Born As: Marion Michael Morrison Nationality: US - United States of America Date of Birth: May 26, 1907 Place of Birth: Winterset, Iowa Date of Death: June 11, 1979 Place of Death: Los Angeles, California
Despite his association with being solely Irish, he was equal parts Scottish, Irish and English.
Increasingly so by the early 60s, used to wear 3 or 4 inch lifts in his shoes, a practice that mystified friends like Bobby Darin and Robert Mitchum because the Duke stood over 6' 4". It was possibly due to his increasing weight, health problems, and age, and that he wasn't able to loom as tall without lifts.
Although he complained that High Noon (1952) was "un-American", when he picked up Gary Cooper's Oscar on his behalf, he also complained that he wasn't offered the part himself.
Was a member of the first class to be inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame on November 13th, 1986.
Pictured on a 37ΒΆ USA commemorative stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 9 September 2004. The first-day ceremonies were held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
He was a Master Mason. In other words, he was a good man who became a member of the Masonic Fraternity.
Received the DeMolay Legion of Honor in 1970.
Wayne was initiated into DeMolay in 1924 at the Glendale Chapter in Glendale California.
Just on his sheer popularity and his prominent political activism, the Republican party in 1968 supposedly asked him to run for President of the USA, even though he had no previous political experience. He turned them down because he did not believe America would take a movie star running for the President seriously. He did support Ronald Reagan's run for governor of California, though.
He was voted the 5th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
