John Wayne Marion Mitchell Morrison ( born Marion Robert Morrison ; May 26 , 1907 – June 11 , 1979 ) , better known by his stage name John Wayne , was an American film actor , director and producer . An Academy Award - winner , Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades . An enduring American icon , he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor , including his distinctive calm voice , walk , and height . Wayne was born in Winterset , Iowa but his family relocated to the greater Los Angeles area when he was four years old . He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to USC as a result of a bodysurfing accident . Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation , he mostly appeared in small bit parts . His first leading role came in the widescreen epic " The Big Trail " ( 1930 ) , which led to leading roles in numerous films throughout the 1930s , many of them in the western genre . His career rose to further heights in 1939 , with John Ford ' s " Stagecoach " making him an instant superstar . Wayne would go on to star in 142 pictures , primarily typecast in Western films . Among his best known later films are " The Quiet Man " ( 1952 ) , which follows him as an Irish - American boxer and his love affair with a fiery spinster played by Maureen O ' Hara ; " The Searchers " ( 1956 ) , in which he plays a Civil War veteran who seeks out his abducted niece , played by Natalie Wood ; " Rio Bravo " ( 1959 ) , playing a Sheriff with Dean Martin ; " True Grit " ( 1969 ) , playing a humorous U . S . Marshal who sets out to avenge a man ' s death in the role that won Wayne an Academy Award ; and " The Shootist " ( 1976 ) , his final screen performance in which he plays an aging gunslinger battling cancer . Wayne moved to Orange County , California in the 1960s , and was a prominent Republican in Hollywood , supporting anti - communist positions . He died of stomach cancer in 1979 . In June 1999 , the American Film Institute named Wayne 13th among the Greatest Male Screen Legends of All Time . Early life . John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26 , 1907 at 216 South Second Street in Winterset , Iowa . His middle name was soon changed from Robert to Mitchell when his parents decided to name their next son Robert . Wayne ' s father , Clyde Leonard Morrison ( 1884 – 1937 ) , was the son of American Civil War veteran Marion Mitchell Morrison ( 1845 – 1915 ) . Wayne ' s mother , the former Mary " Molly " Alberta Brown ( 1885 – 1970 ) , was from Lancaster County , Nebraska . Wayne ' s ancestry included Scots - Irish , Irish , Scottish and English . He was brought up as a Presbyterian . Wayne ' s family moved to Palmdale , California , and then in 1911 to Glendale , California , where his father worked as a pharmacist . A local fireman at the station on his route to school in Glendale started calling him " Little Duke " because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier , Duke . He preferred " Duke " to " Marion " , and the name stuck for the rest of his life . As a teen , Wayne worked in an ice cream shop for a man who shod horses for Hollywood studios . He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay , a youth organization associated with the Freemasons . He attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale . He played football for the 1924 champion Glendale High School team . Wayne applied to the U . S . Naval Academy , but was not accepted . He instead attended the University of Southern California ( USC ) , majoring in pre - law . He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi fraternities . Wayne also played on the USC football team under coach Howard Jones . A broken collarbone injury curtailed his athletic career ; Wayne later noted he was too terrified of Jones ' s reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury , a bodysurfing accident . He lost his athletic scholarship and , without funds , had to leave the university . Wayne began working at the local film studios . Prolific silent western film star Tom Mix had found him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets . Wayne soon moved on to bit part s , establishing a longtime friendship with the director who provided most of those roles , John Ford . Early in this period , Wayne appeared with his USC teammates playing football in " Brown of Harvard " ( 1926 ) , " The Dropkick " ( 1927 ) , and " Salute " ( 1929 ) and Columbia ' s " Maker of Men " ( filmed in 1930 , released in 1931 ) . Film career . Early career and breakthrough . While working for Fox Film Corporation in bit roles , he was given on - screen credit as " Duke Morrison " only once , in " Words and Music " ( 1929 ) . In 1930 , director Raoul Walsh saw him moving studio furniture while working as a prop boy and cast him in his first starring role in " The Big Trail " ( 1930 ) . For his screen name , Walsh suggested " Anthony Wayne " , after Revolutionary War general " Mad Anthony " Wayne . Fox Studios chief Winfield Sheehan rejected it as sounding " too Italian " . Walsh then suggested " John Wayne " . Sheehan agreed , and the name was set . Wayne himself was not even present for the discussion . His pay was raised to $ 105 a week . " The Big Trail " was to be the first big - budget outdoor spectacle of the sound era , made at a staggering cost of over $ 2 million , using hundreds of extras and wide vistas of the American southwest , still largely unpopulated at the time . To take advantage of the breathtaking scenery , it was filmed in two versions , a standard 35mm version and another in the new 70 mm Grandeur film process using an innovative camera and lenses . Many in the audience who saw it in Grandeur stood and cheered . Unfortunately , only a handful of theaters were equipped to show the film in its widescreen process , and the effort was largely wasted . Despite being highly regarded by modern critics , the film was considered a huge box office flop at the time . After the commercial failure of " The Big Trail " , Wayne was relegated to small roles in A - pictures , including Columbia ' s " The Deceiver " ( 1931 ) , in which he played a corpse . He appeared in the serial " The Three Musketeers " ( 1933 ) , an updated version of the Alexandre Dumas novel in which the protagonists were soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in then - contemporary North Africa . He played the lead , with his name over the title , in many low - budget " Poverty Row " westerns , mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation . By Wayne ' s own estimation , he appeared in about eighty of these horse opera s from 1930 to 1939 . In " Riders of Destiny " ( 1933 ) he became one of the first singing cowboy s of film , albeit via dubbing . Wayne also appeared in some of the " Three Mesquiteers " westerns , whose title was a play on the Dumas classic . He was mentored by stuntmen in riding and other western skills . He and famed stuntman Yakima Canutt developed and perfected stunts and onscreen fisticuffs techniques still used today . Wayne ' s breakthrough role came with director John Ford ' s classic " Stagecoach " ( 1939 ) . Because of Wayne ' s B - movie status and track record in low - budget westerns throughout the 1930s , Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A - budget film . After rejection by all the top studios , Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor — a much bigger star at the time — received top billing . " Stagecoach " was a huge critical and financial success , and Wayne became a mainstream star . Cast member Louise Platt credits Ford as saying at the time that Wayne would become the biggest star ever because of his appeal as the archetypal " everyman " . America ' s entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society , and Hollywood was no exception . Wayne was exempted from service due to his age ( 34 at the time of Pearl Harbor ) and family status , classified as 3 - A ( family deferment ) . He repeatedly wrote to John Ford , asking to be placed in Ford ' s military unit , but consistently postponed it until " after he finished one more film " , Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1 - A ( draft eligible ) , but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him ; Herbert J . Yates , President of Republic , threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process , requesting Wayne ' s further deferment . Wayne toured U . S . bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944 . By many accounts , Wayne ' s failure to serve in the military was the most painful experience of his life . His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt , writing : " He would become a ' superpatriot ' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home . " Commercial success . Wayne ' s first color film was " Shepherd of the Hills " ( 1941 ) , in which he co - starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey . The following year , he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B . DeMille , the Technicolor epic " Reap the Wild Wind " ( 1942 ) , in which he co - starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard ; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values . He would appear in more than twenty of John Ford ' s films throughout the next two decades , including " She Wore a Yellow Ribbon " ( 1949 ) , " The Quiet Man " ( 1952 ) , " The Searchers " ( 1956 ) , " The Wings of Eagles " ( 1957 ) , and " The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance " ( 1962 ) . In 1949 , director Robert Rossen offered the starring role of " All the King ' s Men " to Wayne . Wayne refused , believing the script to be un - American in many ways . Broderick Crawford , who eventually got the role , won the 1949 Oscar for best male actor , ironically beating out Wayne , who had been nominated for " Sands of Iwo Jima . " He lost the leading role in " The Gunfighter " ( 1950 ) to Gregory Peck due to his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures because its chief , Harry Cohn , had mistreated him years before when he was a young contract player . Cohn had bought the project for Wayne , but Wayne ' s grudge was too deep , and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century Fox , which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted but for which he refused to bend . One of Wayne ' s most popular roles was in " The High and the Mighty " ( 1954 ) , directed by William Wellman , and based on a novel by Ernest K . Gann . His portrayal of a heroic copilot won widespread acclaim . Wayne also portrayed aviators in " Flying Tigers ( 1942 ) , " " Flying Leathernecks " ( 1951 ) , " Island in the Sky " ( 1953 ) , " The Wings of Eagles " ( 1957 ) , and " Jet Pilot " ( 1957 ) . " The Searchers " ( 1956 ) continues to be widely regarded as perhaps Wayne ' s finest and most complex performance . In 2006 , " Premiere Magazine " ran an industry poll in which Wayne ' s portrayal of Ethan Edwards was rated the 87th greatest performance in film history . He named his youngest son Ethan after the character . Later career . John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar for " True Grit " ( 1969 ) . Wayne was also nominated as the producer of Best Picture for " The Alamo " ( 1960 ) , one of two films he directed . The other was " The Green Berets " ( 1968 ) , the only major film made during the Vietnam War to support the war . During the filming of " Green Berets " , the Degar or Montagnard people of Vietnam ' s Central Highlands , fierce fighters against communism , bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films . In an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of " Dirty Harry " , Wayne took on the role of gritty detective " McQ " in the 1974 crime drama . His last film was " The Shootist " ( 1976 ) , whose main character , J . B . Books , was dying of cancer — the illness to which Wayne himself succumbed three years later . According to the Internet Movie Database , Wayne played the lead in 142 of his film appearances . Batjac , the production company co - founded by Wayne , was named after the fictional shipping company Batjak in " Wake of the Red Witch " ( 1948 ) , a film based on the novel by Garland Roark . ( A spelling error by Wayne ' s secretary was allowed to stand , accounting for the variation . ) Batjac ( and its predecessor , Wayne - Fellows Productions ) was the arm through which Wayne produced many films for himself and other stars . Its best - known non - Wayne production was the highly acclaimed " Seven Men From Now " ( 1956 ) , which started the classic collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott . In the " Motion Picture Herald " Top Ten Money - Making Western Stars poll , Wayne was listed in 1936 and 1939 . He appeared in the similar " Box Office " poll in 1939 and 1940 . While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars , Wayne also appeared in the " Top Ten Money Makers Poll " of all films from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1974 , taking first place in 1950 , 1951 , 1954 and 1971 . With a total of 25 years on the list , Wayne has more appearances than any other star , beating Clint Eastwood ( 21 ) into second place . In later years , Wayne was recognized as a sort of American natural resource , and his various critics , of his performances and his politics , viewed him with more respect . Abbie Hoffman , the radical of the 1960s , paid tribute to Wayne ' s singularity , saying , " I like Wayne ' s wholeness , his style . As for his politics , well — I suppose even cavemen felt a little admiration for the dinosaurs that were trying to gobble them up . " Reviewing " The Cowboys " ( 1972 ) , Vincent Canby of the " New York Times " , who did not particularly care for the film , wrote : " Wayne is , of course , marvelously indestructible , and he has become an almost perfect father figure . " Personal life . Wayne was married three times and divorced twice . His wives , each of Hispanic descent , were Josephine Alicia Saenz , Esperanza Baur , and Pilar Pallete . He had four children with Josephine : Michael Wayne ( November 23 , 1934 – April 2 , 2003 ) , Mary Antonia " Toni " Wayne LaCava ( February 25 , 1936 – December 6 , 2000 ) , Patrick Wayne ( born July 15 , 1939 ) , and Melinda Wayne Munoz ( born December 3 , 1940 ) . He had three more children with Pilar : Aissa Wayne ( born March 31 , 1956 ) , John Ethan Wayne ( born February 22 , 1962 ) , and Marisa Wayne ( born February 22 , 1966 ) . Several of Wayne ' s children entered the film and television industry ; Wayne ' s son Ethan was billed as John Ethan Wayne in a few films , and played one of the leads in the 1990s update of the " Adam - 12 " television series . His stormiest divorce was from Esperanza Baur , a former Mexican actress . She convinced herself that Wayne and co - star Gail Russell were having an affair . The night the film " Angel and the Badman " ( 1947 ) wrapped , there was the usual party for cast and crew , and Wayne came home very late . Esperanza was in a drunken rage by the time he arrived , and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door . Wayne had several high - profile affairs , including one with Marlene Dietrich that lasted for three years . After his separation from his wife , Pilar , in 1973 , Wayne became romantically involved and lived with his former secretary Pat Stacy ( 1941 – 1995 ) until his death in 1979 . She published a biography of her life with him entitled " Duke : A Love Story " in 1983 . Wayne ' s hair began thinning in the 1940s , and he started wearing a hairpiece by the end of that decade . He was occasionally seen in public without the hairpiece ( notably , according to " Life " magazine , at Gary Cooper ' s funeral ) . During a widely noted appearance at Harvard University , Wayne was asked by a student , " Where did you get that phony hair ? " He responded , " It ' s not phony . It ' s real hair . Of course , it ' s not mine , but it ' s real . " A close friend of Wayne ' s , California Congressman Alphonzo Bell , wrote of him , " Duke ' s personality and sense of humor were very close to what the general public saw on the big screen . It is perhaps best shown in these words he had engraved on a plaque : ' Each of us is a mixture of some good and some not so good qualities . In considering one ' s fellow man it ' s important to remember the good things . . . We should refrain from making judgments just because a fella happens to be a dirty , rotten SOB . ' " Wayne biographer Michael Munn chronicled Wayne ' s drinking habits . According to Sam O ' Steen ' s memoir , " Cut to the Chase " , studio directors knew to shoot Wayne ' s scenes before noon , because by afternoon he " was a mean drunk " . He had been a chain - smoker of cigarettes since young adulthood and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964 . He underwent successful surgery to remove his entire left lung and four ribs . Despite efforts by his business associates to prevent him from going public with his illness for fear that it would cost him work , Wayne announced he had cancer and called on the public to get preventive examinations . Five years later , Wayne was declared cancer - free . Wayne ' s height has been perennially described as at least 6 ' 4 " ( 193 cm ) . He was a Freemason , a Master Mason in Marion McDaniel Lodge # 56 F & AM , in Tucson , Arizona . He became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason and later joined the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple in Los Angeles . He became a member of the York Rite . During the early 1960s , John Wayne traveled extensively to Panama , during which he purchased the island of Taborcillo off the main coast . It was sold by his estate at his death and changed hands many times before being opened as a tourist attraction . Wayne ' s yacht , the " Wild Goose " , was one of his favorite possessions . He kept it docked in Newport Harbor and it was listed on the U . S . National Register of Historic Places in 2011 . Politics . Throughout most of his life , Wayne was a vocally prominent conservative Republican . Initially a self - described socialist during his college years , he voted for Democratic President Franklin D . Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election and expressed admiration for Roosevelt ' s successor , fellow Democratic President Harry S Truman . He took part in creating the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in February 1944 and was elected president of that organization in 1947 . An ardent anti - communist and vocal supporter of the House Un - American Activities Committee , in 1952 he made " Big Jim McLain " to show his support for the anti - communist cause . Recently declassified Soviet documents reveal that despite being a fan of Wayne ' s movies , Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin contemplated Wayne ' s assassination as a result of his frequently - espoused anti - communist politics . Wayne supported Vice President Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1960 , but expressed his vision of patriotism when John F . Kennedy won the election : " I didn ' t vote for him but he ' s my president , and I hope he does a good job . " He used his iconic star power to support conservative causes , including rallying support for the Vietnam War by producing , co - directing , and starring in the critically panned " The Green Berets " in 1968 . In a 1971 interview with " Playboy " magazine Wayne responded to questions about whether entitlement programs including Medicare and Social Security were good for the country : Due to his enormous popularity and his status as the most famous Republican star in Hollywood , wealthy Texas Republican Party backers asked Wayne to run for national office in 1968 , as had his friend and fellow actor Senator George Murphy . He declined , joking that he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the White House . Instead he supported his friend Ronald Reagan ' s runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970 . He was asked to be the running mate for Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1968 , rejecting the offer and actively campaigned for Richard Nixon ; Wayne addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in August 1968 . For awhile , he was also a member of the conservative , anti - communism group the John Birch Society . Wayne openly differed with the Republican Party over the issue of the Panama Canal , as he supported the Panama Canal Treaty in the mid - 1970s ; conservatives had wanted the U . S . to retain full control of the canal , but Wayne believed that the Panamanians had the right to the canal and sided with President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats . Mr . Wayne was a close friend of the late Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos Herrera and Wayne ' s first wife , Josephine , was a native of Panama . An interview of Wayne that was published in " Playboy " magazine in May 1971 turned into a firestorm of controversy . Wayne made headlines for his resolute opinions about social issues and race relations in the United States . In the same interview he expressed his support for the Vietnam War . Death . Although he enrolled in a cancer vaccine study in an attempt to ward off the disease , Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11 , 1979 , at the UCLA Medical Center , and was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar . 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 twenty 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 . " Among the 220 or so cast and crew who filmed the 1956 film " The Conqueror " on location near St . George , Utah , 91 at various times developed some form of cancer ( 41 % ) , including stars Wayne , Susan Hayward , and Agnes Moorehead , and director Dick Powell . The film was shot in southwestern Utah , east of and generally downwind from the site of recent U . S . Government nuclear weapons tests in southeastern Nevada . The 41 % incidence of cancer in the cast and crew is very close to that of the general population , but many contend that radioactive fallout from these tests contaminated the film location and poisoned the film crew working there . Despite the suggestion that Wayne ' s 1964 lung cancer and his 1979 stomach cancer resulted from nuclear contamination , he himself believed his lung cancer to have been a result of his six - pack - a - day cigarette habit . Legacy . Awards , celebrations , and landmarks . John Wayne ' s enduring status as an iconic American was formally recognized by the U . S . government by awarding him the two highest civilian decorations . He was recognized by the United States Congress on May 26 , 1979 , when he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal . Hollywood figures and American leaders from across the political spectrum , including Maureen O ' Hara , Elizabeth Taylor , Frank Sinatra , Mike Frankovich , Katharine Hepburn , General and Mrs . Omar Bradley , Gregory Peck , Robert Stack , James Arness , and Kirk Douglas , testified to Congress of the merit and deservedness of this award . Most notable was the testimony of Robert Aldrich , then president of the Directors Guild of America , who said : On June 9 , 1980 , Wayne was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter , at whose inaugural ball Wayne had appeared " as a member of the loyal opposition , " as Wayne described it in his speech to the gathering . In 1998 , Wayne was posthumously awarded the Naval Heritage Award by the U S Navy Memorial Foundation for his support of the U S Navy and military during his film career . Various public locations are named in honor of Wayne , including the John Wayne Airport in Orange County , California , where a nine - foot bronze statue of him stands at the entrance ; the John Wayne Marina that Wayne bequeathed the land for , near Sequim , Washington ; John Wayne Elementary School ( P . S . 380 ) in Brooklyn , New York , which boasts a 38 - foot mosaic mural commission by New York artist Knox Martin entitled " John Wayne and the American Frontier " ; and a 100 - plus - mile trail named the " John Wayne Pioneer Trail " in Washington state ' s Iron Horse State Park . A larger than life - size bronze statue of Wayne atop a horse was erected at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills , California at the former offices of the Great Western Savings & Loan Corporation , for whom Wayne had made a number of commercials . In the city of Maricopa , Arizona , part of Arizona State Route 347 is named John Wayne Parkway , which runs through the center of town . In 2006 , friends of Wayne ' s and his former Arizona business partner , Louis Johnson , inaugurated the " Louie and the Duke Classics " events benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society . The weekend long event each fall in Casa Grande , Arizona includes a golf tournament , an auction of John Wayne memorabilia and a team roping competition . Several celebrations took place on May 26 , 2007 , the centennial of Wayne ' s birth . A celebration at the John Wayne birthplace in Winterset , Iowa , included chuck - wagon suppers , concerts by Michael Martin Murphey and Riders in the Sky , a Wild West Revue in the style of Buffalo Bill ' s Wild West show , and a Cowboy Symposium with Wayne ' s co - stars , producers , and costumer . Wayne ' s films ran repetitiously at the local theater . Ground was broken for the New John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center at a ceremony consisting of over 30 of Wayne ' s family members , including Melinda Wayne Munoz , Aissa , Ethan and Marisa Wayne . Later that year California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Wayne into the California Hall of Fame , located at The California Museum for History , Women and the Arts . Cultural image as an American icon . Wayne rose beyond the typical recognition for a famous actor to that of an enduring icon who symbolized and communicated American values and ideals . By the middle of his career , Wayne had developed a larger - than - life image , and as his career progressed , he selected roles that would not compromise his off - screen image . By the time of his last film " The Shootist " ( 1976 ) , Wayne refused to allow his character to shoot a man in the back as was originally scripted , saying " I ' ve made over 250 pictures and have never shot a guy in the back . Change it . " Wayne ' s rise to being the quintessential movie war hero began to take shape four years after World War II , when " Sands of Iwo Jima " ( 1949 ) was released . His footprints at Grauman ' s Chinese theater in Hollywood were laid in concrete that contained sand from Iwo Jima . His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975 , he asked to meet John Wayne , the symbolic representation of his country ' s former enemy . Wayne was a popular visitor to the war zones in World War II , Korea , and Vietnam . By the 1950s , perhaps in large part due to the military aspect of films such as the " Sands of Iwo Jima " , " Flying Tigers " , " They Were Expendable " , and the Ford cavalry trilogy , Wayne had become an icon to all the branches of the United States Armed Forces , even in light of his actual lack of military service . Many veterans have said their reason for serving was in some part related to watching Wayne ' s movies . His name is attached to various pieces of gear , such as the P - 38 " John Wayne " can opener , so named because " it can do anything " , paper towels known as " John Wayne toilet paper " because " it ' s rough and it ' s tough and don ' t take shit off no one , " and C - ration crackers are called " John Wayne crackers " because presumably only someone as tough as Wayne could eat them . A rough and rocky mountain pass used by military tanks and jeeps at Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County , California , is aptly named " John Wayne Pass " . Wayne is the only actor to appear in every edition of the annual Harris Poll of Most Popular Film Actors , and the only deceased actor to appear on the list after his death . Wayne has been in the top ten in this poll for 19 consecutive years , starting 15 years after his death in 1979 . Awards and nominations . Academy Award . Wayne was nominated for three Academy Award s . He was nominated twice for best actor , winning in 1969 for his starring role in True Grit , and once for best picture since he was a producer . The Academy Awards are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ( AMPAS ) to recognize excellence in the film industry . Golden Globe . The Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ( HFPA ) to recognize outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry , both domestic and foreign , and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television . In 1953 , Wayne was awarded the Henrietta Award ( a now retired award ) for being World Film Favorite : Male . The Cecil B . DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures is an annual award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Golden Globe Award ceremonies in Hollywood , California . It was named in honor of Cecil B . DeMille ( 1881 – 1959 ) , one of the industry ' s most successful filmmakers ; John Wayne won the award in 1966 . In 1970 , Wayne won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in " True Grit " . Brass Balls Award . In 1973 , " The Harvard Lampoon " , a satirical paper run by Harvard University students , invited Wayne to receive The Brass Balls Award , created in his " honor " , after calling him " the biggest fraud in history " . Harvard Square had become a hot bed of leftist intellectualism and protest throughout the 1960s and 1970s . Wayne accepted the invitation as a chance to promote the recently released film " McQ " , and a Fort Devens Army convoy offered to drive him into the square on an armored personnel carrier . The ceremony was held on January 15 , 1974 , at the Harvard Square Theater and the award was officially presented in honor of Wayne ' s " outstanding machismo and penchant for punching people " . Although the convoy was met with protests by members of the American Indian Movement and others , some of whom threw snowballs , Wayne received a standing ovation from the audience when he walked onto the stage . An internal investigation was launched into the Army ' s involvement in the day . Filmography . Between 1926 and 1976 , Wayne starred in over 170 motion pictures , and became one of America ' s biggest box office stars .