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
St. Ives (1976 film) Charles Bronson was "scandalously underestimated". The movie is also notable for early film cameos by Jeff Goldblum and Robert Englund. Goldblum was reprising his role of the maniacal street punk he had first adopted in "Death Wish" (1974). The film's box office performance was described as "modest". St. Ives (1976 film) St. Ives is a 1976 American action film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson, John Houseman, Jacqueline Bisset, and Maximilian Schell. The film was the first of nine collaborations between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson. Abner Procane hires Raymond St. Ives, a crime reporter and