Found this on Yahoo:
In John Wayne’s own words, “There’ve been a lot of stories about how I got to be called Duke. One was that I played the part of a duke in a school play, which I never did. Sometimes, they even said I was descended from royalty! It was all a lot of rubbish. Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!”
John Wayne was born Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. When young Marion was six, the family moved to California, eventually settling in Glendale. Marion delivered newspapers in the morning with his trusty Airedale, Duke. The locale firemen called them “Big Duke” and “Little Duke.”
Marion later accepted a full scholarship to play football at the University of Southern California. In the summer of 1926, head coach Howard Jones fixed Duke up with a job as an assistant prop man on the set of a John Ford movie. The rest is history.
The happy Morrison family
Marion Morrison (John Wayne) and his dog Duke
Who could know that boy would turn into this man?
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
HE WAS ROYALTY…EVEN BACK THEN?
Thank you for that information! I loved John Wayne.
You are most welcome ! It is interesting isn’t it?!
Great back story. Thanks for sharing!
Cindy asked me about it. So I thought I’d post it. You’re welcome.
Sounds reasonable, Pilgrim! Shinbone Star says it’s LEE-git.
Print the legend!
I coulda made sumpthin up I gess. But this wuz good.
Was this obliquely referenced in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? To wit: Professor Henry Jones, Sr. to Henry Jones, Jr.: “We named the dog Indiana”
Haaa ! Nice. Not many people would have noticed that.