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  • Image of John Wayne from movie still and Monument Valley
  • John Wayne filming silent Western (collage)
  • John Wayne with his first wife Josephine Saenz and Loretta Young
  • Film director John Ford and poster for The Quiet Man
  • Movie still from "Rio Grande" with Western background
  • John Wayne registering marriage to Esperanza Baur
  • John Wayne thinking in front of Pacific Ocean.
  • Images of John Wayne with obituary
Thanks to his screen roles, the actor John Wayne epitomized the American spirit for many people. He often portrayed the ideal frontiersman or soldier; strong, decent, and courageous. Wayne’s real character was much more complicated than his screen persona or the subsequent legends that sprang up about him. One lesser-known fact about the man is that he converted to Catholicism two days before his death from cancer. John Wayne’s journey to the Catholic faith began long before his last days, however.
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© John Wayne image: Public domain | Monument Valley: Zhukova Valentyna | Shutterstock | Collage by Aleteia