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

John Wayne became a popular icon through his starring roles
in films which were produced during Hollywood’s Golden Age,
especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished
from the silent era of the 1920s through the American New
Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television
productions.

In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of
the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.           

Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, but grew up in Southern
California.

The house in Winterset, Iowa, where Wayne was born.

1939

1976

The film stars John Wayne in his last film
appearance before his death from stomach
cancer. He was 72.

The Grapes Of Wrath

Darryl Hickman (right) with Mickey Rooney in 1941’s ‘Men of Boys Town.’  

Darryl Gerard Hickman (July 28, 1931 – May 22, 2024)

Darryl Hickman, who started his career in Hollywood as a child
star before going on to appear in more than 40 movies, has died
at the age of 92. His family confirmed that Hickman died on
Wednesday. In one of his biggest roles he played Winfield, the
youngest member of the Joad family in John Ford’s film adaption
of The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) when he was just eight-years-old.

(WP) – Dabney Coleman, a Texas-born character actor who
created an acclaimed gallery of comically macho throwbacks
in films including “9 to 5” and “Tootsie” and TV shows such
as “The Slap Maxwell Story” and “Buffalo Bill,” died May 16
at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 92.

1980

On May 16, 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences handed out its first awards, at a dinner party for
around 250 people held in the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood,
California.

The brainchild of Louis B. Mayer, head of the powerful MGM
film studio, the Academy was organized in May 1927 as a non-
profit organization dedicated to the improvement of the film
industry.

Its first president and the host of the May 1929 ceremony was
the actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Unlike today, the winners of
the first Oscars—as the coveted gold-plated statuettes later
became known—were announced before the awards
ceremony itself.

The winners of the first ceremony, including Janet Gaynor
for best actress, were announced a few months in advance. Douglas Fairbanks, president of the academy, handed out
the honors.

Vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, Conrad Nigel, presents the Oscar to actress
Norma Shearer.

William C Demille, President Of The Academy Of Motion
Picture Arts And Sciences hands an Oscar to Mary
Pickford (with Warner Baxter and Hans Kraly looking
on.

George Walton Lucas Jr., a filmmaker and philanthropist who
created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, is 80
years old today.

Lucas is one of history’s most financially successful filmmakers
and has been nominated for four Academy Awards.