The Duke: A Legend Quiz | Celebrities

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. John Wayne's birth name was Marion John Wayne.

Answer: False

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. According to at least one newspaper in Winterset back then, Wayne weighted 13 pounds when he was born.

2. The first movie that John Wayne was credited for was "Words and Music" (1929). However, he was not credited under the name John Wayne. What name was he credited under?

Answer: Duke Morrison

John Wayne, under the name Duke Morrison, played the role of Pete Donahue in James Tinling's "Words and Music".

Pete and Phil (David Percy) are attracted to the same woman, Mary Brown (Lois Moran). They compete in a song-writing contest at Darnell University hoping to have Mary lead their numbers in a musical revue.

According to the Internet Movie Database, this film has been lost.

3. How did John Wayne get his nickname, Duke?

Answer: It was the name of his dog when he was a child.

John Wayne had an Airedale Terrier named Duke when he was a child. On his way to school, Wayne would always see a fireman, he had befriended. The fireman would remember the dog's name was Duke, but forget little Marion's name, so he started calling John Wayne, Duke, also. The nickname stuck.

4. What was the first film (1930) in which he was credited as John Wayne?

Answer: The Big Trail

"The Big Trail" (1930) was a Western directed by Raoul Walsh. John Wayne played Breck Coleman.

Coleman is a trapper from Missouri, he just returned home and wants to avenge the death of a friend of his. He suspects Red Flack (Tyrone Powers) as one of the killers). Flack suspects Coleman of knowing a little too much. Coleman and Flack lead the rest of the settlers across the Oregon Trail while suspecting each other.

5. It was because of his athletic ability that he got his first uncredited movie part in the 1926 film "Brown of Harvard" while he was still at college. Which of these schools did he attend?

Answer: University of Southern California (USC)

He went to school at USC on an athletic scholarship and studied Pre-Law. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at school and played football.

During that time, he also worked at the Fox Film Corporation. He worked as a swing gang (he moved props), and sometimes they used him as an extra in films. But then in 1926, they used him as an uncredited football player, seeing how athletic he was. This means he was still a background actor, but they gave him more to do, so he was moving up the ranks.

6. John Wayne and John Ford reunited (they did a movie called "Four Sons" in 1928 in which Wayne had an uncredited role) in 1939. John Wayne starred as Ringo Kid in which film?

Answer: Stagecoach

"Stagecoach" reunited John Wayne with John Ford. The pair would go on to make a total of 14 movies together including, "The Quiet Man" (1952) and "The Searchers" (1956).

In "Stagecoach" Wayne plays Ringo Kid, a man whose father and brother were murdered by Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler). Ringo Kid hears about this in prison and breaks out to seek vengeance. Marshall Curley Wilcox, (George Bancroft), hears about Ringo's escape and rides shotgun in the stagecoach ready to catch him and send him back to prison. Due to the Apache being on the warpath, the stagecoach does not go as far as scheduled, however. Ringo Kid's horse is injured so he does not get as far as planned either. Curley and Ringo are friends, but the law is the law, and Curley arrests his friend.

7. What euphemism for Cancer did John Wayne coin in 1964?

Answer: The Big C

In 1964, at the age of 60 John Wayne developed lung cancer for the first time. He coined the term "The Big C", as a way, to make it easier to deal with the diagnosis. The phrase caught on when he announced to the world that he had "The Big C".

Wayne had his left lung removed along with four ribs and thought he was cured. But the cancer came back later.

8. On what TV show (running from 1951-1957) did John Wayne guest star in, in which his footprints were stolen from Grauman's Chinese Theater?

Answer: I Love Lucy

This was a season five episode of "I Love Lucy" called "Lucy and John Wayne". Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Ethel (Vivian Vance) steal Wayne's footprints and when they almost get in trouble Ricky (Desi Arnaz) is able to get John Wayne to come and redo his footprints, but it's Lucy, so of course it doesn't end there.

9. Aside from acting, what other role did he assume (for 33 productions according to the Internet Movie Data Base, although some were uncredited) in the films and TV shows themselves?

Answer: producer

The first film he helped produce was "Angel and the Badman" in 1947, he played the lead role of Quirt Evans, a bad man in love with a woman, named Gail (Penelope Worth) who is a Quaker.

In 1956 John Wayne and producer Robert Fellows founded a company, Batjac Productions, and produced 26 films, two television specials, and the TV series "Hondo." He appeared in many of the films he co-produced such as "Angel and the Badman" and "The Green Berets" (1968). A producer manages the entire production of the movie and also makes sure the film has the money needed to be made.

10. When he guest starred on "Laugh-In", the great John Wayne donned which costume?

Answer: blue Easter Bunny

John Wayne guest starred on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" eleven times. He guest-starred during seasons 1, 2, 5, and 6. In the first episode of the sixth season, he appeared in a big blue bunny suit, showing what a good sport he was.

Source: Author Ilona_Ritter

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor skunkee before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The Duke: A Legend Trivia Quiz

John Wayne was known as The Duke. This quiz is a look at the life and career of this legendary actor. See how much you know about him and his films. There may be spoilers.

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