“John Wayne” is a stage name. He was born Marion Robert Morrison (his last name often misreported as Michael) on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. He wouldn’t adopt the name John Wayne until 1930, several years into his acting career. Studio executives cooked it up ahead of his first starring vehicle, “The Big Trail,” without even involving him. But before he became John Wayne, Marion Morrison already had another moniker.
Film buffs and even some casual fans have likely heard Wayne referred to as “Duke” by friends and colleagues. It was a nickname he had from childhood. After his family moved to California, they got young Wayne a dog named Duke. The pair were inseparable, so much so that the family started to refer to them as Big Duke and Little Duke (Marion was Big Duke, as the dog was an Airedale terrier). The family didn’t come up with the nickname, though. Wayne liked to visit the local firehouse with his pet, and it was the firefighters there that first named him for his dog.
When he first became an actor, Wayne took his faithful dog’s name as his own. His initial nom de plume for film work was Duke Morrison. It was a name that would only get one on-screen credit, for 1929’s “Words and Music.”
