As Marion Michael Morrison Wayne held several behind-the-scenes jobs at Fox before moving in front of the cameras in the late 1920s. Director John Ford, who had befriended "Duke" Wayne, recommended him for the lead in Raoul Walsh's 1930 western epic, The Big Trail. Unfortunately he didn't become a star and Wayne spent the rest of the decade in a series of B-movies at poverty row studios.
 
Ford gave him a career break in 1939 by casting him as the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach and the part made Wayne into one of the top box-office stars.

But it was the movies he made at the end of the 1940s that established him as an actor of merit. Howard Hawks emphasized the darker side of Wayne's screen persona in Red River (1948) in which he played a Captain Bligh like character,the inflexible Tom Dunson, who clashes with Montgomery Clift. In She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) in another excellent performance he played the retiring Nathan Brittles : a particularly moving portrait of a man and an era reaching a turning point.


For most of the 1950s and 60s Wayne ambled through a number of mediocre pictures,standard westerns and action movies made watchable, and financially successful, because of his participation.

When he had a carefully tailored part and a director at the top of his form, Wayne always rose to the occasion, his greatest films during this period were The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance(1962) for John Ford and Rio Bravo (1959) for Howard Hawks.
 
He won the 1969 Best Actor Oscar for True Grit,a watchable film though not a great one. In his last film The Shootist (1976) he played a gunman dying of cancer, an echo of his real life battles with the disease in his last years. He brought a sincerity to this solemn film, a hallmark of all his performances over almost 50 years onscreen. His acting style might not have been flashy but was perfect for the demands of the medium and his best performances have a depth you don't often associate with him.

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Wayne thirteenth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time. A Harris Poll released in 2007 placed Wayne third among America's favorite film stars, the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared on the poll every year.

Filmography

1929    SALUTE    performer
1929    WORDS AND MUSIC    performer
1930    THE BIG TRAIL    performer
1930    MEN ARE LIKE THAT    performer
1930    MEN WITHOUT WOMEN    performer
1931    ARIZONA    performer
1931    GIRLS DEMAND EXCITEMENT    performer
1931    MAKER OF MEN    performer
1931    THE RANGE FEUD    performer
1931    THREE GIRLS LOST    performer
1932    THE BIG STAMPEDE    performer
1932    HAUNTED GOLD    performer
1932    THE HURRICANE EXPRESS    performer
1932    LADY AND GENT    performer
1932    RIDE HIM COWBOY    performer
1932    THE SHADOW OF THE EAGLE    performer
1932    TEXAS CYCLONE    performer
1932    TWO FISTED LAW    performer
1933    BABY FACE    performer
1933    HIS PRIVATE SECRETARY    performer
1933    THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN    performer
1933    THE MAN FROM MONTEREY    performer
1933    RIDERS OF DESTINY    performer
1933    SAGEBRUSH TRAIL    performer
1933    SOMEWHERE IN SONORA    performer
1933    THE TELEGRAPH TRAIL    performer
1934    'NEATH THE ARIZONA SKIES    performer
1934    BLUE STEEL    performer
1934    THE LUCKY TEXAN    performer
1934    THE MAN FROM UTAH    performer
1934    RANDY RIDES ALONE    performer
1934    THE STAR PACKER    performer
1934    THE TRAIL BEYOND    performer
1934    WEST OF THE DIVIDE    performer
1935    THE DAWN RIDER    performer
1935    THE DESERT TRAIL    performer
1935    THE LAWLESS FRONTIER    performer
1935    LAWLESS RANGE    performer
1935    THE NEW FRONTIER    performer
1935    PARADISE CANYON    performer
1935    RAINBOW VALLEY    performer
1935    TEXAS TERROR    performer
1935    THE THREE MUSKETEERS    performer
1935    WESTWARD HO    performer
1936    CONFLICT    performer
1936    KING OF THE PECOS    performer
1936    THE LAWLESS NINETIES    performer
1936    THE LONELY TRAIL    performer
1936    THE OREGON TRAIL    performer
1936    SEA SPOILERS    performer
1936    WINDS OF THE WASTELAND    performer
1937    ADVENTURE'S END    performer
1937    CALIFORNIA STRAIGHT AHEAD    performer
1937    I COVER THE WAR    performer
1937    IDOL OF THE CROWDS    performer
1938    BORN TO THE WEST    performer
1938    OVERLAND STAGE RAIDERS    performer
1938    PALS OF THE SADDLE    performer
1938    RED RIVER RANGE    performer
1938    SANTA FE STAMPEDE    performer
1939    ALLEGHENY UPRISING    performer
1939    THE NEW FRONTIER    performer
1939    THE NIGHT RIDERS    performer
1939    STAGECOACH    performer
1939    THREE TEXAS STEERS    performer
1939    WYOMING OUTLAW    performer
1940    DARK COMMAND    performer
1940    THE LONG VOYAGE HOME    performer
1940    SEVEN SINNERS    performer
1940    THREE FACES WEST    performer
1941    LADY FROM LOUISIANA    performer
1941    SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS    performer
1942    FLYING TIGERS    performer
1942    IN OLD CALIFORNIA    performer
1942    LADY FOR A NIGHT    performer
1942    PITTSBURGH    performer
1942    REAP THE WILD WIND    performer
1942    REUNION IN FRANCE    performer
1942    THE SPOILERS    performer
1943    A LADY TAKES A CHANCE    performer
1943    WAR OF THE WILDCATS/ IN OLD OKLAHOMA    performer
1944    THE FIGHTING SEABEES    performer
1944    TALL IN THE SADDLE    performer
1945    BACK TO BATAAN    performer
1945    DAKOTA    performer
1945    FLAME OF BARBARY COAST    performer
1945    THEY WERE EXPENDABLE    performer
1946    WITHOUT RESERVATIONS    performer
1947    ANGEL AND THE BADMAN    performer, producer
1947    TYCOON    performer
1948    3 GODFATHERS    performer
1948    FORT APACHE    performer
1948    RED RIVER    performer
1948    WAKE OF THE RED WITCH    performer
1949    THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN    performer, producer
1949    SANDS OF IWO JIMA    performer
1949    SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON    performer
1950    RIO GRANDE    performer
1951    BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY    producer
1951    FLYING LEATHERNECKS    performer
1951    OPERATION PACIFIC    performer
1952    BIG JIM MCLAIN    performer
1952    THE QUIET MAN    performer
1953    HONDO    performer
1953    ISLAND IN THE SKY    performer
1953    TROUBLE ALONG THE WAY    performer
1954    THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY    performer
1955    BLOOD ALLEY    performer
1955    THE SEA CHASE    performer
1956    THE CONQUEROR    performer
1956    THE SEARCHERS    performer
1957    JET PILOT    performer
1957    LEGEND OF THE LOST/ TIMBUCTU    performer
1957    THE WINGS OF EAGLES    performer
1958    THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA    performer
1958    CHINA DOLL    executive producer
1958    I MARRIED A WOMAN    performer
1959    THE HORSE SOLDIERS    performer
1959    RIO BRAVO    performer
1960    THE ALAMO    performer, director, producer
1960    NORTH TO ALASKA    performer
1961    THE COMANCHEROS    performer
1962    HATARI!    performer
1962    HOW THE WEST WAS WON    performer
1962    THE LONGEST DAY    performer
1962    THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE    performer
1963    DONOVAN'S REEF    performer
1963    MCLINTOCK!    performer
1964    CIRCUS WORLD    performer
1965    THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD    performer
1965    IN HARM'S WAY    performer
1965    THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER    performer
1966    CAST A GIANT SHADOW    performer
1967    EL DORADO    performer
1967    THE WAR WAGON    performer
1968    THE GREEN BERETS    performer, co-director
1969    TRUE GRIT    performer
1969    THE UNDEFEATED    performer
1970    CHISUM    performer
1970    RIO LOBO    performer
1971    BIG JAKE    performer
1971    DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD    performer
1972    THE COWBOYS    performer
1973    CAHILL—UNITED STATES MARSHAL    performer
1973    THE TRAIN ROBBERS    performer
1974    MCQ    performer
1975    BRANNIGAN    performer
1975    ROOSTER COGBURN    performer
1976    THE SHOOTIST    performer