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June 9, 2025: John Wayne
Howdy folks, it’s the second week of June 2025, and welcome to This Week in The West.
I’m Seth Spillman, broadcasting from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
On this podcast, we share stories of the people and events that shaped the history, art and culture of the American West—and those still shaping it today.
Even now, sixty years later, it’s hard for us here at The Cowboy to picture that opening day parade.
It was 1965, and after nearly a decade of dreaming and planning, our museum was finally ready to open its doors to the building we still all home today.
Part of the pageantry and hoopla of the grand opening was a parade through downtown Oklahoma City. And leading the way, high in the saddle on a white horse, was none other than the ultimate movie cowboy himself—John Wayne.
This week, we tip our hats to the Duke, a proud supporter, generous donor, and longtime friend of The Cowboy, as we mark the anniversary of his passing on June 11, 1979.
They say it was one of the biggest crowds Oklahoma City had ever seen. More than 100,000 folks packed the sidewalks along Main Street and Broadway, shoulder to shoulder, just to catch a glimpse.
The Daily Oklahoman painted the picture best:
“The Fourth Army band led the parade, but it was the next attraction that drew the crowd’s biggest cheers and set off a barrage of clicking cameras. Sitting tall in the saddle, astride a near-white horse, John Wayne took the cheers of the crowd with his big, familiar grin and waving hand.
‘Hey, John,’ they shouted, and he’d turn and give a special wave, pausing frequently to pose for pictures.”
That parade rolled on for nearly two hours that warm June morning, before the dedication ceremonies, some 60 blocks up the way, opened the doors to the museum for the very first time.
John Wayne wasn’t just there for the fanfare. He had been behind this museum—back when it was called the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center—from the start. He sat on our board of trustees, showed up for the very first Western Heritage Awards in 1961, and saw his film The Alamo take home the first-ever Wrangler for best Western motion picture.
In 1963, he visited the site as it was under construction. Eventually, he would make a remarkable donation to the museum’s collection.
But before we get to that, let’s briefly recap the life of John Wayne before the 1960s.
John Wayne came into this world as Marion Robert Morrison, born in Winterset, Iowa. But he was raised in Southern California after his family moved west, looking for a better climate to help with his father’s health.
As a kid, folks started calling him “Duke”—not after royalty, but after the family dog that followed him everywhere.
Wayne attended USC on a football scholarship, but a body-surfing accident cut short his athletic career and cost him his scholarship.
While working behind the scenes as a prop man at Fox Film Corporation, John Wayne caught the eye of legendary director John Ford. Ford started putting him in small roles, giving him a foot in the door.
Then in 1930, Wayne landed his first leading role in The Big Trail, one of the earliest films shot in widescreen. It was a bold production for its time, but the movie struggled at the box office.
Even so, Wayne kept at it, building his career one film at a time. Throughout the 1930s, he stayed busy starring in a steady stream of low-budget Westerns, honing the screen presence that would one day make him a star.
John Wayne’s rise to stardom came in 1939 with Stagecoach, directed by John Ford. The film put Wayne’s natural charisma and commanding presence front and center, and audiences took notice.
Over the next two decades, he became the face of the American Western, starring in classics like Red River, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Searchers. These roles helped define not just his career, but the genre itself.
By the mid-1960s, John Wayne was one of Hollywood’s most bankable and iconic stars, known for his towering presence and tough-as-nails voice.
He appeared on the list of Top 10 box office stars more frequently than any other actor in Hollywood history—every year from 1949 to 1957, and again from 1959 through 1974.
Films like The Alamo, which he directed and starred in, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in 1962, further cemented his status as a cultural symbol.
Just around the corner from the entrance to our museum stands a larger-than-life statue of John Wayne, sculpted by Edward Fraughton. It’s a striking tribute—but step inside, and you’ll find his presence even more deeply felt in our Hall of Great Western Performers.
That’s where the Duke truly lives on, honored among the legends of the American West.
He was inducted into the Hall in 1974. Just before his death in 1979, Wayne decided to make a substantial gift to the museum: a large collection of his personal items and artifacts from his film career—more than two hundred items in total.
The gift included Wayne’s collection of Native American kachina dolls; his personal copies of books, including a set of Edward Curtis’ The North American Indian, and the desk specially made to hold them; sixty-four firearms, including the rifle he used in Stagecoach; hats and costumes — including Rooster Cogburn’s eyepatch.
Wayne’s family legacy here at The Cowboy remains to this day. His oldest son, Michael Wayne, served on our board from 1982 to 1986. His son, Patrick Wayne, was an active supporter, and in 2017, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers.
His granddaughter Anita La Cava Swift serves on our board today.
After he died, Elizabeth Taylor, one of the 20th Century’s other great movie stars, had this to say: “Big John was to America and the whole world what people hoped Americans were really like: tough, strong, loyal, just — and never with arrogance, but with true humility.”
And with that, we’ll ride off into the sunset of another episode of “This Week in The West.”
Our show is produced by Chase Spivey and written by Mike Koehler.
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We leave you today with the words of John Wayne himself:
“I’ve always followed my father’s advice: he told me, first, to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be … sure I intend to.”
Much obliged for listening, and remember, come Find Your West at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
