Fountain Valley News

The "Voice of the Valley" Since 1958

OPINION

Fishing on the Net

By Bonnie Nelson

John Wayne An American Film Hero

ëTomorrow 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."

--Epitaph

John Wayne was born on May 26, 1907, the son of pharmacist Clyde Morrison and his

wife Mary. He is known as ìthe Duke. As a child, John Wayne (born Marion Morrison)

spent time in southern California on the family ranch. Marion and his younger

brother Robert E. Morrison swam in an irrigation ditch and rode a horse to school.

When the ranch failed, the family moved to Glendale, California, where Marion

delivered medicines for his father, sold newspapers and had an Airedale dog named

"Duke" Hence, the nickname ìThe Dukeî (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000078/bio0\)

John had to work at being an actor. He said, "When I started, I knew I was no actor

and I went to work on this Wayne thing." It was as deliberate a projection as you'll

ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a

way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn't looking for trouble but would just as

soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror." John

Wayneís signature walk and look was born that day.

The Duke worked as truck driver, fruit picker, soda jerk and ice hauler. He was an

honor student and a member of an outstanding football team at high school. His

athletic talents brought him a football scholarship at the University of Southern

California, but in his second year he broke an ankle and dropped out. While he was

still at school, he got a job as a scenery mover at Fox Films. John Ford was

attracted to the youth's hulking physique and made him a "fourth-assistant prop

boy." When Mr. Ford was making a submarine film on location in the channel off

Catalina Island, the regular stuntmen refused to go into the water because of rough

seas. Mr. Ford asked the prop boy if he would. He did, immediately, and became part

of the Ford team.

The late President Ronald Reagan knew Wayne, and wrote a biography on him. ìWe

called him DUKE, and he was every bit the giant off screen he was on. Everything

about him-his stature, his style, his convictions-conveyed enduring strength, and no

one who observed his struggle in those final days could doubt.î

(http://www.jwplace.com/biography.html).

Over his 50 year career, John Wayne appeared in over 175 films. John Wayne won a

Best Actor Oscar for True Grit (1969), and was nominated as the producer of Best

Picture for The Alamo, and The Green Berets (1968).

Bonnie Nelson is a freelance writer living in Fountain, CO. If you have any comments or questions, email her at waltbon@comcast.net

CONTACT THE WRITER • WALTBON@COMCAST.nET