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Thursday, October 1, 2009

John Wayne

Recently I was on holidays in California. Along the highway to St Diego there were many overhead directional signboards. One of them showed the way to John Wayne Airport. I was told that the airport was originally known as Orange County Airport. It was renamed in 1979 as John Wayne Airport in remembrance of him. To commemorate the renaming of the airport, a nine-foot bronze statue of John Wayne aka the Duke was installed at the airport on November 4 1982.


Signboard showing the direction to John Wayne Airport


John Wayne Airport Diagram


John Wayne Bronze Statue

In US I saw many black and white classic movies in the tv including those acted by John Wayne. He was an actor who wore many hats. He acted as a Yangkee soldier, a sherrif, a fighter pilot, a marine corps, a bookie, French Foreign Legion and many others. Altogether he appeared in more than 150 movies.

I went shopping at Walmart and was lucky to find a classic collection of John Wayne dvd. In the pack was 4 dvd discs with a total of 25 classic movies. Included was a bonus of 80 minutes showing John Wayne movie trailers spanning his colourful career. The pack of 4 discs cost me US$5.00 only. I tried to get for friends but it was the only one left.


A Town Sherrif


A Bookie


French Foreign Legion

A Yangkee soldier

US Navy Officer


US Army General


A Fighter Pilot

2 comments:

Unk Dicko said...

I am a big fan of " Duke". As you've mentioned he was very versatile in playing many different roles. However for me,I will remember him most for his Good guy role in countless western movies. Of the many western movies I've seen, one of my favourites is the ALAMO where John Wayne played Davy Crockett. He co-starred with another great actor Richard Widmark.
Btw, even my lovable cocker spaniel is named Duke!
Reason? The way he walks is similar to Sheriff "Duke"...an exagerrated kind of hip-swing.

Marmoot said...

Yep, he was versatile all right, as long as the role requires him to act as John Wayne ! Check out his hilarious role as Genghis Khan in The Conquerer. The movie probabily killed him later as it was filmed in the nuclear wastelands of Utah.