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
Michael Wayne of heart failure as the result of complications from lupus erythematosus, just two months before his mother's death. Michael Wayne Michael Anthony Morrison (November 23, 1934 – April 2, 2003), best known as Michael Wayne, was an American film producer and actor, and the eldest son of Hollywood actor John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. Born in Los Angeles, California, Michael graduated from Loyola University in California in 1956 with a Business degree and served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Michael began his film career as a production assistant on the set of the John Ford