John Wayne

John Wayne (1907-1979) was a member of Glendale DeMolay Chapter as a youth and became a Master Mason in Marion McDaniel Lodge 56, Tucson, Arizona in 1970. He won but a single Academy Award during his impressive acting career, for his role as the crotchety Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 film, "True Grit." However, he also received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Sargent John Stryker in the 1949 classic, "The Sands of Iwo Jima." For many years that part was considered Wayne's best work, and when Grauman's Chinese Theater honored him, the cement used to cast his footprints contained sand imported from Iwo Jima. Brother Wayne became so legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975, the only celebrity he asked to meet was John Wayne, who had become the symbolic representation of Japan's former enemy.