My Genealogy Hound

John Wayne, tombstone and grave, Pacific View Memorial Park Cemetery, Newport Beach, California, photos

The tombstone and grave site of John Wayne, born as Marion Robert Morrison (later changed to Marion Mitchell Morrison which was also the name of his grandfather). Wayne was born in a small house in Winterset, Iowa on May 26, 1907, the son of Clyde and Mary (Brown) Morrison. The family moved to California while Wayne was young and he spent the remainder of his life in that area. He entered the University of Southern California on a football scholarship but a body surfing accident ended his football career and scholarship. He then took various odd jobs on movie studio lots and was soon noticed as being a tall (6' 4") and handsome young man. This led to several bit parts in movies but without much further notice until he was offered his first leading role in the film, The Big Trail (1930). The movie failed to do well and it was not until 1939 that he landed another important role, this time in Stagecoach. Thereafter, Wayne was seldom out of work long with a career during which he held a lead role in 142 films. More than half of these films were of a western theme. Some of Wayne's notable films include: Shepherd of the Hills (1941, his first film in color), The Flying Tigers (1942), Angel and the Badman (1947), Red River (1948), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The High and the Mighty (1954), The Searchers (1956), The Alamo (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), McLintock (1963), The Green Berets (1968), True Grit (1969), Big Jake (1971), Cahill U. S. Marshall (1973), Brannigan (1975) and The Shootist (1976).

Wayne was fluent in Spanish. He was married three times and each of his three wives were of Spanish ancestry. He was the father of seven children. Several of his children were also involved in the film industry. His oldest son, Michael Wayne (Michael Morrison) was the producer of a number of John Wayne films during the 1960's and 1970's.

John Wayne died on June 11, 1979 in Los Angeles of stomach cancer. He was 72 years old. His remains were buried in Pacific View Memorial Park Cemetery, Newport Beach, California. For a number of years, his grave was left unmarked due to fears that it might be vandalized. The grave site is now marked by a plaque with a western theme and the following quotation:

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life.
Comes into us at midnight very clean.
It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands.
It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

See the additional photo below.

A view to the west of the Pacific Ocean as seen from the grave site of John Wayne, Pacific View Memorial Park Cemetery, Newport Beach, California. The ocean can be seen just above the tree line on the horizon.