Duke page 1

Duke page 1 by ric gustafson



Marion Mitchell Morrison started his life in Winterset Iowa. At the age of four, his family was already calling him ' Duke' after the family dog. He had a younger brother Robert and a feisty mother named Molly. His father Clyde struggled with different jobs and they would divorce in 1930. Because of the divorce, the family was dirt poor eating only saltine crackers and peanut butter for lunch.
In high school, Duke was president of his senior class, played varsity football and was a sportswriter for the school newspaper. He entered USC and was active but did not graduate.
His father Clyde remarried and Duke maintained a close relationship with his stepmother. Duke started hanging around the sets of director John Ford and eventually became an extra on the set of ' Hangman's House'. Duke was used as an extra, stuntman and in tiny speaking roles in seven pictures in 1929 and 1930.
In 1930, director Raoul Walsh gave Duke his first starring role in a picture called ' The Big Trail'. Winfield Sheehan who ran Fox Studios gave Duke the new name of John Wayne. The picture started Wayne's career but was a dud at the box office.
Fox Studio gave Wayne a seventy five dollar a week contract and he joined the ranks of other B movie hopefuls.


research help: ' John Wayne, The Genuine Article' by Michael Goldman


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric