Warner and Paramount team to celebrate the Duke’s 100th birthday

By Patrick Luce Apr 25, 2007, 0:16 GMT

During his 50 year film career, Wayne played the lead in 142 movies, an as yet unsurpassed record, and was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Best Actor award in 1970 for his performance in True Grit.

Warner Home Video and Paramount Home Entertainment will join forces on an unprecedented initiative to honor the great John Wayne on May 22 - the week that would have been 'The Duke's' 100th birthday. The studios will pool their DVD sales and marketing resources, digging into their vast libraries for a total of 48 Wayne popular classics.

The lead titles in the promotion are Rio Bravo in both a Two-Disc Special Edition and Ultimate Collectors Edition, The Cowboys as a Deluxe Edition and True Grit as a Special Collector’s Edition. 

Warner also will debut the John Wayne Film Collection - a six-disc set (also available individually) featuring six films never before on DVD: Allegheny Uprising, Reunion in France, Tycoon, Without Reservations, Trouble Along the Way and Big Jim McLain. A total of 34 Wayne films are now available from Warner Home Video.

Paramount has a total of 14 Wayne titles on DVD, highlighted by an all-new Special Collector’s Edition of True Grit along with three DVD collections: the John Wayne Century Collection which features 14 films including The High and the Mighty Special Collector’s Edition, Island in the Sky Special Collector’s Edition, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist and Big Jake.

The John Wayne Western Collection which features nine films including Hondo Special Collector’s Edition, McLintock! Special Collector’s Edition, El Dorado and Rio Lobo and the John Wayne Adventure Collection which features five films including The High and the Mighty Special Collector’s Edition, Island in the Sky Special Collector’s Edition and In Harm’s Way.

To further heighten visibility, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) will feature the actor in the month of May, inspiring current and new fans by broadcasting the indelible images Wayne created on film.

The man who became the embodiment of the great American western hero was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. John Wayne first worked in the film business as a laborer on the Fox lot during summer vacations from U.S.C., which he attended on a football scholarship.

He met and was befriended by John Ford, a young director who was beginning to make a name for himself in action films, comedies and dramas. It was Ford who recommended Wayne to director Raoul Walsh for the male lead in the 1930 epic Western The Big Trail, and, although it was a box office failure, the movie showed Wayne's potential.

For the next nine years, Wayne worked in a multitude of B-Westerns and serials in between bit parts in larger features. Wayne’s big break came in 1939, when Ford cast him as the Ringo Kid in the adventure Stagecoach.

Wayne nearly stole the picture from his more seasoned co-stars, and his career as a box-office superstar began. During his 50 year film career, Wayne played the lead in 142 movies, an as yet unsurpassed record, and was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Best Actor award in 1970 for his performance in True Grit.