Having made his name as a singer in 1956, Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker had a vision for his client to become a Hollywood movie star. That same year The King acted in his first movie, a Western called Love Me Tender. Among his musical romantic comedies, he starred in three more Wild West films in Flaming Star, Frankie and Johnny and Charro, which caught the eye of John Wayne himself.

During this period, Wayne was America’s cowboy star, having acted in his first Western in 1930’s The Big Trail, before making iconic movies with John Ford like The Searchers.In 1969, the 62-year-old starred in one of his last box office successes, an adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel True Grit.

The storyline saw Duke play Rooster Cogburn, a tough one-eyed old United States Marshal who helps a 14-year-old girl track down the drunk who killed her father.They did this with the help of Texan Ranger LaBoeuf, a part that initially was set for Elvis.However, in the late 1960s, Elvis was tired of making poor musical rom-coms and returned his focus to live performances with his 1968 Comeback Special and subsequent Las Vegas residences.

The King’s cousin Billy Smith described on his son Danny’s Memphis Mafia Kid YouTube channel how John Wayne asked Elvis to co-star in a few of his movies. He said: “In fact, he asked him a couple of times.” In the end, his manager The Colonel pushed it too far by demanding that Elvis should receive top billing above Wayne if he were to play the Texan in True Grit.Billy added: “Of course, it was always carried through Colonel and at that time when he was asking, Elvis was such a big star.

Colonel didn’t want him to play second co-star or second star…with anybody else, so that ruled that out.”Since Wayne was already such a huge star, True Grit’s producers declined Elvis even though he was their original choice for the role of LaBoeuf.

Instead, another musician, Glen Campbell, was cast as the Texan ranger, which saw him nominated for a Golden Globe.If that wasn’t enough, Duke himself won the Golden Globe and his first and only Oscar in the Best Actor category for Rooster Cogburn.The Western legend said during his Academy Awards speech: “Wow! If I’d known that, I’d have put that [eye] patch on 35 years earlier.”

John Wayne died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979 at the age of 72. Just three years later he starred in what many believed to be his final movie, The Shootist. The 1976 Western co-starring Lauren Bacall, James Stewart and Ron Howard saw Duke play JB Books, an ageing gunfighter with cancer at the turn of the 20th century.

It’s an urban legend that Wayne was terminally ill like his character when filming The Shootist.Duke had been cancer free after having his left lung and several ribs removed in 1964 after a diagnosis of the disease.However, in early 1979, metastases were found in his stomach, intestines and spine and he died that summer.

What might surprise fans of the Western star is that he had an uncredited cameo in 1977’s original Star Wars movie, later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope.Star Wars director George Lucas was a big fan of Wayne growing up, allegedly inspiring his later reedit of Han Solo only shooting Greedo after the alien fired at Han first.

The reason being that shooting first would be something that a Wayne Western character wouldn’t do, according to CBR.On top of this, when Luke Skywalker finds the burnt bodies of his aunt and uncle, the scene is clearly inspired by John Ford’s The Searchers, when Duke’s character finds the charred corpses of his brother, sister-in-law and nephew.

Now while Wayne’s voice is in 1977’s Star Wars it turns out this wasn’t included by Lucas.The uncredited cameo itself sees Wayne’s vocals from some stock audio used to voice Garindan, a long-snooted Kubaz who sells information to the highest bidder as an Imperial spy.In Star Wars, the creature tells the Stormtroopers where Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids are located.

Garindan’s vocals are all squeaky because the audio is simply Wayne’s voice distorted. Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt explained years later how he ended up creating what was technically The Hollywood legend’s last screen role.Burtt said: “I always wanted to do an insect man – we didn’t really have an insect man come along until Poggle the Lesser [from Episodes II and III]. We had that character that looked kind of like a mosquito from the first Star Wars [Garindan] that we found we needed a sound for.

“And I was wondering back a few months ago how I did it – because I keep notes and tapes – and I discovered it was an electronic buzzing which had come off of my synthesizer that was triggered by a human voice.”The Star Wars sound engineer then went on to share how he discovered the vocals was that of Wayne himself.Burtt continued: “And I listened to it and realised it was John Wayne. I had found some loop lines in the trash from the studio that had been thrown away.“So the buzzing was triggered by some dialogue like ‘All right, what are you doin’ in this town’ or something like that.”So by the sounds of it neither Lucas nor Wayne himself had anything to do with this incredible Easter egg.

It’s almost fitting that John Wayne was buried under a tree. The unmarked grave was often a fitting end for a cowboy, like the many the actor played. A simple cross on some prairie trail.After he died in 1979, Wayne’s grave was unmarked for almost 20 years. For such a public figure, Wayne’s family held a private funeral for the actor. A line of security kept the prying public eye away while they mourned Duke Morrison.To preserve Wayne’s privacy and peace at the cemetery, the family decided not to put a name on his grave.“You want him to rest in peace. We didn’t want to make a shrine,” his son Ethan Wayne told the L.A. Times. “It’s more out of respect for the people that are out there. They don’t want their loved ones’ graves trampled on.”

Wayne is buried at Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach on a hilltop near the ocean. The cemetery refuses to acknowledge the location of his grave. But you can find the directions online with a little searching. It is a fitting final resting place. For years, the actor lived in the area, often sailing around the water on his boat. The nearby airport even renamed itself in Wayne’s honor after the actor’s death.John Wayne Gets a Headstone

During the following decades, Wayne’s family have softened their stance in regards to fans visiting the actor’s grave. Finally, in 1998, his family gave him a marker. Rather than make a monument to the stars, they opted for a simple plaque with Wayne’s name and a quote from the actor.Additionally, the actor’s son thinks it appropriate that fans come and see his father’s resting place. After-all, so much of Wayne’s adult life was in the public sphere.
“I personally think it’s wonderful that people want to go see him,” Ethan Wayne said. “He was a public person. He had a relationship with his family. But he also had a relationship with his fans. His fans allowed him to lead his lifestyle… He spent probably three to four hours a day just answering fan mail. Every letter got answered. They like him. If they want to go see him, I think it’s wonderful. He had a tremendous impact on people.”

In the years that follow, several fans have made the pilgrimage to give their respect to the on-screen cowboy. But many still, don’t realize a Hollywood legend is buried nearby.