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 Alexander (actor) John Alexander (actor) John Alexander (November 29, 1897 – July 13, 1982) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was born on November 29, 1897, in Newport, Kentucky. His father owned steamboats and his mother was a telegraph operator. He had career spanning more than 55 years on Broadway with his first role as the title character in "Elmer Brown, the Only Boy in Town" in 1908/1909. Perhaps his most memorable performance was as Teddy Brewster, a lunatic who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, in the 1944 classic film "Arsenic and Old Lace" opposite Cary Grant. He had