May 26th: John Wayne

Courage is being scared to death…and saddling up anyway. So said John Wayne, born 26 May 1907. 10 things you might not know about John Wayne:

1. He got the nickname “Duke” when, as a child, he was often seen around town with his pet dog, named Duke, and a local fireman started referring to him as “Little Duke”. The name stuck, partly because the young lad preferred to be called “Duke” rather than by his real name, “Marion”.
2. His middle name was originally Robert, but was changed to Mitchell when his parents decided they wanted to call their next son Robert.
3. One of his early jobs was working in an ice cream parlour.
4. He wanted to join the Navy, but was turned down and went to university to study law instead. His prowess at football netted him an athletic scholarship, but his football and law careers were cut short by an injury in a body-surfing accident.
5. His love of football no doubt influenced his decision to work at the film studio – he was paid in football tickets!
6. In 1930, he was offered his first starring role in a film called The Big Trail, a pioneering big budget movie to be shot on location outdoors with new widescreen cameras. For that, he needed a screen name. Anthony Wayne, the director suggested, after “Mad Anthony” Wayne, a civil war general. Too Italian sounding, said the studio chief, how about John instead? The newly named future star was not even present at this discussion.
7. He was married 3 times. All three of his wives were of Hispanic descent.
8. He owned a yacht called Wild Goose.
9. 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.
10. His last film was The Shootist, about an ageing gunslinger dying of cancer. In a tragic case of life imitating art, Wayne himself died from cancer three years after this film.