 1 Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1966; 1 Best Actor in a Drama Film Award in 1970; and 3 consecutive People’s Choice Awards for Best Actor in a Film, in 1976, 1977, and 1978.

John Wayne has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1541 Vine Street, in the Film category.

John Wayne was christened Marion Robert Morrison, a name he disliked. He was born on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa, United States, and died on June 11, 1979, at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center of UCLA in Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 72.

Wayne carried the nickname “Duke” his entire life, but he received it long before his Hollywood fame. His parents quickly realized that the boy disliked his given name (Marion), so they nicknamed him after the family dog ​​(an Airedale Terrier) that he adored.

John Wayne married three times: first to American homemaker Josephine Sáenz Wayne (1908-2003), from 1933 to 1945. The couple had four children: American actor Michael Wayne (1934-2003), American model Mary Antonia “Toni” Wayne (1936-2000), American actor Patrick Wayne (1939-) and American university professor Melinda Wayne (1940-); Wayne’s second marriage was to Mexican actress Esperanza Díaz Ceballos Baur, nicknamed “Chata” (1920-1961), from 1946 to 1954. This was a turbulent and childless relationship; finally, Wayne married Peruvian painter María del Pilar Pallete Alvarado (1928-), who is still alive at 97 and is the actor’s widow. The couple had three children during their 25-year marriage, from 1954 to 1979: American actress Aissa Wayne (1956-), actor and stuntman John Ethan Wayne (1962-), who now manages the family estate as president of the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, and their youngest daughter, Marisa (1966-), who works with her brother at the foundation.