John Wayne Highlands, fierce fighters against communism, bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films. Wayne finally won a Best Actor Oscar for "True Grit" (1969), two decades after his only other nomination. Wayne took on the role of the eponymous detective in the crime drama "McQ" (1974). His last film was "The Shootist" (1976), whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer—which Wayne himself succumbed to three years later. "The Shootist" (1976) contains numerous plot similarities to "The Gunfighter" of nearly thirty years before, a role which Wayne had wanted but
John Wayne the 1926 film "Bardelys the Magnificent". Wayne also appeared with his USC teammates playing football in "Brown of Harvard" (1926), "The Dropkick" (1927), and "Salute" (1929) and Columbia's "Maker of Men" (filmed in 1930, released in 1931). While working for Fox Film Corporation in bit roles, Wayne was given on-screen credit as "Duke Morrison" only once, in "Words and Music" (1929). Director Raoul Walsh saw him moving studio furniture while working as a prop boy and cast him in his first starring role in "The Big Trail" (1930). For his screen name, Walsh suggested "Anthony Wayne", after Revolutionary War general