John Wayne - Howdy Pilgrims Trivia Quiz

Answer: He was named after his dog

As a child trotting about everywhere with his daily life, Wayne was invariably faithfully followed by his very large Airedale Terrier, Duke. His route to school always took him past the local fire station and one of the firemen there began calling him "Little Duke" as a result.

The name stuck and as he grew older, and with a given birth name of Marion, Wayne most definitely preferred to be called "Duke" instead. John Wayne was an Academy Award winning actor, producer and director, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1969 movie "True Grit" in which he played US Marshall Rooster Cogburn.

Answer: Body surfing in huge waves

While he was playing football at Glendale High School, Wayne had applied to join the UN Naval Academy, but was not accepted. This led him to university on a football scholarship instead. There he played under the direction of the legendary coach Howard Jones and was so terrified of the man he was afraid to tell him he'd been out body surfing at the Wedge, a stretch of water at Newport Beach notorious for huge crashing waves.

The injury and subsequent loss of his scholarship led him into the world of movies instead.

Answer: Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp was born in 1848 and died in 1929. After his long career as gunfighter, lawman, saloon and gambling establishments owner, real estate investor, prize fight and horse show judge was over, Earp eventually moved to Hollywood where he became friendly with many established and struggling actors. Wayne, who met him there, later told actor Hugh O'Brian who portrayed Earp in the 1955-61 television series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", that he based his own screen persona on this remarkable historical figure.

Answer: True

True it is. He acted in the 1929 film, "Words and Music" in a bit role and appeared in the credits as Duke Morrison. During this period of his life he was earning the princely sum of $75 a week for the small parts in which he was being cast. His first starring role was in the 1930 film, "The Big Trail" in which he played a trapper seeking to avenge the death of a fellow trapper friend.

This was when his name change occurred, going from Anthony Wayne which was first suggested, but then rejected for sounding too Italian (how comical is that!) to that of the John Wayne we know and love. Wayne wasn't even present at the meeting during which he was re-christened, but didn't care that much at all, because his salary had been bumped up to the impressive figure of $105 a week. To his friends and family, however, he would always remain "Duke."

Answer: Picture theatres weren't equipped to show that sized film

The wide screen version was known as Grandeur and it used new cameras and techniques and the groundbreaking 70mm wide screen process. However most picture theatres of the time were only equipped to show 35mm films. Though the film was also shot in the smaller size, by the time this was shown, it was a little too late.

Another contributing factor perhaps was that, because of the current depression, people were simply being careful with their money. The few audiences who did get to see the film shot with the new process however were more than impressed and many were known to leap to their feet during the film's more exciting scenes, cheering wildly.

Answer: A corpse

This was in the 1931 movie "The Deceiver". Poor John. He also got to play characters such as that of a soldier in the French Foreign Legion in the 1933 serial form of "The Three Musketeers", and, during this time, appeared in other short low budget B grade movies referred to in the trade as "Poverty Row" westerns.

He also trained under Hollywood stuntmen, and with renowned stuntman, Yakima Canutt, developed several stunts to such a standard that they are still used in movies scenes today.

Answer: A singing cowboy

In the 1933 film "Riders of Destiny" our hero probably reached his lowest ebb - well that is, of course, if you eliminate his role as a corpse. Wayne was cast as a singing cowboy. His voice however wasn't even his own in this musical endeavour, but was dubbed instead.

It could only go up from there for this man who would go on to become listed in 1999 by the American Film Industry as one of the greatest male stars of all time.

Answer: The Gunfighter

Wayne badly wanted to play that role, and president and production director of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, had even purchased it especially with Wayne in mind for the lead. However, Cohn had ill-treated and humiliated Wayne when he was a young contract player, and the grudge was too entrenched for Wayne to sacrifice his personal standards for fame. Of all the other films he made, Wayne's talent was such that he played the lead in 142 of them.

Answer: When she wasn't trying to kill me

Wayne's first marriage was to Josephine Alicia Saenz and together they produced four children. That marriage lasted from 1933 to 1945. His second marriage was to the fiery and jealous Esperanza Baur from 1946 until 1954 - and it proved to be disastrous.

He would also say of that marriage that "It was like shaking two volatile chemicals in a jar." She would accuse him of everything under the sun, while he would accuse her of drunken violence, and at one stage she did indeed attempt to shoot him as he walked through their front door. That marriage ended in 1954 and she died the following year. Wayne married Pilar Pallete in 1954, and in a marriage that then lasted until his death in 1979, the couple produced three children.

Answer: "It's not mine - but it's real"

By the time he appeared in the 1950 film "Rio Grande", Wayne's thinning locks were becoming quite noticeable, but mostly this fact was disguised in his films. In one film however, the 1960 "North to Alaska", his hat flies off during a fistfight scene, and his lack of a thatch can be briefly and unintentionally seen if you watch that movie.

He didn't particularly care about it however - the hairpiece was more for whatever character he was portraying on film rather than his own personal vanity - and he was either seen in public with or without it on, as the mood took him.