Full Name: John Wayne (born Marion Robert Morrison); Profession: Academy Award‑winning film actor, director, and producer, best known for Westerns and war films that made him one of the defining icons of twentieth‑century American cinema; Nationality: American; Born: May 26, 1907; Birthplace: Winterset, Iowa, United States; Generation: Greatest Generation (also called the GI Generation, broadly defined as Americans born about 1901–1924 who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II); Chinese Zodiac: Fire Goat (1907 is identified in Chinese astrology as a Fire Goat year). Zodiac Sign: Gemini (all those born on May 26 fall under the sign of Gemini); Age in 2026: 119 (2026 minus his 1907 birth year, though he died in 1979); Marital Status: Married three times—first to Josephine Alicia Saenz (married 1933, four children, later divorced); second to Mexican actress Esperanza Baur (married 1946, divorced 1954); and third to Peruvian actress Pilar Pallete (married 1954, they remained legally married until his death). Children: Seven children—Michael; Mary Antonia “Toni"; Patrick; Melinda; Aissa; John Ethan (often known simply as Ethan); and Marisa—born from his marriages to Josephine Saenz and Pilar Pallete, forming a large family that has remained active in preserving his legacy. Cause of Death: Died on June 11, 1979, in Los Angeles, California, at age 72 from complications of stomach cancer; Description: John Wayne, universally nicknamed “The Duke,” rose from modest Midwestern beginnings to become one of Hollywood’s most enduring and influential stars, embodying a screen persona of rugged masculinity, stoic courage, and frontier individualism that helped shape global perceptions of the American West and the American soldier across more than five decades of filmmaking; after early bit parts and years of studio struggle, his breakthrough came with John Ford’s landmark Western “Stagecoach” (1939), which transformed him into a leading man and launched an extraordinary run of starring roles in Westerns, war films, and adventure dramas that included classics such as “Red River,” “The Searchers,” “Rio Bravo,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” and “True Grit,” for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1970; over the course of appearing in more than 150 films, he cultivated a distinctive style—deliberate walk, laconic drawl, and unshakeable moral certainty—that audiences associated with frontier honor, patriotic duty, and old‑fashioned American resilience, even as critics later debated the political and cultural implications of his roles and public statements; beyond acting, Wayne produced and occasionally directed films, engaged in outspoken anticommunist politics, and became a symbolic figure for generations of Americans who saw in him an idealized version of national character, while for others he represented a contested vision of U.S. power and masculinity in the twentieth century; despite never serving in uniform during World War II, his portrayals of soldiers and frontier heroes, his long box‑office dominance during Hollywood’s Golden Age, and his posthumous cultural afterlife—through museums, film retrospectives, and ongoing popular references—have ensured that a man born under Gemini and the Fire Goat continues to stand as perhaps the single most globally recognized celebrity born on May 26.