John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison)
(May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979)

On April 7, 1970, the legendary actor John Wayne won his first
—and only—acting Academy Award, for his star turn in the
director Henry Hathaway’s Western True Grit.

Wayne appeared in some 150 movies over the course of his long
and storied career. He established his tough, rugged, uniquely
American screen persona most vividly in the many acclaimed
films he made for the directors John Ford and Howard Hawks
from the late 1940s into the early 1960s. He earned his first
Oscar nomination, in the Best Actor category, for Sands of Iwo
Jima (1949). The Alamo (1960), which Wayne produced, directed
and  starred in, earned a Best Picture nomination.

1969

SANDY KOZEL

Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004)

ROSS SIMPSON

Eric Patrick Clapton is an English rock and blues guitarist,
singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most
successful and influential guitarists in rock music. He
ranked second in Rolling Stone‘s list of the "100 Greatest
Guitarists of All Tim’‘ and fourth in Gibson‘s "Top 50
Guitarists of All Time". He was also named number five
in Time magazine’s list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar
Players" in 2009. Clapton is 78 years old today.

William Shatner is a Canadian born actor. In a career spanning
seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T.
Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, from his 1966 debut as the
captain of the starship Enterprise in the second pilot of the
first Star Trek television series to his final appearance as
Captain Kirk in the seventh Star Trek feature film, Star Trek
Generations (1994).

On March 15, 1972, The Godfather—a three-hour epic
chronicling the lives of the Corleones, an Italian-
American crime family led by the powerful Vito
Corleone (Marlon Brando)—was released in theaters.

The Godfather was adapted from the best-selling book
of the same name by Mario Puzo, a novelist who grew
up in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen and got his start
writing pulp stories for men’s magazines. Controversy
surrounded the film from the beginning: Soon after
Paramount Pictures announced its production, the
Italian-American Civil Rights League held a rally in
Madison Square Garden, claiming the film would
amount to a slur against Italian Americans. The
uproar only increased publicity for the movie.

Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004)

‘The Godfather’ of filmmaking, Francis Ford Coppola.