John Wayne

As a favor to coach 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.[27][28] Wayne later credited his walk, talk, and persona to his acquaintance with Wyatt Earp, who was good friends with Tom Mix.[27] 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).[29]

With Marguerite Churchill in the widescreen The Big Trail (1930); John Wayne's first role as a leading man

While working for Fox Film Corporation in bit roles, Wayne was given on-screen credit as "Duke Morrison" only once, in Words and Music (1929). Director Raoul Walsh saw him moving studio furniture while working as a prop boy and cast him in his first starring role in The Big Trail (1930). For his screen name, Walsh suggested "Anthony Wayne", after Revolutionary War General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Fox Studios chief Winfield Sheehan rejected it as sounding "too Italian". Walsh then suggested "John Wayne". Sheehan agreed, and the name was set. Wayne was not even present for the discussion.[30] His pay was raised to $105 a week.[31]

The Big Trail was to be the first big-budget outdoor spectacle of the sound era, made at a then-staggering cost over $2 million (over $32.8 million equivalent in 2021),[32] using hundreds of extras and wide vistas of the American Southwest, still largely unpopulated at the time. To take advantage of the breathtaking scenery, it was filmed in two versions, a standard 35 mm version and another in the new 70 mm Grandeur film process, using an innovative camera and lenses. Many in the audience who saw it in Grandeur stood and cheered, but only a handful of theaters were equipped to show the film in its widescreen process, and the effort was largely wasted at the time. The film was considered a huge box-office flop at the time, but came to be highly regarded by modern critics.[33]

The Big Trail (1930) lobby card

Lobby card for Girls Demand Excitement (1931)

With Evalyn Knapp and Natalie Kingston in His Private Secretary (1933)

Wayne as "Singin' Sandy" Saunders in Riders of Destiny (1933)

The Star Packer (1934)

With Jean Rogers and Ward Bond in Conflict (1936)

With Marsha Hunt in Born to the West (1937)

With Joan Blondell in Lady for a Night (1942)

After the commercial failure of The Big Trail, Wayne was relegated to small roles in A pictures, including Columbia's The Deceiver (1931), in which he played a corpse. He appeared in the serial The Three Musketeers (1933), an updated version of the Alexandre Dumas novel in which the protagonists were soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in then-contemporary North Africa. He played the lead, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about 80 of these horse operas from 1930 to 1939.[34] In Riders of Destiny (1933), he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, albeit via dubbing.[35] Wayne also appeared in some of the Three Mesquiteers Westerns, whose title was a play on the Dumas classic. He was mentored by stuntmen in riding and other Western skills.[29] Stuntman Yakima Canutt and Wayne developed and perfected stunts and onscreen fisticuffs techniques that are still in use.[36] One of the main innovations with which Wayne is credited in these early Poverty Row Westerns is allowing the good guys to fight as convincingly as the bad guys, by not always making them fight clean. Wayne claimed, "Before I came along, it was standard practice that the hero must always fight clean. The heavy was allowed to hit the hero in the head with a chair or throw a kerosene lamp at him or kick him in the stomach, but the hero could only knock the villain down politely and then wait until he rose. I changed all that. I threw chairs and lamps. I fought hard and I fought dirty. I fought to win."[37]

Wayne's second breakthrough role came with John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). Because of Wayne's B-movie status and track record in low-budget Westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the major studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor—a much bigger star at the time—received top billing. Stagecoach was a huge critical and financial success, and Wayne became a mainstream star. Cast member Louise Platt credited Ford as saying at the time that Wayne would become the biggest star ever because of his appeal as the archetypal "everyman".[38]

America's entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status (classified as 3-A – family deferment). Wayne repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford's military unit.[39] Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him, since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[40] and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne's further deferment.[41]

U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne, in fact, did make an application[42] to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the modern CIA, but his bid was ultimately unsuccessful. Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944,[43] with the USO.[44][45][46] During this trip, he carried out a request from William J. Donovan, head of the OSS, to assess whether General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the South West Pacific Area, or his staff were hindering the work of the OSS.[21]^: 88 Donovan later issued Wayne an OSS Certificate of Service to memorialize Wayne's contribution to the OSS mission.[21]^: 88[47]

By many accounts, his failure to serve in the military later became the most painful part of his life.[39] His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."[48]

Wayne's first color film was Shepherd of the Hills (1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey. The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, the Technicolor epic Reap the Wild Wind (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values.

Like most Hollywood stars of his era, Wayne appeared as a guest on radio programs, such as: The Hedda Hopper Show and The Louella Parsons Show. He made a number of appearances in dramatic roles, mainly recreations for radio of his own film roles, on such programs as Screen Directors Playhouse and Lux Radio Theatre. For six months in 1942, Wayne starred in his own radio adventure series, Three Sheets to the Wind, produced by film director Tay Garnett. In the series, an international spy/detective show, Wayne played Dan O'Brien, a detective who used alcoholism as a mask for his investigatory endeavors. The show was intended by Garnett to be a pilot of sorts for a film version, though the motion picture never came to fruition. No episodes of the series featuring Wayne seem to have survived, though a demonstration episode with Brian Donlevy in the leading role does exist. Wayne, not Donlevy, played the role throughout the series' run on NBC.[49]

Director Robert Rossen offered the starring role in All the King's Men (1949) to Wayne, but he refused, believing the script to be un-American in many ways.[50] Broderick Crawford, who was eventually cast in the role, won the 1949 Oscar for best male actor, ironically beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).

He lost the leading role of Jimmy Ringo in The Gunfighter (1950) to Gregory Peck due to his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures because its chief, Harry Cohn, had mistreated him years before when he was a young contract player. Cohn had bought the project for Wayne, but Wayne's grudge was too deep, and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century Fox, which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted, but for which he refused to bend.[50][51]

Batjac, the production company co-founded by Wayne in 1952, was named after the fictional shipping company Batjak in Wake of the Red Witch (1948), a film based on the novel by Garland Roark. (A spelling error by Wayne's secretary was allowed to stand, accounting for the variation.)[50] Batjac (and its predecessor, Wayne-Fellows Productions) was the arm through which Wayne produced many films for himself and other stars. Its best-known non-Wayne productions were Seven Men From Now (1956), which started the classic collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott, and Gun the Man Down (1956) with contract player James Arness as an outlaw.

One of Wayne's most popular roles was in The High and the Mighty (1954), directed by William Wellman, and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann. His portrayal of a heroic copilot won widespread acclaim. Wayne also portrayed aviators in Flying Tigers (1942), Flying Leathernecks (1951), Island in the Sky (1953), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and Jet Pilot (1957).

He appeared in nearly two dozen of John Ford's films over 20 years, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957). The first movie in which he called someone "Pilgrim", Ford's The Searchers (1956), is often considered to contain Wayne's finest and most complex performance.[52]

Wayne with Indonesian stars, from left to right: Turino Djunaedy, Indriati Iskak, Baby Huwae, Wayne, and Mimi Mariani.

On May 14, 1958, Hal Kanter's I Married a Woman starring George Gobel and Diana Dors had its Los Angeles opening. In it, Wayne had a cameo as himself.[53] On October 2, John Huston's The Barbarian and the Geisha, in which Wayne played the lead and clashed with his director all the way, had its New York opening.[54]

Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo premiered on March 18, 1959. In it, Wayne plays the lead with a supporting cast including Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan and Ward Bond.[55] John Ford's The Horse Soldiers had its world premiere in Shreveport, Louisiana on June 18. Set during the Civil War, Wayne shares the lead with William Holden.[56]

Wayne notoriously portrayed Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956), which was panned by critics.

Wayne and James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

In 1960, Wayne directed and produced The Alamo portraying Davy Crockett, with Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie. Wayne was nominated for an Oscar as the producer in the Best Picture category.[57] That year Wayne also played the lead in Henry Hathaway's North to Alaska also starring Stewart Granger and Ernie Kovacs.[58] In 1961, Wayne shared the lead with Stuart Whitman in Michael Curtiz's The Comancheros.[59]

On May 23, 1962, Wayne starred in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with James Stewart.[60] May 29 marked the premiere of Howard Hawks's Hatari!, shot on location in Africa with Wayne playing the lead capturing wild animals from the beds of trucks; all the scenes with animals in the film are real.[61] On October 4, The Longest Day started its theatrical run, with Wayne memorably acting with an ensemble cast.[62] Although the other top-level actors in the film accepted a token payment of only $10,000 each to play their roles, making the all-star cast feasible for the budget, Wayne was paid a quarter of a million dollars due to an earlier dispute with producer Darryl F. Zanuck. During this time, the cast of the television drama, Combat!, were preparing for the inaugural season. The principal cast (including Vic Morrow) were to go through a week of basic training at the Army's Infantry Training Center at Fort Ord in northern California.[63] Morrow noted that the instructors who worked with the cast at Fort Ord had one common request: not to act like John Wayne. "Poor John," Morrow told a reporter. "I wonder if he knows he's almost a dirty word in the Army."[63]

On February 20, 1963, Wayne acted in a segment of How the West Was Won[64] directed by John Ford. On June 12, Wayne played the lead in his final John Ford film, Donovan's Reef, co-starring Lee Marvin.[65] On November 13, another film starring Wayne premiered, Andrew V. McLaglen's McLintock!, once again opposite Maureen O'Hara.[66]

In 1964, Wayne played the leading role in Henry Hathaway's Circus World with Claudia Cardinale and Rita Hayworth.[67]

On February 15, 1965, Wayne played the brief cameo role of a centurion in George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told.[68] On April 6, he shared the screen with Kirk Douglas and Patricia Neal in Otto Preminger's In Harm's Way.[69] On June 13, he acted in Henry Hathaway's The Sons of Katie Elder with Dean Martin.[70]

In 1966, Wayne appeared in a cameo role for Melville Shavelson's Cast a Giant Shadow starring Kirk Douglas.[71]

On May 24, 1967, Wayne played the lead in Burt Kennedy's The War Wagon with Kirk Douglas as the second lead.[72] His second movie that year, Howard Hawks's El Dorado, a highly successful partial remake of Rio Bravo with Robert Mitchum playing Dean Martin's original role, premiered on June 7.[73]

In 1968, Wayne co-directed with Ray Kellogg The Green Berets.[74] the only major film made during the Vietnam War in support of the war.[25] Wayne wanted to make this movie because at that time Hollywood had little interest in making movies about the Vietnam War.[75] During the filming of The Green Berets, the Degar or Montagnard people of Vietnam's Central Highlands, fierce fighters against communism, bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films.[50] Also that year, Wayne played the lead in Andrew V. McLaglen's Hellfighters, a film about the crews who put out oil rig fires.[76] Katharine Ross played a supporting role.

On June 13, 1969, Henry Hathaway's True Grit premiered. For his role as Rooster Cogburn, Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards.[77] In November of that year another film starring Wayne was released, Andrew V. McLaglen's The Undefeated with Rock Hudson.[78]

Wayne and Richard Boone at Big Jake screening, 1971

On June 24, 1970, Andrew V. McLaglen's Chisum started to play in cinemas. Wayne took the role of the owner of a cattle ranch, who finds out that a businessman is trying to own neighboring land illegally.[79] On September 16, Howard Hawks' Rio Lobo premiered. Wayne played Col. Cord McNally, who confronts Confederate soldiers who stole a shipment of gold at the end of the Civil War.[80] This was another remake of Rio Bravo albeit without a second lead the box office calibre of Dean Martin or Robert Mitchum.

In June 1971, George Sherman's Big Jake made its debut. Wayne played the role of an estranged father who must track down a gang who kidnapped his grandson.[81] The film was a critically acclaimed hit.

In 1972, Wayne starred in Mark Rydell's The Cowboys. Vincent Canby of The New York Times, who did not particularly care for the film, wrote: "Wayne is, of course, marvelously indestructible, and he has become an almost perfect father figure".[82] The same year, he was selected in the last round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons for his past football experience, though the pick was disallowed by league officials as he was 64 years old at the time.[83]

On February 7, 1973, Burt Kennedy's The Train Robbers opened; Wayne appeared alongside Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor and Ben Johnson.[84] On June 27, Andrew V. McLaglen's Cahill U.S. Marshal premiered, with Wayne, George Kennedy and Gary Grimes. It was a box office failure.[85]

In 1974, Wayne took on the role of the eponymous detective in John Sturges's crime drama McQ.[86]

On March 25, 1975, Douglas Hickox's Brannigan premiered. In it, Wayne played a Chicago police lieutenant named Jim Brannigan on the hunt in London for an organized-crime leader.[87] On October 17, Rooster Cogburn started its theatrical run; Wayne reprised his role as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn[88] with strong elements of the plot of The African Queen along with Katharine Hepburn as his leading lady.

In 1976, Wayne starred in Don Siegel's The Shootist, also starring Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard and James Stewart. It was Wayne's final cinematic role, whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer, to which Wayne himself succumbed three years later. It contains numerous plot similarities to The Gunfighter of nearly 30 years before, a role which Wayne had wanted, but turned down.[50] Upon its theatrical release, it grossed $13,406,138 domestically. About $6 million were earned as US theatrical rentals.[89] The film received positive reviews.[90] It was named one of the Ten Best Films of 1976 by the National Board of Review. Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times ranked The Shootist number 10 on his list of the 10 best films of 1976.[91] The film was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA film award, and a Writers Guild of America award.

John Wayne signs the helmet of Pfc. Fonzell Wofford during a visit at Chu Lai, South Vietnam in June 1966

In May 1971, Playboy magazine published an interview with Wayne, in which he expressed his support for the Vietnam War,[120] and made headlines for his opinions about social issues and race relations in the United States:[121]

With a lot of blacks, there's quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. ... I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from the Indians. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.[23]^: 289[122][123]

In the same Playboy interview, Wayne calls the two lead characters in Midnight Cowboy "fags" for the alleged "love of those two men".[124] He also responded to questions about whether social programs were good for the country:

I know all about that. In the late '20s, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself—but not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody could have ice cream and cake for every meal, but as he gets older and gives more thought to his and his fellow man's responsibilities, he finds that it can't work out that way—that some people just won't carry their load ... I believe in welfare—a welfare work program. I don't think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim.[120]

In February 2019, the Playboy interview resurfaced,[125] which resulted in calls for John Wayne Airport to be renamed.[126] John Wayne's son, Ethan, defended him, stating, "It would be an injustice to judge someone based on an interview that's being used out of context."[127] The calls for changing the airport's name back to Orange County Airport were renewed during the George Floyd protests in June 2020.[128]

In October 2019, USC student activists called for removing an exhibit dedicated to Wayne, citing the interview.[129] In July 2020, it was announced that the exhibit would be removed.[130]

Irene Dunne, Wayne, Rosalind Russell and James Stewart at How the West Was Won premiere, 1962

Wayne's enduring status as an iconic American was formally recognized by the U.S. government in the form of the two highest civilian decorations. On his 72nd birthday on May 26, 1979, Wayne was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Hollywood figures and American leaders from across the political spectrum, including Maureen O'Hara, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Mike Frankovich, Katharine Hepburn, General and Mrs. Omar Bradley, Gregory Peck, Robert Stack, James Arness, and Kirk Douglas, testified to Congress in support of the award. Robert Aldrich, president of the Directors Guild of America, made a particularly notable statement:

It is important for you to know that I am a registered Democrat, and to my knowledge, share none of the political views espoused by Duke. However, whether he is ill disposed or healthy, John Wayne is far beyond the normal political sharpshooting in this community. Because of his courage, his dignity, his integrity, and because of his talents as an actor, his strength as a leader, his warmth as a human being throughout his illustrious career, he is entitled to a unique spot in our hearts and minds. In this industry, we often judge people, sometimes unfairly, by asking whether they have paid their dues. John Wayne has paid his dues over and over, and I'm proud to consider him a friend and am very much in favor of my government recognizing in some important fashion the contribution that Mr. Wayne has made.[156]

Wayne was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 9, 1980, by President Jimmy Carter. He had attended Carter's inaugural ball in 1977 "as a member of the loyal opposition", as he described it. In 1998, he was awarded the Naval Heritage Award by the US Navy Memorial Foundation for his support of the Navy and military during his film career. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Wayne 13th among the Greatest Male Screen Legends of classic Hollywood cinema.

In the essay "John Wayne: A Love Song", Joan Didion recalls the first time she saw Wayne in a movie: "it was there, that summer of 1943 while the hot wind blew outside, that I first saw John Wayne. Saw the walk, heard the voice. Heard him tell the girl in a picture called War of the Wildcats that he would build her a house, 'at the bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow.' As it happened I did not grow up to be kind of woman who is the heroine in a Western, and although the men I have known have had many virtues and have taken me to live in many places I have come to love, they have never been John Wayne, and they have never taken me to that bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow. Deep in that part of my heart where the artificial rain forever falls, that is still the line I want to hear... When John Wayne rode through my childhood, and perhaps through yours, he determined forever the shapes of certain of our dreams. It did not seem possible that such a man could fall ill, could carry within him that most inexplicable and ungovernable of diseases."[157]

Various public locations are named in honor of Wayne, including the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, where a 9-foot (2.7 m) bronze equestrian statue of him stands at the entrance;[121] the John Wayne Marina[159] for which Wayne bequeathed the land, near Sequim, Washington; John Wayne Elementary School (P.S. 380) in Brooklyn, New York, which boasts a 38-foot (12 m) mosaic mural commission by New York artist Knox Martin[160] entitled "John Wayne and the American Frontier";[161] and over 100 miles (160 km) named the "John Wayne Pioneer Trail" in Washington's Iron Horse State Park. A larger-than-life-sized bronze statue of Wayne atop a horse was erected at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, at the former offices of the Great Western Savings and Loan Corporation, for which Wayne had made a number of commercials. In the city of Maricopa, Arizona, part of Arizona State Route 347 is named John Wayne Parkway, which runs through the center of town.

In 2006, friends of Wayne and his former Arizona business partner, Louis Johnson, inaugurated the "Louie and the Duke Classics" events benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Foundation[162] and the American Cancer Society.[163][164] The weekend-long event each fall in Casa Grande, Arizona, includes a golf tournament, an auction of John Wayne memorabilia, and a team roping competition.[163]

Several celebrations took place on May 26, 2007, the centennial of Wayne's birth. A celebration at the John Wayne birthplace in Winterset, Iowa, included chuck-wagon suppers, concerts by Michael Martin Murphey and Riders in the Sky, a Wild West Revue in the style of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and a Cowboy Symposium with Wayne's costars, producers, and costumers. Wayne's films ran continuously at the local theater. Ground was broken for the new John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center at a ceremony consisting of over 30 of Wayne's family members, including Melinda Wayne Muñoz, Aissa, Ethan, and Marisa Wayne. Later that year, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Wayne into the California Hall of Fame, located at the California Museum in Sacramento.[165]

In 2016, Republican assemblyman Matthew Harper proposed marking May 26 as "John Wayne Day" in California.[166] This resolution was struck down by a vote of 35 to 20, due to Wayne's views on race and his support of controversial organizations such as the John Birch Society and the House Un-American Activities Committee.[166][167]

With Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, 1955

Wayne rose beyond the typical recognition for a famous actor to that of an enduring icon who symbolized and communicated American values and ideals.[168] Using the power of communication through silent films and radio, Wayne was instrumental in creating a national culture from disparate areas of the US, and made the creation of a national hero possible.[169] By the middle of his career, Wayne had developed a larger-than-life image, and as his career progressed, he selected roles that would not compromise his off-screen image.[170] Wayne embodied the icon of strong American masculinity and rugged individualism in both his films and his life.[171] At a party in 1957, Wayne confronted actor Kirk Douglas about the latter's decision to play the role of Vincent van Gogh in the film Lust for Life, saying: "Christ, Kirk, how can you play a part like that? There's so goddamn few of us left. We got to play strong, tough characters. Not these weak queers."[172] However, actor Marlon Brando was notably critical of Wayne's public persona and of the cultural insensitivity of Wayne's characters, arguing on The Dick Cavett Show that, "We [Americans] like to see ourselves as perhaps John Wayne sees us. That we are a country that stands for freedom, for rightness, for justice," before adding that "it just simply doesn't apply."[173][174]

Wayne's rise to being the quintessential movie war hero began to take shape four years after World War II, when Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) was released. His footprints at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood were laid in concrete that contained sand from Iwo Jima.[175] His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975, he asked to meet John Wayne, the symbolic representation of his country's former enemy.[176] Likewise when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the United States in 1959, he made two requests: to visit Disneyland and meet Wayne.[177]

Wayne in The Big Trail (1930)

In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll, Wayne was listed in 1936 and 1939.[178] He appeared in the similar Box Office poll in 1939 and 1940.[179] While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Wayne also appeared in the Top Ten Money Makers Poll of all films from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1974, taking first place in 1950, 1951, 1954, and 1971. With a total of 25 years on the list, Wayne has more appearances than any other star, surpassing Clint Eastwood (21) who is in second place.[180]

Wayne is the only actor to appear in every edition of the annual Harris Poll of Most Popular Film Actors, and the only actor to appear on the list after his death. Wayne was in the top 10 in this poll for 19 consecutive years, starting in 1994, 15 years after his death.[181]

Mylène Demongeot declared in a 2015 filmed interview: "Gary Cooper was sublime, there I have to say, now he, was part of the stars, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, John Wayne, those great Americans who I've met really were unbelievable guys, there aren't any like them anymore."[182]

The John Wayne Cancer Foundation was founded in 1985 in honor of John Wayne, after his family granted the use of his name (and limited funding) for the continued fight against cancer.[183] The foundation's mission is to "bring courage, strength, and grit to the fight against cancer".[183] The foundation provides funds for innovative programs that improve cancer patient care, including research, education, awareness, and support.[183]

Newport Beach, California-based John Wayne Enterprises, a business operated by Wayne's heirs, sells products, including Kentucky straight Bourbon, bearing the "Duke" brand and using Wayne's picture. When the company tried to trademark the image appearing on one of the bottles, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, filed a notice of opposition. According to court documents, Duke has tried three times since 2005 to stop the company from trademarking the name. The company sought a declaration permitting registration of their trademark. The company's complaint filed in federal court said the university did "not own the word 'Duke' in all contexts for all purposes." The university's official position was not to object provided Wayne's image appeared with the name.[184] On September 30, 2014, Orange County, California federal judge David Carter dismissed the company's suit, deciding the plaintiffs had chosen the wrong jurisdiction.[185]

In 1973, The Harvard Lampoon, a satirical paper run by Harvard University students, invited Wayne to receive The Brass Balls Award, created in his "honor", after calling him "the biggest fraud in history". Wayne accepted the invitation as a chance to promote the recently released film McQ, and a Fort Devens Army convoy offered to drive him into Harvard Square on an armored personnel carrier.[196][197] The ceremony was held on January 15, 1974, at the Harvard Square Theater and the award was officially presented in honor of Wayne's "outstanding machismo and penchant for punching people".[198] Although the convoy was met with protests by members of the American Indian Movement and others, some of whom threw snowballs, Wayne received a standing ovation from the audience when he walked onto the stage.[196] An internal investigation was launched into the Army's involvement in the day.[197]

• 1970, Received the DeMolay Legion of Honor
• 1970, Received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[199][200]
• 1973, Awarded the Gold Medal from the National Football Foundation
• 1974, Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
• 1978, Received the Omar Bradley Spirit of Independence Award [201]
• 1979, Received the Congressional Gold Medal
• 1980, Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Jimmy Carter
• 1986, Inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame

• Roberts, Randy; Olson, James S. (1995). John Wayne: American. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-923837-0.