John Wayne (1907-1979) was nicknamed ‘Duke’, but his real name when he was born was Marion Robert Morrison. The nickname resulted from a local fireman at the station on his route to school who started calling him “Little Duke” because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier named Duke.

He was an American actor, director, and producer of films. Throughout his career, he appeared in numerous films. A top box office draw for three decades, Wayne was well known for his role in Western films during the years he was active from 1926 to 1977.As one biographer commented, “John Wayne personified for millions the nation’s frontier heritage.”

A few interesting facts about his life include his high school years where he performed well in both sports and academics. He was part of his high school’s football team and its debate team, plus he was the President of the Latin Society and contributed to the school’s newspaper sport’s column.

He applied to the U.S. Naval Academy but was not accepted and instead attended the University of Southern California (USC) majoring in pre-law. He did play on the USC football team but a broken collarbone injury curtailed his athletic career. Actually the injury was a result of a a bodysurfing accident that resulted in his loss of his athletic scholarship. Without funds, he had to leave the university.

Wayne began in films as a prop boy and extra befriending director John Ford earning bit parts.

More Info: en.m.wikipedia.org