- published: 19 Sep 2012
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Conway Tearle (May 17, 1878 – October 1, 1938) was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.
Frederick Conway Levy was born on May 17, 1878 in New York City, the son of the well-known British-born cornetist Jules Levy (1838-1903) and American actress Marianne “Minnie” Conway (1852-1896). Tearle also had a sister, and a half-brother, musician Jules Levy, Jr., from his father's previous marriage. Minnie's mother was stage actress Sarah Crocker Conway. Minnie Conway was a direct descendant of William Augustus Conway, a British Shakespearian actor who became popular in America during the 1820s. Her father, the proprietor of the Brooklyn Theatre, was said to have organized the first stock company in America. After Tearle’s parents divorced, his mother married Osmond Tearle (1852-1901), a British Shakespearian actor popular in “the provinces”. Two half brothers Godfrey and Malcolm Tearle were born from Marianne's marriage to Osmond Tearle.
Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known by his stage name John Wayne and by his nickname "Duke", was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, for several generations of Americans he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height.
Born in Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to USC as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he mostly appeared in small bit parts. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's lavish widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930), which led to leading roles in numerous B movies throughout the 1930s, many of them in the Western genre.
Wayne's career took off in 1939, with John Ford's Stagecoach making him an instant mainstream star. Wayne went on to star in 142 pictures. Biographer Ronald Davis says: "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth."