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.\n', '

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.:63–64 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.\n', '

Wayne\'s career began in 1930 with Raoul Walsh\'s widescreen Western epic The Big Trail, and was rejuvenated in 1939 after a steep decline from the lofty pinnacle of The Big Trail during the previous nine years, with John Ford\'s Stagecoach making him an instant mainstream star. He starred 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."\n', '

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