Wayne first contact with film making was when he did a summer job as a prop man in a studio. He became close friends with director John Ford, and the latter gave some parts to do in films. His first film was Men Without Women (1930). After numerous forgettable films, "Stagecoach" (1939) gave him a breakthrough and he emerged as a major star.
In 1949, "Sands of Iwo Jima" earned him a Oscar nomination, and twenty years down the road "True Grit" got him his long-desired Oscar. However, he was more remembered for his works like the cavalry trilogy, consisting of films "Fort Apache" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949) and "Rio Grande" (1950).
Wayne had an impressive filmography, with nearly 250 movies, many of big studio productions. He was active on air too, starring in the radio series "The Three Sheets to the Wind".
Wayne tried his hand in directing and producing "Alamo"(1960). He was the male lead too. One of his more famous film was "Green Berets"(1968), which he co-directed and starred in.
Wayne never had a healthy life. He got one of his lung removed in 1963, had a heart surgery in 1978, and in the following year he had his stomach removed. John Wayne succumbed to cancer on 11 June 1979.
