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Born Robert Ryan on 11 November 1909 in Chicago, Ilinios, U.S.A. As a college student at Chicago's Loyola and Dartmouth, he held the national collegiate boxing title for four years. After graduating, and working in a variety of odd jobs, Ryan studied drama at the Max Reinhardt Theatrical Workshop in Hollywood. His ring prowess enabled him to secure a part in Golden Gloves 1940, and his movie career was off and running; two years later, he was under contract to RKO. Although he appeared in some films during the war-The Skys the Limit 1943 and Marine Raiders 1944 among them-Ryan didn't achieve any real screen success until 194, when he snared an Academy Award nomination for his character role in Crossfire 1947. Craggy, gruff, and virile, Ryan played both heavies and heroes throughout his career, working in Westerns, war stories, and crime dramas. He was never a star in the Clark Gable sense of the word, but his name carried weight, and his presence counted in both main and secondary roles, Ryan appeared in two movies with Wayne, Picture from The Longest Day, Sadly Robert died on 11 July 1973 in New York, New York, U.S.A.
Born Henry Jaynes Fonda on 16 May 1905, in Grand Island, Nebraska, U.S.A, Raised in Omaha, the son of a printer, Fonda initially harboured ambitions of being a newspaperman and to that end became a journalism major at the University of Minnesota. He dropped out after two years to get a job, he eventually quit his office-boy job and worked full-time at the Omaha Community Playhouse , a local amateur theatre troupe directed by Dorothy Brando. His first major roles in Broadway include "The Farmer Takes a Wife". The play was transferred to the screen in 1935 and became the start-up of Fonda's lifelong Hollywood career. The following year he married Frances Seymour Fonda with whom he had two children: Jane and Peter Fonda . He first starred the actor in a colourful, colonial-era drama, "Drums Along the Mohawk" then cast him in the title role of "Young Mr Lincoln both 1939".Henry Fonda is considered one of Hollywood's old-time legends, he appeared in four films with John Wayne, Henry died on 12 August 1982, Los Angeles, California, USA and is greatly missed.
Born William Edgar Buchanan on 20 March 1903, in Humansville, Missouri, U.S.A, At the age of seven, he and his family moved to Oregon. After studying at the University of Oregon, he followed in his father's footsteps and became a dentist, graduating from North Pacific Dental College. He then moved his practice to Altadena, CA. Buchanan took up acting at age 36, joining the famous Pasadena Playhouse theatre group. He started in films in 1939, appearing in Westerns. He quickly establishing a reputation as a major character player. He delivered dialogue, generally from one side of his mouth, with a gravelly voice, peering suspiciously with squinty eyes. Adept at playing cowardly, corrupt officials and vicious bandits, he worked in more than 100 Westerns alone, and was particularly good in McLintock, Edgar appeared in two more movies with John, Picture from McLintock, Edgar died on 4 April 1979 in Palm Desert, California, USA. and is greatly missed.
Born Vera June Ralston on 23 August 1929 Boise City, Oklahoma, U.S.A ,Vera Miles attended school in Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. Entering the beauty pageant circuit, she became "Miss Kansas" in 1948, and went to Hollywood soon after. She began landing small roles in minor films and television. After a few such roles, John Ford cast her as Jeffrey Hunter's spirited love interest in the classic western The Searchers 1956, more leading roles quickly followed. She appeared in two more films with John Wayne The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 and The Hellfighters 1968. She also starred in Hitchcock and Disney films, Picture from The Hellfighters.
Born and raised in the Bluegrass Country of Lexington, Kentucky, Faulkner was trained as an industrial engineer. He then earned a degree in business before entering the United States Air Force. After his stint in the service, he returned to Lexington. At odds as to where to go from there, he abandoned the idea of pursuing a career in the construction and building supply business that his late father had succeeded in. Encouraged by a drama coach at the University of Kentucky, he instead decided to aim at a career in acting. By this time, Faulkner was already married to his wife, Barbara. Together now for over 45 years, these high school sweethearts had once shared the lead role. The "Duke" managed to find a place for an ex-fighter pilot from Kentucky who was striving for an even higher sense of adventure. Taking on acting as a profession was a challenge in itself, yet Edward Faulkner flew high and acted with the best of them. Although his roles early on consisted of background and bit parts, he was grateful to be working in Hollywood. "There are no small parts, only small actors," chuckles Faulkner. But when he played in a movie entitled The Undefeated, the 6'3" actor was a bit out-sized by the 6'4" of John Wayne, the 6'5" of Rock Hudson, the 6'5" of Merlin Olsen and the 6'7" of director Andrew McLaglen. Faulkner appeared in five more movies with John Wayne. Faulkner enjoyed his acting role, but even more, the camaraderie he shared with his co-workers, Picture from The Hellfighters.
Born Dana James Hutton on 31 May 1934 in Binghamton, New York, U.S.A. This gangly, boyish leading man was discovered by director Douglas Sirk, who saw him performing in Germany while the young actor was stationed there with the U.S. Army. Equally capable in both action and comic fare, Hutton appeared in Sirk's A Time toLove and a Time to Die 1958, his first film. Hutton found his services most in demand on the small screen as supersleuth Ellery Queen in the TV series of the same name 1975-76. He appeared in two films with John, Hellfighters and Green Berets. Sadly, he didn't live to see his son Timothy win his Oscar in 1981, Picture from The Hellfighters, Jim died on 2 June 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Born James Aurness on 26 May 1923 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A, James Arness became one of television's best-known heroes during the twenty years he spent on the series Gunsmoke 1955–75, playing Marshal Matt Dillon, a role for which he was recommended by John Wayne. Since Gunsmoke, Arness has appeared in four films with Wayne Big Jim Mclain1952, Hondo 1953, Island in the Sky 1953 and The Sea Chase 1955, he as also appeared in several Gunsmoke television movies. His younger brother, Peter Graves, is also an actor. Sadly James passed away on June 3, 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Born Edythe Marrenner on 30 June 1917 in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Susan Hayward was born Edythe Marrener the daughter of a transportation worker and his wife lived a fairly comfortable life as a child. The little precocious red-head had no idea of the life that awaited her. She attended public school in Brooklyn where she graduated from a commercial high school which was intended to give students a marketable skill. She had planned on becoming a secretary, but her plans changed. Her career began as a model for local photographers in the NYC area. She came to Hollywood for a screen test along with 100 other hopefuls for the part of Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With the Wind but lost out to Vivien Leigh. In 1937 Susan began playing bit parts, but in 1939 Susan landed the role of Isobel Rivers in the mammoth hit Beau Geste. Susan appeared in three films with John Wayne, Reap the Wild Wind 1942, The Fighting Seabees 1944. and The Conqueror 1956, Susan past away on 14 March 1975 in Hollywood, California, U.S.A she is sadly missed by all her fans.
Born Forrest Tucker on 12 February 1919 in Plainfield, Indiana, U.S.A, Forrest Tucker began his acting career on a lark, coaxed into trying out for films while vacationing in California in 1940. He made his debut in William Wyler's "The Westerner" supporting Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan, and toiled as a contract player in many Columbia films (mostly Bs) of the early and mid 1940s. Tucker, a huge, solidly built man with wavy blond hair and inviting blue eyes, often played nasty, brutal heavies in Westerns and action films. (His most memorable: the Marine with a chip on his shoulder who squares off with John Wayne in 1949's "Sands of Iwo Jima" he also appeared in "Chisum". He starred in the TV series as the crafty Sergeant O'Rourke of "F Troop" 1965-67, he also appeared in many tele-films of the 1970s and early 1980s, he was re-teamed with "F Troop" partner Larry Storch for the Saturday morning kids' series "The Ghost Busters" 1975-76, Picture from Sands of Iwo-Jima. Forrest died on 25 October 1986 in Woodland Hills, California, U.S.A, and is greatly missed.
Born Claire Wemlinger on 8 March 1910 in New York, New York, U.S.A. A native New Yorker who studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before attempting a stage career, she got her first experience before the cameras acting in Vitaphone short subjects shot in Brooklyn. Trevor came to Hollywood under contract to Fox. For the next five years she worked exclusively at Fox, except for 1937 loan-outs to Samuel Goldwyn. She appeared in a lot of films before accepting the role of a sympathetic prostitute in John Ford's classic "Stagecoach" 1939, opposite John Wayne (but getting top billing). They re-teamed in "Allegheny Uprising" also 1939 and"Dark Command"1940, but her parts were much more conventional. Every casting director in Hollywood must have felt the same way about this hardboiled blonde, who played every conceivable type of "bad girl," from hooker to gun moll to showgirl to saloon girl. She was good at it, too, judging from the Oscar she won for her turn as Edward G. Robinson's floozy in"Key Largo"1948. She appeared again with Wayne in The High and the Mighty" 1953. sadly Claire passed away on 8 April 2000 and is greatly missed.
Born George Cleveland on 17 September 1885 in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, George was a master at abrasive and intrusive old-codger roles, George Cleveland enjoyed a 58-year career in vaudeville, stage, movies and television. Spending his earliest professional days in his native Canada, Cleveland barnstormed around the U.S. with his own stock company until settling in New York. He came to Hollywood in 1934 for an assignment in the Noah Beery Sr. programmer Mystery Liner and remained in Tinseltown for the next two decades. At first appearing in small roles in serials and westerns, Cleveland's screen time increased when he signed with RKO in the early 1940s. In the Fibber McGee and Molly feature Here We Go Again, Cleveland essayed the "Old Timer" role played on radio by Bill Thompson (who also showed up in Here We Go Again in another of his radio characterizations, Wallace Wimple). Other choice '40s assignments for Cleveland included the role of Paul Muni's faithful butler in Angel on My Shoulder (1946), and featured parts in two Abbott and Costello comedies, 1946's Little Giant (as Costello's uncle) and 1947's Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (as a corrupt western judge). George Cleveland appeared on TV as a befuddled postman on the forgettable 1952 sitcom The Hank McCune Show; a far more memorable assignment was his three-year gig as Gramps on the Lassie series, which kept Cleveland busy. George appeared in six movies with John Wayne, George passed away on 15 July 1957 in Burbank, California, USA.
Born Regis Toomey on 13 August 1898 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Pittsburgh-born and raised Regis Toomey studied drama at the university of his home town. One of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, John Regis Toomey initially pondered a law career, but acting won out and he established himself as a musical stage performer. He was touring in "Little Nellie Kelly" in England when he developed an acute case of laryngitis. The problem forced a sincere rethinking of his career goals. With the birth of sound pictures, Toomey made an auspicious debut with Alibi (1929) starring Chester Morris where a climactic death scene sparked controversy...and a movie career that would include almost 200 pictures. His lead/second lead status opposite such stars as Clara Bow, Constance Bennett, Barbara Stanwyck and Evelyn Brent fell away within a few years, finding more work in streetwise character roles. Fast-paced crime action was his forte and he was prevalent throughout the 30s and 40s, but, with time, he moved further down the credits list. In the 50s he looked for employment on TV. Fellow one-time singer Dick Powell became a friend and Powell, having turned producer, saw to it that Toomey had involving roles on his TV series such as "Richard Diamond, Private Detective" (1957) and "Burke's Law" (1965)_ . Toomey played roles well past his 80th year. His marriage (from 1925) to Kathryn Scott produced two children. Regis appeared in two movies with Wayne, Picture from Island in the Sky, Regis passed away on 12 October 1991 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.
Wally Cassell born on 3 March 1915 in Mississippi, USA, In films from 1943, pugnacious American character actor Wally Cassell was afforded star billing for the first time in The Story of GI Joe (1945). As Private Dondaro, Cassell spent half of his time searching for his ethnic roots in war-torn Italy, and the other half seeking out wine, women and more wine. His other war-related filmic efforts included Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and Flying Leathernecks (1951). He later appeared in westerns, then worked steadily during the late-1950s gangster-movie cycle, playing such raffish characters as Cherry Nose in I Mobster (1959). Wally Cassell was married to musical performer Marcy Maguire, Wally also appeared with Wayne in "Island In The Sky", Picture from Sands of Iwo-Jima. Wally passed away on 2 April 2015, Palm Desert, California, United States
Born Hal Fieberling on 10 December 1918, Character actor Hal Baylor made a career out of pummeling (or being pummeled by) heroes ranging from John Wayne to Montgomery Clift. The 6'3", 210-pound Baylor, born Hal Fieberling, was an athlete in school and did a hitch in the United States Marines before embarking on a boxing career. He moved into acting in the late '40s, initially by way of one of the most acclaimed boxing films ever made in Hollywood, Robert Wise's The Set-Up (1949), playing Tiger Nelson, the young fighter in the film, whose fresh good looks stood out from the pug-worn visages of most of the men around him. His first released film, however -- a short feature done after The Set-Up but released first -- was a very different kind of boxing movie, Joe Palooka in Winner Take All. He also appeared in Allan Dwan's 1949 The Sands of Iwo Jima, playing Private "Sky" Choyuski, which was where he first began working with John Wayne. All of those early appearances were credited under his real name, Hal Fieberling. But by 1950 the actor had changed his name to Hal Baylor. Whether in Westerns, period dramas, or war movies, Baylor usually played tough guys, and as soon as John Wayne began producing movies, he started using him, in Big Jim McLain (1952), in which Baylor played one of the two principal villains, a tough, burly Communist (just to show, from the movie's point of view, that they weren't all slimy-mannered, smooth-talking intellectuals) who is always getting in the face of Wayne's two-fisted investigator, and who is bounced all over the set in the film's climactic punch-up; Hal aslo appeared in Island in the Sky (1953), as Stankowski the engineer, Picture from Sands of Iwo-Jima, Hal passed away on 5 January 1998.
Paul Kelly born on 9 August 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, Paul Kelly was one of the few actors who not only played killers, but also had first-hand experience in this capacity! On stage from age 7, "Master" Paul Kelly entered films at 8, performing on the sunlight stages of Flatbush's Vitagraph Studios. His first important theatrical role was in Booth Tarkington's Seventeen; he later appeared in Tarkington's Penrod, opposite a young Helen Hayes. Star billing was Kelly's from 1922's Up the Ladder onwards. In films from 1926, Kelly alternated between stage and screen until his talkie debut in 1932's Broadway Through A Keyhole. The actor's career momentum was briefly halted with a two-year forced hiatus. On May 31, 1927, Kelly was found guilty of manslaughter, after killing actor Ray Raymond in a fistfight. The motivating factor of the fatal contretemps was Raymond's wife, Dorothy MacKaye, who married Kelly in 1931, after he'd served prison time for Raymond's death (MacKaye herself died in an automobile accident in 1940). This unfortunate incident had little adverse effect on Kelly's acting career. Returning to Broadway in 1947, Paul Kelly won the Donaldson and Tony awards for his performance in Command Decision; three years later, he starred in the original stage production of Clifford Odets' The Country Girl. Kelly appeared in two movies with Wayne, Picture from The Flying Tigers, Kelly passed away on 6 November 1956 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Jack Pennick born 7th December 1895 Portland, Oregon, USA. Originally a horse wrangler, he played small parts in many westerns. Was known to be an expert in the "manual of arms" for existing and some extinct military units. May have been former Marine or military man. Can be seen marching as "right guard" at the very beginning of Stars and Stripes Forever 1952 un-credited. Veteran of both WWI and WWII. Enlisting at the age of nearly 50, he received a Silver Star after being wounded in WWII. Jack 6' 4½" appeared in 17 films as a character actor with John Wayne, he also worked in nearly every sound picture directed by John Ford as part of Ford's "troop of players. Sadly Jack died on 16 August 1964 Manhattan Beach, California, USA. Picture from They Were Expendable.
Lee Marvin born 19 February 1924 in New York, New York, USA, A prematurely white-haired character star who began as a supporting player of generally vicious demeanor, then metamorphosed into a star of both action and drama projects. Born in New York City to Lamont Marvin, an advertising executive, and his wife Courtney, a fashion writer, the young Marvin was thrown out of dozens of schools for incorrigibility. His parents took him to Florida, where he attended St. Leo's Preparatory School near Dade City. Dismissed there as well, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines at the beginning of World War II. In the battle of Saipan in June 1944, he was wounded in the buttocks by Japanese fire which severed his sciatic nerve. He was invalided home and got menial work as a plumber's apprentice in Woodstock, New York. While repairing a toilet at the local community theatre, he was asked to replace an ailing actor in a rehearsal. He appeared in Three films with John Wayne, Lee Marvin died on 29 august 1987 in Tucson, Arizona, USA and will be greatly missed..
Laraine Day Born 13 October 1917 in Roosevelt, Utah, USA Born into a prominent Mormon family in Utah, Laraine Day's acting career began after her parents moved to Long Beach, California, where she joined the Long Beach Players. She appeared in her first film in 1937 in a bit part, then did leads in several George O'Brien westerns. Signing a contract with MGM, she achieved popularity playing the part of Nurse Lamont in that studio's "Dr. Kildare" series. An attractive, engaging performer, she had leads in several medium-budget films for various studios, but never achieved major stardom. She was married for 13 years to baseball manager Leo Durocher, and took such an active interest in his career and the sport of baseball in general that she became known as "The First Lady of Baseball." Laraine appeared in two films with John Wayne, Lariane passed away on 10 November 2007 in Ivins, Utah, USA.
John Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1919. His father died in an accident before he was born. He spent part of his childhood on his uncle's farm in Delaware with brother, Robert, who was two years older. In 1930 they joined their mother, who had remarried, in New York City, where their sister, Annette, was dancing in a Broadway show. A 1936 graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School, John later followed his brother's lead and went to work at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. Drafted into the Army in 1944, he was assigned to the 361st Harbor Craft Company in Florida and later was stationed in Hawaii, where he was assigned to the G.I. Chorus. Discharged in 1946, Mitchum was walking down Santa Monica Boulevard a year later when an agent asked him if he was an actor. When Mitchum said he wasn't, the agent said, "So, do you want to be one?". As recounted in his memoir, Mitchum was taken to a studio on Cahuenga Boulevard where the director of a pioneer saga called "The Prairie" gave him a once-over and cast him as the naive young man in love with the heroine. But Mitchum, a singer, songwriter and poet, had a far more unusual show business distinction. He wrote and co-wrote the pieces on the only album John Wayne ever made: "America, Why I Love Her," a 1973 RCA recording of patriotic poetry recitations that was re-released after Wayne's death in 1979. He appeared in two of Wayne's films Chisum 1970 and Eldorado 1967, best known as Frank DiGiorgio (Dirty Harry's friend) in the first 3 Dirty Harry films Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, and The Enforcer sadly John died on 29 November 2001 in Los Angeles, California, USA. and is greatly missed.
Born Richard Allen Boone on 18 June 1917 in Los Angeles, California,U.S.A. Boone was a college student, boxer, painter and oil-field labourer before ending up in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to study acting with the Actor's Studio in New York. Serious and methodical, Boone made his debut on Broadway in the stage play "Medea". In 1950, 20th Century Fox signed him to a contract and he made his screen debut in 'Halls of Montezuma" 1950, playing a marine. Tall and craggy, Boone would go on being cast in a number of war and western movies. In 1954, he was cast as Dr. Styner in the Television Series "Medic", Boone was cast as Paladin in the Television Series "Have Gun Will Travel 1957", Paladin was a cultured gun for hire. It is said he is a Descendent of Daniel Boone. He appeared in three John Wayne films, Picture from The Shootist, Richard died on 10 January 1981 in St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.A.