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Happy Birthday John
On his 100th birthday, 100 reasons to love John Wayne
50. For providing the matrix for generations of Marines in The Sands of Iwo Jima.
51. Because he appeared in the Motion Picture Herald's Top Ten Box Office Stars every year from 1949 to 1973.
52. Because he was never afraid to play against another dominating leading man: Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Lee Marvin, etc.
53. Because he survived playing Genghis Khan in The Conqueror.
54. Because he didn't mind playing a one-eyed old fat man.
55. Because of the reason he became an actor: "For $75 a week, you could be a star. I jumped."
56. "Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion-picture business."
57. Because he never gave a damn about critics.
58. Because on-screen he always wanted a woman who was his full equal.
59. Because his characters were always willing to endure the consequences of their actions.
60. For having the integrity to put his money where his political mouth was and produce, direct and star in The Alamo and The Green Berets.
61. For the look on his face when Dean Martin fishes for a coin in a spittoon in Rio Bravo.
62. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
63. For the maturity and grace of his love affair with Patricia Neal in In Harm's Way.
64. Because he played a very good game of chess.
65. Because he was loyal.
66. "You're awful pretty when you're angry" (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance).
67. For the way he stops wearing his toupee in the second half of The Wings of Eagles and the performance is so intense that nobody ever notices.
68. Three Godfathers.
69. "Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!" (True Grit).
70. Because he never had a sense of entitlement toward his career.
71. Because until middle age, he would do most of his stunts himself.
72. Because he had a superb collection of Navajo kachina dolls, as well as of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell sculptures.
73. "I know how to get my way. I don't argue; I become adamant."
74. Because he loved dogs, and not the ones you'd think. He had springer spaniels and dachshunds.
75. Because he could suggest a terrible sorrow beneath a heroic exterior.
76. Because the dog in Hondo was actually played by Lassie, and when he won the dog in a card game from trainer Rudd Weatherwax, he gave him back.
77. Because for 30 years, the BBC ran a John Wayne movie on Christmas Day.
78. "I've been in more bad pictures than just about anybody in the business."
79. "Give the cameraman a chance to photograph something besides walls and doors and tea tables. Don't let your story expire for lack of air."
80. "I stopped getting the girl about 10 years ago. Which is just as well, because I'd forgotten what I wanted her for."
81. Because his favorite hobby was deep-sea fishing.
82. "I never had a (expletive) artistic problem in my life, never, and I've worked with the best of them."
83. "Come up and see a fat old man sometime!" (True Grit).
84. Because his favorite drink was tequila.
85. "All I do is sell sincerity, and I've been selling the hell out of that since I started."
86. For the graceful way he confronted the disease that was already taking his life in The Shootist.
87. Because when he was dying of cancer, in excruciating pain, he never complained.
88. Because the more a director challenged him, the better he got.
89. Because the words "John Wayne" imply a point of view encapsulating not just movies but the world.
90. Because he owned all 20 volumes of Edward Curtis' The North American Indian.
91. "Maureen O'Hara is the female equivalent of me. She could rough me up, and I could rough her up."
92. Rio Bravo.
93. "I made Rio Bravo because I didn't like High Noon. I didn't think a good town marshal was going to run around town like a chicken with his head cut off asking everyone to help."
94. "All I ever cared about was that the public liked my pictures."
95. "For years I've played the kind of man I'd like to have been."
96. "As sure as the turnin' of the earth" (The Searchers).
97. "The hardest thing to do in a scene is nothing. The trick is making every nuance minimal. One look that works is better than 20 lines of dialogue."
98. Because his greatest achievement was creating John Wayne.
99. For the way he lifts Natalie Wood above his head in The Searchers, then quickly brings her down to cradle her like a child.
100. For his kindness and generosity to a young writer 35 years ago.
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