The Searchers The Searchers The Searchers is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, set during the Texas–Indian wars, and starring John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), accompanied by his adoptive nephew (Jeffrey Hunter). Critic Roger Ebert found Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, "one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created". The film was a commercial success. Since its release it has come to be considered a masterpiece and one of the greatest and most
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