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John Wayne

Timeline

Born Marion Robert Morrison to Clyde and Molly in Winterset, Iowa. [MORE]

Wayne’s family move to Earlham where his father runs the local drugstore. [MORE]

Wayne’s younger brother Robert is born and Wayne’s parents change his middle name from Robert to Mitchell. [MORE]

– Wayne’s father gives up the drugstore in Earlham and moves to Lancaster, California to begin working on the land. [MORE]

Sep –

– Wayne and his mother and brother Robert join their father in Lancaster, California. [MORE]   

Wayne is enrolled at Lancaster Grammar School. [MORE] [ADD]

– Wayne and his family move to Glendale, California. [MORE]

– Is given his lifelong nickname of Duke by a local fireman because his Airedale Terrier dog, Duke, was constantly by his side. [MORE] [ADD]

– Works in an ice cream shop for a man who shoes horses for the Hollywood studios. [MORE] [ADD]

– Member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth organisation associated with the Freemasons (joined when he came of age). [MORE] [ADD]

– Attends Wilson Middle School in Glendale. [MORE] [ADD]

– Plays on the Glendale High School championship winning football team. [MORE] [ADD]

– Attends the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law.   Plays on the USC football team, but loses his scholarship. Member of the Trojan Knights and the Sigma Chi fraternity. [MORE] [ADD]

– Begins a relationship with Josephine Saenz, the daughter of a Panamanian consul. [MORE] [ADD]

– Parents divorce. [MORE] [ADD]

– Fails to gain entry into the U.S. Naval Academy. [MORE] [ADD]

– Tom Mix gets Wayne a job in the prop dept of local film studio in return for football tickets and begins getting bit parts. [MORE] [ADD]

– Appears with football team-mates in Brown of Harvard. [MORE] [ADD]

– Earns his first credit as ‘Guard’ in King Vidor’s Bardelys the Magnificent. [MORE] [ADD]

– Has a bit part as a football player in Drop Kick. [MORE] [ADD]

– Loses his scholarship at USC when an injury received bodysurfing puts an end to his football career. [MORE] [ADD]

– Works for John Ford on the set of Mother Machree. [MORE] [ADD]

– Appears uncredited in Salute, a film produced by John Ford. [MORE] [ADD]

– Wins his first major role in The Big Trail. [MORE] [ADD]

– Appears as one of the featured football players in Columbia’s Maker of Men, filmed in 1930 (released ’31). [MORE] [ADD]

– Director Raoul Walsh’s suggestion that Morrison’s name be changed to Anthony Wayne is rejected as too Italian by Fox chief Winfield Sheehan.  Walsh then suggests John Wayne. [MORE] [ADD]

Marries Josephine Saenz. [MORE] [ADD]

– Josephine gives birth to their first son, Michael. [MORE] [ADD]

– Josephine gives birth to Toni, the Waynes second child. [MORE] [ADD]

– Becomes a father for the third time when Josephine gives birth to Patrick. [MORE] [ADD]

– After almost a decade in low-budget oaters and serials, Wayne becomes a star following his appearance in Ford’s Stagecoach. [MORE] [ADD]

– Josephine gives birth to Melinda. [MORE] [ADD]

– Plays opposite Marlene Dietrich in Seven Sinners.   They become close friends, sparking rumours of an affair. [MORE] [ADD]

– Stars in Shepherd of the Hills, his first colour film. [MORE] [ADD]

– Plays a part in the creation of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. [MORE] [ADD]

– Wayne and his wife Josephine file for divorce. [MORE] [ADD]

– Elected president of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. [MORE] [ADD]

– Serves as an independent producer with Robert Fellows on Angel and the Badman. [MORE] [ADD]

– Turns down the lead role in Robert Rossen’s All the King’s Men, believing the script to be un-American. [MORE] [ADD]

– Refuses to appear in Columbia’s The Gunfighter because of studio chief Harry Cohn’s mistreatment of him as a young contract player. [MORE] [ADD]

– Makes Big Jim McLain to demonstrate his support for the anti-communist cause. [MORE] [ADD]

– Forms Wayne/Fellows Productions with producer Robert Fellows. [MORE] [ADD]

– Forms his Batjac Production Company after his partnership with Robert Fellows comes to an end. [MORE] [ADD]

Marries Pilar Palette Weldy, the daughter of a Peruvian senator. [MORE] [ADD]

– Stars in The Searchers. [MORE] [ADD]

– Shoots The Conqueror in the Utah desert.   Wayne and a large number of the film’s cast and crew subsequently die of cancer. [MORE] [ADD]

– Pilar gives birth to the couple's first child, Aissa. [MORE] [ADD]

– Russian premier Nikita Khruschev advises Wayne that Joseph Stalin had sanctioned the actor’s murder for his anti-communist stance shortly before his own death. [MORE] [ADD]

– Pilar gives birth to John Ethan. [MORE] [ADD]

– Diagnosed with lung cancer.   Surgery removes his left lung and four ribs. [MORE] [ADD]

– Pilar gives birth to daughter Marisa. [MORE] [ADD]

– Declines a request from Texas Republican backers to run for national office. [MORE] [ADD]

– Receives an Honorary Degree, a Doctor of Fine Arts, from the University of Southern California. [MORE] [ADD]

– Addresses the Republican National Convention in support of presidential candidate Richard Nixon. [MORE] [ADD]

– Wins a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. [MORE] [ADD]

– Is declared free of cancer. [MORE] [ADD]

Declares his belief in white supremacy in an interview with Playboy magazine. [MORE] [ADD]

– On a state visit to the United States, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito asks to meet Wayne. [MORE] [ADD]

– Claims in a Playboy interview to have been instrumental in having Carl Foreman blacklisted from Hollywood following the release of High Noon (1952). [MORE] [ADD]

– Undergoes open-heart surgery. [MORE] [ADD]

Admitted to hospital for gall bladder surgery, during which it is discovered he is suffering from stomach cancer and that his stomach will have to be removed. [MORE] [ADD]

The Congressional Gold Medal is presented to Wayne’s family. [MORE] [ADD]

Inducted into the California Hall of Fame at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver. [MORE] [ADD]

Aissa Wayne, the daughter of screen legend John Wayne, files legal papers at L.A. County Superior Court to ask it to determine a fair price for her share of her father’s estate, which she wishes to sell. [MORE]