[Valin]

It does somehow seem very appropriate to celebrate his birthday today.

[ErnBatavia]

the family moved to California. There he picked up the nickname Duke

Without a doubt, the most famous graduate from my Alma Mater...Glendale High School.

[man of Yosemite]

Thanks for the great post. It's too bad Hollywood isn't filled with people like these. I think the Duke had more of an influence on my life that any other movie star. He was the quintessential American, and many of us who wore the uniform thought of him when we put it on. I miss him terribly, and don't care for the ilk that took his place.

[Sgt. Stryker]

Thanks for posting this about "The Duke". He was not only a great actor but was even more a great American. His love of country was real, not phony. I've been a John Wayne fan since I can remember, which is going on 45 years, and I'm proud to say my kids are fans also. As a matter of fact last night when I came in the house my 6 and 3 year old daughters were watching Rio Lobo.

In 1976 I was able to vote for the first time. I had to register in a political party and decided if the Republican Party was good enough for "Duke" it was good enough for me. I've never looked back as I learned the Republicans stood more for what I believe than the Dems ever thought to.

I don't know how I could possibly pick a favorite movie as they are all great. Well, there was "The Barbarian and the Geisha" tho. There will never be another like him but as long as we can can still watch and enjoy his movies that will have to be enough.

My God rest his soul.

Semper Fi

[Fudd]

My favorite John Wayne story involves the launching of a Navy ship from the Bath Iron Works...

The bottle is broken, the restraints are released, and the ship is supposed to slide down the greased ways into the river. Sometimes it takes a minute for motion to start, and the speakers are prepared to talk until the boat moves. This day, two minutes pass, then three, then four, then five.

The audience is getting restless, when someone calls out to let the Duke, one of the guests there that day, help launch the ship. He swaggers up to the stage, and acts as if to lean into the bow of the ship...

... and it starts sliding into the water. This really happened - I think the name of the book was The Bath Iron Works, though I may be wrong.

[GreenHornet]

". "That little clique back there in the East has taken great personal satisfaction reviewing my politics instead of my pictures," he often said. "But one day those doctrinaire liberals will wake up to find the pendulum has swung the other way."

That day is here. God bless the Duke!

[rpage3]

Ahem, I hate to be the fly in the ointment here but for an entirely different view of the Duke (and to be fair, an assortment of other celebs, events and institutions), I'd refer folks to a book of limericks called "Double Take - Politically Incorrect Limericks" by somebody named R. Jaggero; this book has, IMO, a great limerick about Mr. Wayne. Furthermore, it predicted that Bill Maher will return to cable tv...their site is here:

http://www.doubletakebook.com

[wardaddy]

Happy Birthday Duke!

[mikeb704]

Lots of great movies to remember him by, including Donovan's Reef, a comedy with Lee Marvin.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[TaMoDee]

About 10 years I was going across country on I-80 through Iowa and took the time to visit Duke's birth place in Winterset. The home was a very small white wood structure with a simple sign out in front "Birth Place of John Wayne".

(Winterset is about 19 miles south of I-80 on Hwy 169. Use I-80 Exit 110.)

[Redleg Duke]

I have seen the sneering assholes denigrating this fine man for not serving in World War II. Well, the following part of this article should place these assholes where they belong...in the dustbin of history:

"When war broke out, John Wayne tried to enlist but was rejected because of an old football injury to his shoulder, his age (34), and his status as a married father of four. He flew to Washington to plead that he be allowed to join the Navy but was turned down. So he poured himself into the war effort by making inspirational war films - among them The Fighting Seabees, Back to Bataan and They Were Expendable. To those back home and others around the world he became a symbol of the determined American fighting man."

Mr. Wayne will always be my personal hero. He always showed me, on the screen and in real life, although I never had the honor to meet him personally, how an AMERICAN MAN should live his life.

THANKS, DUKE!

[No Dems 2004]

Don't get too many stars in your eyes about John Wayne - he was a rock-ribbed Republican, and a strong supporter of Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. However, Reagan and Wayne apparently broke their friendship when Wayne pushed like crazy for giving back control of the Panama Canal to Panama, actively helping Jimmy Carter to do this. Wayne was also a very immoral man at the personal level.

According to actors who knew him well, Wayne was an alcoholic and a womaniser, with a specific lust for Hispanic (Mexican) women. As is often the case in Hollywood, he was quite an adulterer - and he also went through quite a few marriages. I also once knew a guy who worked on the set of a John Wayne movie and he was the same way.

Come on folks, we've got better people to admire.

[united1000]

Go Here to hear John Wayne in "America, Why I Love Her"

 

 

[Frapster]

Some of my greatest childhood memories involve sitting with my entire family watching John Wayne movies.

[OPS4]

To Duke and all the men and women who have supported This Great Nation, We will carry the Torch you have passed us, and may God keep you all in his Eternal Light!

Ops4 God BLess America!

[duckman]

'The turning point had been the film True Grit.'

I always liked John Wayne movies. However I feel that Dustin Hoffman should have received the award for Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. IMHO John Wayne got that Oscar due to Hollywood politics and his longitivity in the business.

[andysandmikesmom]

My husband will watch any movie with John Wayne....he just loves John Wayne movies...among his favorites are the war movies, as the hubby has served for many many years in the army, as did his dad and his uncles...so seeing John Wayne in any war movie, just brings great pleasure to the hubby...

Being that he is also 1/2 Irish, no St Pats. day is complete in our house, unless we are drinking Guiness and watching 'The Quiet Man'...

Here is a little bit of trivia about John Wayne....

We live up in Western Washington...on one of our camping trips up to the Peninsula of Washington State, we noticed a sign directing traffic to the 'John Wayne Marina'....well, at first we said, Naw, that would not have anything to do with the actor John Wayne....but we just had to check it out...

So we got to the marina, a lovely place where boats moor, and there is also a restaurant...and an area, where one can sit at tables and eat a picnic meal, and just watch the beautiful scenery, and the boats, coming and going...

But, did this marina, have anything to do with John Wayne, the actor...so the hubby went into the clubhouse/restaurant, and made enquiries...

Sure enough, this Marina was named in honor of John Wayne, the actor, because in 1975 he had been up this way, on his boat, named I think, the 'Wild Goose', and he was so impressed with the beauty of the area, and he thought that someone should build a marina in that area...

And eventually Wayne and his family gave a large amount of money, to whoever it needed to be given to, to start building the marina, and that is exactly what happened....

Today the Marina sits between Port Townsend, and Port Angeles, probably around the town of Sequim, all three towns up on the Peninsula of Washington State...

While the hubby was in the marina, he also was able to purchase some extra nice glossy photos of the Duke, and that just made his day...

Every time we go up that way, we always go to the John Wayne Marina, sit down at the concrete picnic tables, watch the boats coming and going, and hoist a beer, and give a toast to John Wayne...

[waterstraat]

His boyhood home is in a little town in iowa, it is open to the public, not far from the expressway, stop and see it on your next trip out east.

[Mudbug]

What a wonderful article! Not only a tribute to the Duke but also a demonstration of the qualities RR valued enough to emphacize in tribute. I hadn't read this before. Thanks for the post.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Beautiful.

I love the Duke.