John Wayne was nominated for a Oscar three times over his 50-year career, but he only came home with one. Wayne starred in around 80 Westerns, so his defining image in pop culture is that of a macho, no-nonsense cowboy. This gives a limited view of his range because although he often played variations of the same character, he also gave some layered performances. The researchers is Wayne's best and darkest work, while he is genuinely charming in the romantic drama The quiet man. Yet, Wayne has rarely received much respect from the Oscars.
Many of the John Wayne/John Ford film collaborations have received rave reviews, but somehow, none of the star's Oscar nominations have come from these films. Wayne has also won several awards on behalf of other artists, including Gary Cooper for Midday; this is a bit bizarre in hindsight, as Wayne deeply hated Midday and its moral message. The Oscars also served as Wayne's final public appearance, as he died two months after presenting Michael Cimino with the award for Best Director for The Deer Hunter at the 51st Academy Awards ceremony.
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John Wayne's first Oscar nomination: Sands of Iwo Jima – Best Actor
Lost to Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men
The Academy first noticed a Wayne performance in the 1949 World War II drama Sands of Iwo Jima. The star was famously embarrassed that he had not served during the war like many other actors during that period, although he did make war films such as Fighting sea bees and Sands of Iwo Jima to reaffirm their patriotism. Wayne played the gruff sergeant. Stryker in the film, who is tough on his men to prepare them for the much harsher reality of war.
Sands of Iwo Jima was a more than worthy appointment, although compared to The researchersStryker didn't have the same character depth. Wayne lost the Oscar anyway and was probably dissatisfied with the real winner. Broderick Crawford won the award for All the king's mena political drama that Wayne himself had previously turned down for being “unpatriotic” (through Hollywood's Golden Age). Losing the award for a film he apparently despised must have made the loss even harder for Wayne.
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John Wayne's Second Nomination: The Alamo – Best Film
Lost to the apartment
The Alamo was Wayne's passion project, with the star spending more than a decade developing the historical epic. Likewise, Kevin Costner invested a large part of his fortune in his Horizon saga, Wayne is said to have invested more than $1 million of his fortune to achieve The Alamo produced. He also served as producer and director, with the resulting three-hour Western receiving mixed reviews but becoming a box office success; it also received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
Of your seven nods, The Alamo only won an Oscar for Best Soundwhich went to Gordon E. Sawyer and Fred Hynes. The film lost the Best Picture award to Billy Wilder's classic The apartment. While The Alamo has its strengths, it also looks bloated and unfocused, so in this case, The apartment was definitely the right choice among the nominees.
It is also believed that the openly aggressive campaign of Poplar co-star Chill Wills for Best Supporting Actor hurt the film's awards chances. One of these ads said “We, the cast of 'Alamo,' are praying harder – than the real Texans prayed for their lives at the Alamo – for Chill Wills to win the Oscar for best supporting actor.” This ad was seen as tacky, and Wayne himself spoke out against Wills for publishing it.; “Bow-Wow” actor Wojciechowicz’s publicity agent later took the blame for running the ads (via Vanity Fair).
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John Wayne's third nomination: True Grit – Best Actor
John Wayne won his only Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn
John Wayne's big Oscar win finally came in 1970, when he won Best Actor for True courage. Based on the Western novel of the same name, the film cast Wayne as the drunken, brash U.S. Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn, who helps a teenage girl track down the bandit who killed her father. Wayne's performance is loud and broad, though there are some tender moments. also. Wayne considered Cogburn the best role he had played in years – although he later confessed Playboy (through The wrap) that True courage itself did not rank highly among his other westerns.
John Wayne I enjoyed playing the character enough to reprise it in 1975 Cogburn Roosterwhich proved to be his penultimate film. There was a sort of legacy-winning element to Wayne getting the statue for True couragebut although it may not be a very subtle change, he still deserved his Oscar victory for bringing Rooster Cogburn to life.
Source: Hollywood's Golden Age, Vanity Fair, Playboy/The Wrap