Trivia

1. John Wayne never served in the army. Director and friend John Ford was annoyed by that. While filming They Were Expendable (1945) he said: “Duke, can`t you manage a salute that at least looks like you`ve been in the service?” Wayne was so hurt and angry that he walked of the set for the first and last time of his life.
--Source: About John Ford, Page 0

2. In 1947 the McCarthyite witch hunts of the House Un-American Activities Committee were in full swing. John supported the House by testifying about the Red Menace in Hollywood. He was not only a so called friendly witness, but also founded the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.
--Source: McCarthyism, The Great American Red Scare : A Documentary History, Page 297

3. Wayne after winning an Oscar for True Grit (1969): “If I’d known this was all it would take, I’d have put on that eye patch on forty years ago”.
--Source: The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History, Page 177

The airport in Orange County, California was renamed shortly after his death to John Wayne Airport.

He holds the record for the actor with the most leading parts, 142

John has his handprints set in cement on Hollywood Boulevard (Hollywood, USA, in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theater).
Source / More (Web)

Wayne told a group of friends after a private screening of Midnight cowboy that he thought that actors Hoffman and Voight were great. A few days later he wondered: “Whoever thought I’d say good things about a movie featuring a gigolo, a homeless Italian dwarf, and gang rape”.
--Source: John Wayne: American, Page 574

John has a star on Hollywood Boulevard (Vine street).
It’s located two blocks south of Hollywood Boulevard.

Ex Soviet leader Joseph Stalin once declared that John Wayne, a vociferous anti-Communist, was a threat and should be assassinated.

Marion’s name was never legally changed to John Wayne.