In the 1969 American Western film "True Grit", John Wayne playing the role of US Marshal Rooster Cogburn doesn't die on screen. This is the first film adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel "True Grit". Marguerite Roberts wrote the screenplay for the movie. Wayne won his only Oscar Award for his performance in the film. He reprised the role for the 1975 sequel "Rooster Cogburn".

Film historians said, "The role of Cogburn was based on Deputy US Marshal Heck Thomas, a real man who was very tough on handling outlaws." Tough guys are needed in the film. A 14-year-old girl, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), is on a mission to find her father's killer. US Marshall Cogburn and a Texas Ranger, La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), join her. The trio's true grit is tested as they embark on a quest for justice. In the end, Mattie's mission is successful and she makes it home to recover from injuries. She promises Cogburn he will be buried next to her in the Ross family plot after his death. He accepts her offer and leaves, jumping over a fence to get to his horse. She had told him, "You are too old and fat to clear a four-rail fence."

In "The Alamo", a 1960 epic historical war film, "The Cowboys", a 1972 Western, and "The Shootist", a 1976 Western, the characters played by Wayne are all killed on screen. He was respectively Colonel Davy Crockett, a larger-than-life legend from Tennessee who made it to the Alamo, William ‘Wil’ Andersen (an aging rancher), and J.B. Books, a sheriff-turned-gunfighter.

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