1. True
2. False

Marion Robert Morrison was born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26, 1907. It was Fox Studio that gave him the name of John Wayne with the surname taken from a general in the Revolutionary War, Anthony Wayne.

1. Car accident
   Body surfing
2. Fell from a tree
   Parachuting incident

There is no telling how far John Wayne would have gone as an American football star. His prowess at the sport had secured him a spot at the University of Southern California but a shoulder injury while body surfing ended his career. Wayne lost his scholarship and dropped out of school.

1. Director
   Producer
2. Prop person
   Actor

When he left college, John Wayne started working on movie sets in Hollywood. He began in the prop department where he helped saddle horses. Wayne worked for Fox studios at the time

1. Twister
   Snakes and Ladders
2. Clue
   Chess

John Wayne loved chess and would play at every opportunity. And he chose some interesting opponents, including Marlene Dietrich, Robert Mitchum and Rock Hudson.

1. "Duke"
   "Little"
2. "Bruce"
   "Old Blue Eyes"

Hollywood referred to John Wayne as either "Duke" or "The Duke". Wayne had used Duke as his name even before he became famous in Hollywood. In fact, he preferred it to his first name, Marion.

1. True
2. False

Released in 1930, "The Big Trail" was directed by Raoul Walsh and gave John Wayne his first leading role, which was originally offered to Gary Cooper. Set on the Oregon Trail, it is one of the movies selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

1. Hugged
   Tackled
2. Kicked
   Shot

Released in 1962, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was directed by John Wayne's long-time friend, John Ford. Wayne starred with James Stewart with the movie making over $7 million in the United States alone.

1. Bulimia
   Anorexia
2. Cancer
   Lime disease

Cancer would ultimately cost John Wayne his life in 1979. Then it was stomach cancer, but Wayne's first bout with the dreaded disease was in 1964. Wayne lost a lung as a result.

1. True Grit
   The Unforgiven
2. Saving Private Ryan
   High Noon

John Wayne was offered the lead role in "High Noon" but flatly refused it. He later called the movie, "the most un-American thing I have seen in my whole life!"

1. Stagecoach
   Bullitt
2. The Green Berets
   Cahill U.S. Marshal

Released in 1939, "Stagecoach" took John Wayne to leading man status after a few years in the B grade movie wilderness. Directed by John Ford, it started a long and successful partnership between Ford and Wayne.

1. True
2. False

John Wayne was nominated for three Best Actor Academy Awards. This included in 1950 for "Sands of Iwo Jima", 1961 for "The Alamo" in 1963 and "True Grit" in 1970. Wayne received an Oscar for his exceptional performance in "True Grit".

1. How The West Was Won
   Sands of Iwo Jima
2. The Comancheros
   The Barbarian and the Geisha

1949's "Sands of Iwo Jima" saw John Wayne nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He lost out to Broderick Crawford for his role in "All the King's Men." This role was initially offered to Wayne who turned it down, thinking the film to be un-American.

1. Apache
   French
2. Spanish
   Italian

John Wayne was fluent in Spanish. In fact, Wayne married three times and all his wives were of Hispanic or Latino descent. His second wife was Mexican actress Esperanza Baur.

1. Scouts
   Freemasons
2. Seventh Day Adventists
   The Moonies

John Wayne, like many famous actors and politicians in America, was a freemason. He attained the rank of Master Mason and served at Tucson, Arizona at the Marion McDaniel Lodge.

1. The War Wagon
   The Sons of Katie Elder
2. The Green Berets
   How the West Was Won

John Wayne starred and directed 1968's "The Green Berets", a movie about the crack U.S. military unit set on a mission in Vietnam. It starred his son Patrick as well as George Takei of "Star Trek" fame.

1. Soldiers
   Breeders
2. Lovers
   Fanatics

Another John Ford-directed John Wayne movie, "The Horse Soldiers" is set in the American Civil War. It also stars Will Holden and Constance Towers. John Wayne was paid $775,000 and 20% of profits for his role. Many consider this to be the first Hollywood mega-acting deal.

1. True
2. False

Virtually a chain smoker, John Wayne would smoke up to five packs of cigarettes each day. Wayne knew that his smoking was the cause of lung cancer in 1964, which saw him forced to have one lung removed.

1. The dreaded disease
   The no-hope disease
2. The Big C
   None of the above

When John Wayne first contracted lung cancer in 1964, he was told not to disclose it to the public as it would affect his image. Wayne refused, calling a press conference at his home just two days after losing a lung and a rib to the disease. It was here that the term 'Big C' was first used by the actor.

1. 3
   1
2. 15
   50

John Wayne seemed destined to be a B-grade movie star. From his first movie till "Stagecoach" in 1939, he appeared in 50 B-grade films, most produced on what was known as "Poverty Row" in Hollywood, a place where the low-budget studios were situated.

1. Republicans
   Democrats
2. None, he didn't care for politics

John Wayne threw his enormous influence behind many things, including the Republican Party from time to time, especially Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater. He was a staunch supporter of American forces in Vietnam and was passionately anti-communist.

1. Winston Churchill
   John Major
2. William Pitt the Younger
   Tony Blair

John Wayne was a massive fan of Winston Churchill, the two-time prime minister of Great Britain. In fact, Wayne could quote many of Churchill's famous speeches verbatim.

1. True
2. False

John Wayne did not serve in the U.S. military during World War II, although many Hollywood stars did. Wayne was the only A-grade actor that Republic Studio had and they were reluctant to let him off overseas. Wayne recounted that not serving was something that disappointed him for the rest of his life.

1. Judy Garland
   Lucille Ball
2. Ginger Rodgers
   Marlene Dietrich

John Wayne was married three times during his lifetime. He also had numerous affairs. It is rumored that the one with Marlene Dietrich lasted for three years..

1. He was ambidextrous.
   He was extremely superstitious.
2. He was blind in one eye.
   None of the above

Interestingly, John Wayne was an incredibly superstitious person. His pet hates included people leaving their hats on a bed or at dinner when someone passed him the salt directly. Strange ...

1. Frank Sinatra
   Bonnie and Clyde
2. Joseph Stalin
   The FBI

Rumor has it that Joseph Stalin, the then-leader of the Soviet Union wanted John Wayne killed because of his anti-communism stance. Stalin went as far as to order KGB agents to carry out the orders. Clearly, they didn't succeed.

1. I Love Lucy
   The Danny Thomas Show
2. Perry Mason
   The Adventures of Superman

John Wayne appeared on "I Love Lucy" with Lucille Ball on a few occasions. The two were friends who met when Wayne was having an affair with Ball's roommate, Maureen O'Hara. .

1. Purple Heart
   Congressional Gold Medal
2. Silver Star
   None of the above

The Congressional Gold Medal, awarded to John Wayne in 1979, was one of two accolades from the United States government. The second, awarded to him posthumously, was the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.

1. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
   True Grit
2. The Alamo
   Ugly, strong and dignified

Although John Wayne described the phrase as having meant "ugly, strong and dignified" the final word when translated from Spanish is more "formal" or "reliable". Still a great word to describe Wayne, however.

1. Hinduism
   Roman Catholicism
2. Judaism
   None of the above

John Wayne was a Protestant for most of his life. He was influenced by Roman Catholicism due to the fact that all three of his wives were Catholic and his children were raised in the religion as well. Wayne became a Catholic before he died.

1. True
2. False

John Wayne's film career spanned almost 50 years and so the ravages of time began to take their toll toward the end of it. As his hair began to thin, Wayne used a hairpiece while acting. He didn't always wear it in public, however.

1. Playboy
   Time
2. GQ
   Life

In 1971, John Wayne sat down with Playboy magazine for an interview which became quite controversial. Why? Well, Wayne expressed his conservative views with regard to race, native Americans and numerous other subjects.

1. John Wayne reads Shakespeare
   John Wayne: The Holy Bible
2. America: Why I Love Her
   John Wayne reads Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

Interestingly, after 9/11, "America: Why I Love Her" was re-released and again became a top seller. Set to the accompaniment of strings, "America: Why I Love Her" saw Wayne reading patriotic speeches he had written.

1. The Beverly Hillbillies
   Batman and Robin
2. Gilligans Island
   The Avengers

John Wayne made a one-off appearance in the 1960's TV show, "The Beverly Hillbillies". And his payment? Wayne just asked to be paid with a fifth of bourbon

1. East
   West
2. North
   South

Directed by John Ford (a long time John Wayne collaborator) and Henry Hathaway, "How the West Was Won" was released in 1962. Alongside Wayne, the movie stars Gregory Peck and James Stewart. It won three Academy Awards.

1. True
2. False

One of only two movies John Wayne ever directed (the other was "The Green Berets"), "The Alamo" tells the story of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie as they defend the Alamo from the Mexican forces of General Santa Anna. Wayne was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award for his efforts but didn't win.