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John Wayne: True Grit
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Raised the son of a pharmacist who eventually settled the family in Glendale, Calif., Wayne attended USC on a football scholarship in 1925. After the famous cowboy actor Tom Mix landed him a summer job as a prop man in exchange for football tickets, John became close friends with director John Ford who started casting him in bit parts. As the roles increased in size, "John Wayne" was born, though he'd work in over 70 films before finding stardom in Stagecoach (1939). The epitome of rugged American masculinity, "Duke" received the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). In a film career spanning 250 films, Wayne is perhaps best remembered for his roles in The Green Berets (1968), The Searchers (1956), Rio Grande (1950), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Red River (1948).
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In 1969, Mr. Wayne was almost universally hailed when he starred in "True Grit," directed by Henry Hathaway. Mr. Wayne played a disreputable, one-eyed, drunken, fat old man who was a Federal Marshal called Rooster Cogburn. In 1970, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him an Oscar for his portrayal.
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Since one of the costars of True Grit was Glen Campbell, it was only natural that John Wayne turned up on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on February 19, 1969. Duke pulled out all the stops in the summer and fall of 1969 to push True Grit and bolster his Academy Award chances.
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