I never knew this about John Wayne = very interesting, an American hero

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne

I looked up his history because local legend said he came from my little rural community = WRONG!!!

Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed "The Duke", was an American actor and filmmaker. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades.

Born in Winterset, Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California. He was president of Glendale High class of 1925. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to the University of Southern California as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he appeared mostly in small bit parts. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930), which led to leading roles in numerous B movies throughout the 1930s, most of them in the Western genre.

Wayne's career took off in 1939, with John Ford's Stagecoach making him an instant star. He went on to star in 142 motion pictures altogether, including the dozens with his name above the title produced before 1939. Biographer Ronald Davis said, "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth.

Wayne's other well-known Western roles include a cattleman driving his herd north on the Chisholm Trail in Red River (1948), a Civil War veteran whose young niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches in The Searchers (1956), a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer (James Stewart) for a woman's hand in marriage in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and a cantankerous one-eyed marshal in True Grit (1969). He is also remembered for his roles in The Quiet Man (1952), Rio Bravo (1959) with Dean Martin, and The Longest Day (1962). In his final screen performance, he starred as an aging gunfighter battling cancer in The Shootist (1976). He appeared with many important Hollywood stars of his era, and his last public appearance was at the Academy Awards ceremony on April 9, 1979

Early life
The house in Winterset, Iowa, where Wayne was born in 1907

Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907 at 224 South Second Street in Winterset, Iowa. The local paper, Winterset Madisonian, reported on page 4 of the edition of May 30, 1907 that Wayne weighed 13 lbs. (around 6 kg.) at birth. 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 Scottish, Irish, Scots-Irish, and English. He was raised Presbyterian.

Wayne's family moved to Palmdale, California, and then in 1916 to Glendale, California, where his father worked as a pharmacist. He attended Glendale Union High School where he performed well in both sport and academics. Wayne was part of his high school's football team and its debating team. He was also the president of the Latin Society and contributed to the school's newspaper sports column.

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 nickname stuck. Wayne attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. As a teen, he 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 of the Freemasons. He played football for the 1924 league champion Glendale High School team.

Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but he was not accepted. Instead, he 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 that he was too terrified of Jones' 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.

As a favor to USC football coach Howard Jones, who had given silent western film star, Tom Mix, tickets to USC games, director John Ford and Mix hired Wayne as a prop boy and extra. Wayne later credited his walk, talk, and persona to his acquaintance with Wyatt Earp, who was good friends with Tom Mix. Wayne soon moved to bit parts, establishing a longtime friendship with the director who provided most of those roles, John Ford. Early in this period, he had a minor, uncredited role as a guard in the 1926 film Bardelys the Magnificent. Wayne also 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)

There's a whole lot more on the Wikipedia page than this if anyone is interested....
 

He never joined the Balboa Bay Club even though they wanted is name on a mug on the wall real bad, he didn't like their politics. Several times the wooden indian at the Balboa Pavilion disappeared. Usually a few days later the Coast Guard or O.C. Harbor Patrol would find it floating in the channel half way to Catalina. They even drilled holes through the decking and lag bolted it down to no avail. Guess who? He thought Buddy Epson was a complete azz & his house was ugly. It was! His cook (Bobby) on the boat was from Ecuador his brother Cesar worked at Pacific Fish & Sea Food, if Delaneys didn't have what he wanted he'd call Pacific Fish to have it delivered. Betcha they didn't have that on Wickipedia!
 

John Wayne is one symbol of American culture which is vanishing before our eyes.
I am not a great fan of all his films-more of an admirer. He was a giant of a man. And there are less and less such men.
I worked with a left coast guy once who claimed to have worked on television series sets. He was a nice guy, and believable as about anyone else. He had the same opinion of Buddy Epson as well as virtually all those folks.
 

John Wayne was really good with kids too! One of my buddies & I were in a place called Builders Emporium. My buddy comes shooting down the aisle all excited telling me John Wayne just saw me swiping pocket knives I think!!! Long story short after chasing him all over the store we ended up behind him at the register. Couldn't figure out fi it was him till he said "Yup". He had three carts of Christmas decorations & asked if we could help him! HELL YES WE COULD!!! After loading his caddy he asked if we were going back to school. He all of a sudden asks my buddy "How many'd ya get? My buddy shows him & he asked if he could have this one? We were pulling up in front of school & I'm thinking how cool! wait until everyone sees us being dropped off by John Wayne!! Well, as fate would have it, there wasn't a single soul outside not one! Later when we were telling the other kids we got the yeah you did response. Thought about it years later & thought Americas hero mr good guy could have turned us in at the store, turned us in for ditching school but understood kids. He probably taught us more that day than we could've learned in years. BTW Builders Emporium was the great grand daddy of Home Depot & Lowes type stores.

Buddy Epsons wife ran the theatre program at O.C.C. (Orange Coast College) for years. Buddy Epson would show up and be all Jed Clampett nice etc. But if you were leaning on his wall & broke his flowers words would come out his mouth that a sailor probably never even heard. If you're an Epson fan, do some research on when he almost drowned his son. Read the "official" story, it ain't even close.
 

Great post learned a lot about one of my favorite actors
 

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