89-589: Ambassador Hotel may refer to: United States [ edit ] Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles) , California Ambassador Hotel (Jacksonville) , Florida Ambassador Hotel (San Francisco) , California Ambassador Hotel (Atlantic City) , New Jersey (converted to the Tropicana Casino and Resort in 1981) Ambassador Hotel (Tulsa, Oklahoma) Ambassador East , Chicago, Illinois Ambassador West , Chicago, Illinois Ambassador Hotel Historic District , listed on
178-699: A Woman starring George Gobel and Diana Dors had its Los Angeles opening. In it, Wayne had a cameo as himself. On October 2, John Huston 's The Barbarian and the Geisha , in which Wayne played the lead and clashed with his director all the way, had its New York opening. Howard Hawks 's Rio Bravo premiered on March 18, 1959. In it, Wayne plays the lead with a supporting cast including Dean Martin , Ricky Nelson , Angie Dickinson , Walter Brennan and Ward Bond . John Ford's The Horse Soldiers had its world premiere in Shreveport, Louisiana on June 18. Set during
267-591: A centurion in George Stevens 's The Greatest Story Ever Told . On April 6, he shared the screen with Kirk Douglas and Patricia Neal in Otto Preminger 's In Harm's Way . On June 13, he acted in Henry Hathaway's The Sons of Katie Elder with Dean Martin . In 1966, Wayne appeared in a cameo role for Melville Shavelson 's Cast a Giant Shadow starring Kirk Douglas. On May 24, 1967, Wayne played
356-581: A film about the crews who put out oil rig fires. Katharine Ross played a supporting role. On June 13, 1969, Henry Hathaway's True Grit premiered. For his role as Rooster Cogburn, Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards . In November of that year another film starring Wayne was released, Andrew V. McLaglen's The Undefeated with Rock Hudson . On June 24, 1970, Andrew V. McLaglen's Chisum started to play in cinemas. Wayne took
445-468: A guest on radio programs, such as: The Hedda Hopper Show and The Louella Parsons Show . He made a number of appearances in dramatic roles, mainly recreations for radio of his own film roles, on such programs as Screen Directors Playhouse and Lux Radio Theatre . For six months in 1942, Wayne starred in his own radio adventure series, Three Sheets to the Wind , produced by film director Tay Garnett . In
534-473: A huge box-office flop at the time, but came to be highly regarded by modern critics. After the commercial failure of The Big Trail , Wayne was relegated to small roles in A pictures, including Columbia's The Deceiver (1931), in which he played a corpse. He appeared in the serial The Three Musketeers (1933), an updated version of the Alexandre Dumas novel in which the protagonists were soldiers in
623-565: A major name. John Ford 's Stagecoach (1939) made Wayne a mainstream star, and he starred in 142 motion pictures altogether. According to biographer Ronald Davis, "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage." Wayne's other roles in Westerns included a cattleman driving his herd on the Chisholm Trail in Red River (1948), a Civil War veteran whose niece is abducted by
712-683: A man who shod horses for Hollywood studios. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay . He played football for the 1924 league champion Glendale High School team. Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy , but was not accepted due to poor grades. Instead, he attended the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law . He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi fraternities. Wayne, who stood 6 feet 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (1.94 metres) tall, also played on
801-762: A prop boy and extra. Wayne later credited his walk, talk, and persona to his acquaintance with Wyatt Earp , who was good friends with Tom Mix. Wayne soon moved to bit parts , establishing a longtime friendship with the director who provided most of those roles, John Ford. Early in this period, he had a minor, uncredited role as a guard in the 1926 film Bardelys the Magnificent . Wayne also appeared with his USC teammates playing football in Brown of Harvard (1926), The Dropkick (1927), and Salute (1929) and Columbia 's Maker of Men (filmed in 1930, released in 1931). While working for Fox Film Corporation in bit roles, Wayne
890-600: A role which Wayne had wanted, but turned down. Upon its theatrical release, it grossed $ 13,406,138 domestically. About $ 6 million were earned as US theatrical rentals . The film received positive reviews. It was named one of the Ten Best Films of 1976 by the National Board of Review. Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times ranked The Shootist number 10 on his list of the 10 best films of 1976. The film
979-954: A tribe of Comanches in The Searchers (1956), a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer ( James Stewart ) for a woman's hand in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and a cantankerous one-eyed marshal in True Grit (1969), for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor . Wayne is also remembered for his roles in The Quiet Man (1952) with Maureen O'Hara , Rio Bravo (1959) with Dean Martin , and The Longest Day (1962). In his final screen performance, he starred as an aging gunfighter battling cancer in The Shootist (1976). Wayne made his last public appearance at
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#17328439282941068-552: A week of basic training at the Army's Infantry Training Center at Fort Ord in northern California. Morrow noted that the instructors who worked with the cast at Fort Ord had one common request: not to act like John Wayne. "Poor John," Morrow told a reporter. "I wonder if he knows he's almost a dirty word in the Army." On February 20, 1963, Wayne acted in a segment of How the West Was Won directed by John Ford. On June 12, Wayne played
1157-520: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles) The Ambassador Hotel was a hotel in Los Angeles, California . Designed by architect Myron Hunt , the Ambassador Hotel formally opened to the public on January 1, 1921. Later renovations by architect Paul Williams were made to the hotel in the late 1940s. It
1246-538: The Three Mesquiteers Westerns, whose title was a play on the Dumas classic. He was mentored by stuntmen in riding and other Western skills. Stuntman Yakima Canutt and Wayne developed and perfected stunts and onscreen fisticuffs techniques that are still in use. One of the main innovations with which Wayne is credited in these early Poverty Row Westerns is allowing the good guys to fight as convincingly as
1335-560: The 1939 Academy Awards Ceremony was held in the Cocoanut Grove, with Bob Hope hosting the awards. The 1953 Golden Globe awards were presented at the hotel. During World War II , servicemen from the U.S. military mingled with movie stars at the hotel during numerous galas and fundraising events to help with war efforts. Loyce Whiteman , singer for the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, recalled, "the most beautiful thing about
1424-675: The Academy Awards ceremony on April 9, 1979, and died of stomach cancer two months later. In 1980, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the highest civilian honor of the United States. Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, at 224 South Second Street in Winterset, Iowa . The local paper, Winterset Madisonian , reported on page 4 of the edition of May 30, 1907, that Wayne weighed 13 lb (around 6 kg) at birth. Wayne claimed his middle name
1513-504: The Charleston contests held on Friday nights; Lombard was discovered at the Grove. The famous artificial palm trees that adorned the Cocoanut Grove were left from Rudolph Valentino 's 1921 silent romantic drama film The Sheik . The names of the hotel and its nightclub quickly became synonymous with glamour. As a result, “Cocoanut Grove" would become a trendy name for bars and clubs across
1602-529: The French Foreign Legion in then-contemporary North Africa. He played the lead, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation . By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about 80 of these horse operas from 1930 to 1939. In Riders of Destiny (1933), he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, albeit via dubbing. Wayne also appeared in some of
1691-502: The Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides , Scotland. He was raised Presbyterian. Wayne's family moved to Palmdale, California , and then in 1916 to Glendale at 404 Isabel Street, where his father worked as a pharmacist. He attended Glendale Union High School , where he performed well in both sports and academics. Wayne was part of his high school's football team and its debating team. He
1780-502: The National Register of Historic Places for Kansas City, Missouri Hotel Ambassador, 345 Park Avenue , Manhattan, New York (1921-1958) Other places [ edit ] Ambasador Hotel , Niš, Serbia Ambassador Hotel Hsinchu , Taiwan Ambassador Hotel Kaohsiung , Taiwan See also [ edit ] Hotel Ambasadori , Tbilisi, Georgia Disney Ambassador Hotel , Tokyo Disney Resort, Japan Topics referred to by
1869-693: The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the modern CIA , but his bid was ultimately unsuccessful. Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944, with the USO . During this trip, he carried out a request from William J. Donovan , head of the OSS, to assess whether General Douglas MacArthur , commander of the South West Pacific Area , or his staff were hindering
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#17328439282941958-515: The USC football team under coach Howard Jones . A broken collarbone injury curtailed his athletic career; Wayne later noted that he was too terrified of Jones' reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury, a bodysurfing accident. He lost his athletic scholarship, and without funds, had to leave the university. As a favor to coach Jones, who had given silent Western film star Tom Mix tickets to USC games, director John Ford and Mix hired Wayne as
2047-530: The University of Southern California due to a bodysurfing accident, he began working for the Fox Film Corporation . He appeared mostly in small parts, but his first leading role came in Raoul Walsh 's Western The Big Trail (1930), an early widescreen film epic that was a box-office failure. He played leading roles in numerous B movies during the 1930s, most of them also Westerns, without becoming
2136-677: The silent era of the 1920s through the American New Wave , as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades and appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa , but grew up in Southern California . After losing his football scholarship to
2225-640: The 1921 classic, The Sheik . Swinging from their branches were stuffed monkeys blinking at the revelers with their electrified amber eyes. Stars twinkled in the blue ceiling sky, and on the southernmost wall hung a full Hawaiian moon presiding over a painted landscape and splashing waterfall." The Cocoanut Grove was frequented by celebrities such as Louis B. Mayer , Charlie Chaplin , Douglas Fairbanks , Mary Pickford , Howard Hughes , Clara Bow , Rudolph Valentino , Gloria Swanson , Anna May Wong , Norma Talmadge and others. According to Photoplay , Joan Crawford and Carole Lombard were frequent competitors in
2314-412: The 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the major studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor —a much bigger star at the time—received top billing. Stagecoach was a huge critical and financial success, and Wayne became a mainstream star. Cast member Louise Platt credited Ford as saying at
2403-532: The 1940s, and he had begun to wear a hairpiece by the end of the decade. He was occasionally seen in public without the hairpiece (such as, according to Life , at Gary Cooper 's funeral). During an appearance at Harvard University , Wayne was asked by a student, "Is it true that your toupée is real mohair ?" He responded: "[...] sir, that's real hair. Not mine, but real hair." A close friend, California Congressman Alphonzo E. Bell Jr. , wrote of Wayne: "Duke's personality and sense of humor were very close to what
2492-462: The Ambassador Hotel opened for business at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 1921, and quickly established a new standard of hotel luxury. Guests were greeted by a grand lobby upon arrival, with an oversized Italian fireplace, crystal chandeliers, oriental carpets and luxurious draperies adorning the lobby, along with a choice of 1,000 guestrooms and bungalows. The hotel occupied 23.7 acres at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, bordered by Wilshire Boulevard at
2581-549: The Ambassador Palm Beach joined in 1929. The Schine Family owned The Ambassador from its opening in 1921 until 1971. The Ambassador Hotel was frequented by celebrities, some of whom, such as Pola Negri , resided there. From 1930 to 1943, six Academy Awards ceremonies were hosted at the hotel. Perhaps as many as seven U.S. presidents stayed at the Ambassador, from Hoover to Nixon , along with chiefs of state from around
2670-735: The Civil War, Wayne shares the lead with William Holden . Wayne notoriously portrayed Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956), which was panned by critics. In 1960, Wayne directed and produced The Alamo portraying Davy Crockett , with Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie . Wayne was nominated for an Oscar as the producer in the Best Picture category. That year Wayne also played the lead in Henry Hathaway 's North to Alaska also starring Stewart Granger and Ernie Kovacs . In 1961, Wayne shared
2759-471: The Cocoanut Grove, retaining only the hotel entrance and east wall of the Grove. Litigation between the district and the Los Angeles Conservancy , which had sought to preserve the Ambassador Hotel, was settled out of court on December 18, 2007; demolition began on January 22, 2008. The Central Los Angeles New Learning Center #1 K–3, and Central Los Angeles New Learning Center #1 4–8/HS, along with
Ambassador Hotel - Misplaced Pages Continue
2848-541: The Duke . His divorce from Esperanza Baur, a Mexican former actress, was stormy. She believed that Wayne and co-star Gail Russell were having an affair, a claim that both Wayne and Russell denied. The night the film Angel and the Badman (1947) wrapped, the usual party was held for cast and crew, and Wayne came home very late. Esperanza was in a drunken rage by the time he arrived, and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through
2937-476: The Grove is that they stood in front of you when you sang and just swayed to the music. Joan Crawford would stand at the stand and sing a couple of choruses with the band. It was a house full of stars." On June 5, 1968, the winner of the California Democratic presidential primary election , United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy , gave a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel to supporters. After
3026-529: The Los Angeles Unified School District. On September 10, 2005, a final public auction was held for the remaining fittings in the hotel's parking lot, with demolition commencing soon afterwards. On January 16, 2006, the last section of the Ambassador Hotel fell, leaving only the annex that housed the hotel's entrance, shopping arcade, coffee shop, and the Cocoanut Grove, which were promised to be preserved in some manner and integrated within
3115-560: The Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park, were built on the site. The six schools were named as the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools . The K–3 facility opened on September 9, 2009, and the 4–8 and high school facility began operation on September 14, 2010. The north side of the new school has a slightly similar appearance to the original facade of the hotel and north lawns will remain much the same, as seen from Wilshire Boulevard. The Ambassador Hotel
3204-558: The Sky (1953), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and Jet Pilot (1957). He appeared in nearly two dozen of John Ford's films over 20 years, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), and The Wings of Eagles (1957). The first movie in which he called someone "Pilgrim", Ford's The Searchers (1956), is often considered to contain Wayne's finest and most complex performance. On May 14, 1958, Hal Kanter 's I Married
3293-499: The United States. Beginning in 1928, Gus Arnheim led the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, in which six to seven songs were sung each night. At one point, there was a two-hour broadcast of the orchestra on radio. By the 1930s, the Cocoanut Grove was frequented by cinema stars like Norma Shearer , Irving Thalberg , Clark Gable , Katharine Hepburn , Spencer Tracy , Cary Grant , John Wayne , Henry Fonda , Loretta Young , Lucille Ball , Ginger Rogers and many others. On February 29, 1940,
3382-538: The Wilshire corridor. Under the direction of Sammy Davis, Jr., the “Now Grove” replaced the classic Cocoanut Grove in 1970 in order to appeal to a modern nightclub crowd. However, patrons lost interest in both the hotel and the neighborhood surrounding it, which caused the Ambassador Hotel to fall into disrepair throughout the years. The Ambassador Hotel closed to guests in 1989, but it remained opened for filming and hosting private events. In 1991, Donald Trump , who had bought
3471-425: The area where the 1968 shooting occurred were eliminated from the site. The section of Wilshire Boulevard in front of the hotel has been signed the "Robert F. Kennedy Parkway". The death of Robert F. Kennedy marked the demise of the hotel coinciding with the decline of the surrounding neighborhood during the late 1960s and 1970s. The area also saw a surge of illegal drugs , poverty , and gang activity infiltrating
3560-451: The area. After subsequent litigations to preserve the hotel as a historic site, a settlement allowed the Ambassador Hotel to be demolished in 2005, completed by early 2006. Located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard , between Catalina Street and Mariposa Avenue in present-day Koreatown , The Ambassador was set back from Wilshire Boulevard on 24 acres, which included the main hotel structure, a garage and numerous detached bungalows. The Ambassador
3649-464: The auditorium for the new school. Also promised was preservation of the attached ground floor coffee shop, designed by architect Paul Williams . Studies by the LAUSD determined that the integrity of the Cocoanut Grove was weaker than anticipated and that they could neither use it within the planned school nor move it without risking its destruction. In 2004, the LAUSD board voted in favor of demolishing most of
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3738-627: The bad guys, by not always making them fight clean. Wayne claimed, "Before I came along, it was standard practice that the hero must always fight clean. The heavy was allowed to hit the hero in the head with a chair or throw a kerosene lamp at him or kick him in the stomach, but the hero could only knock the villain down politely and then wait until he rose. I changed all that. I threw chairs and lamps. I fought hard and I fought dirty. I fought to win." Wayne's second breakthrough role came with John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). Because of Wayne's B-movie status and track record in low-budget Westerns throughout
3827-450: The breathtaking scenery, it was filmed in two versions, a standard 35 mm version and another in the new 70 mm Grandeur film process, using an innovative camera and lenses. Many in the audience who saw it in Grandeur stood and cheered, but only a handful of theaters were equipped to show the film in its widescreen process, and the effort was largely wasted at the time. The film was considered
3916-685: The classic collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott , and Gun the Man Down (1956) with contract player James Arness as an outlaw. One of Wayne's most popular roles was in The High and the Mighty (1954), directed by William Wellman , and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann . His portrayal of a heroic copilot won widespread acclaim. Wayne also portrayed aviators in Flying Tigers (1942), Flying Leathernecks (1951), Island in
4005-550: The film and television industry. Son Ethan was billed as John Ethan Wayne in a few films, and played one of the leads in the 1990s update of the Adam-12 television series. Ethan has also appeared on the History Channel show Pawn Stars to help authenticate merchandise supposedly related to his father's career. Granddaughter Jennifer Wayne, daughter of Aissa, is a member of the country music group Runaway June . In 1973, Wayne
4094-403: The front door. Wayne had several high-profile affairs, including one with Merle Oberon that lasted from 1938 to 1947. After his separation from Pilar, in 1973, Wayne became romantically involved and lived with his former secretary Pat Stacy (1941–1995) until his death in 1979. Stacy published a book about her life with him in 1983, titled Duke: A Love Story . Wayne's hair began to thin in
4183-426: The hotel as a potential location to be scouted, documenting the property one last time. The images taken by both the students and the professionals were then exhibited side by side at Los Angeles City Hall. After much litigation, a settlement was attained at the end of August 2005, allowing the demolition to begin in exchange for the establishment of a $ 4.9 million fund, reserved for saving historic school buildings in
4272-458: The hotel in 1992. The hotel also served as the filming location for the music video of the 1997 Marilyn Manson single " Long Hard Road Out of Hell " off the soundtrack for the Todd McFarlane motion picture Spawn . Rock band 311 used the lobby of hotel as the backdrop for a photo shoot of the album cover of their 2003 album Evolver . In November 1997, punk-rock band Green Day filmed
4361-482: The hotel in hopes of tearing it down to build a 125-story building, sold off silver serving platters with the hotel's eagle-topped crest, tiki-style soup bowls from the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and beds and nightstands from the rooms. From 2004 and 2005, the Ambassador Hotel became the topic of a legal struggle between the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which planned to clear
4450-518: The lead in Burt Kennedy 's The War Wagon with Kirk Douglas as the second lead. His second movie that year, Howard Hawks's El Dorado , a highly successful partial remake of Rio Bravo with Robert Mitchum playing Dean Martin's original role, premiered on June 7. In 1968, Wayne co-directed with Ray Kellogg The Green Berets , the only major film made during the Vietnam War in support of
4539-403: The lead in his final John Ford film, Donovan's Reef , co-starring Lee Marvin . On November 13, another film starring Wayne premiered, Andrew V. McLaglen 's McLintock! , once again opposite Maureen O'Hara . In 1964, Wayne played the leading role in Henry Hathaway's Circus World with Claudia Cardinale and Rita Hayworth . On February 15, 1965, Wayne played the brief cameo role of
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#17328439282944628-670: The lead with Stuart Whitman in Michael Curtiz 's The Comancheros . On May 23, 1962, Wayne starred in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with James Stewart. May 29 marked the premiere of Howard Hawks's Hatari! , shot on location in Africa with Wayne playing the lead capturing wild animals from the beds of trucks; all the scenes with animals in the film are real. On October 4, The Longest Day started its theatrical run, with Wayne memorably acting with an ensemble cast. Although
4717-505: The leading role of Jimmy Ringo in The Gunfighter (1950) to Gregory Peck due to his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures because its chief, Harry Cohn , had mistreated him years before when he was a young contract player. Cohn had bought the project for Wayne, but Wayne's grudge was too deep, and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century Fox , which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted, but for which he refused to bend. Batjac ,
4806-427: The many entertainers who attended and performed at the Cocoanut Grove. The hotel was the site of the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. Due to the decline of the hotel and the surrounding area, the Ambassador Hotel was closed to guests in 1989. In 2001, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) purchased the property with the intent of constructing three new schools within
4895-482: The music video to the song " Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) " in the hotel. John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), professionally known as John Wayne and nicknamed " the Duke ", was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age , especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from
4984-475: The name was set. Wayne was not even present for the discussion. His pay was raised to $ 105 a week. The Big Trail was to be the first big-budget outdoor spectacle of the sound era, made at a then-staggering cost over $ 2 million (over $ 32.8 million equivalent in 2021), using hundreds of extras and wide vistas of the American Southwest , still largely unpopulated at the time. To take advantage of
5073-426: The new club officially opened its Moroccan style , gold leaf and etched palm tree doors... The Cocoanut Grove was aptly named, guests agreed as they were escorted by the maître de and captains down the wide plush grand staircase... Overhead, soaring about the room were cocoanut trees of papier mache, cocoanuts and palm fronds which had been rescued from the sandy beaches of Oxnard where they had served as atmosphere of
5162-464: The new school. A ceremony commemorating the demolition of the hotel was held across the street on February 2, 2006, at the H.M.S. Bounty restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Gaylord Apartments. The Cocoanut Grove was renovated several times before, which destroyed much of its architectural integrity. It was promised that it would undergo yet another major transformation before becoming
5251-466: The north, 8th Street at the south, Catalina Street at the east, and nearly to Mariposa Avenue at the west. When the hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub opened on April 21, 1921, it had officially solidified the hotel's social scene. In the 1980 book, Are the Stars Out Tonight? , former Ambassador PR Director, Margaret Tante Burk, recalls the Grove's opening night: "...on the night of April 21, 1921…
5340-430: The other top-level actors in the film accepted a token payment of only $ 10,000 each to play their roles, making the all-star cast feasible for the budget, Wayne was paid a quarter of a million dollars due to an earlier dispute with producer Darryl F. Zanuck . During this time, the cast of the television drama, Combat! , were preparing for the inaugural season. The principal cast (including Vic Morrow ) were to go through
5429-496: The plot of The African Queen along with Katharine Hepburn as his leading lady. In 1976, Wayne starred in Don Siegel 's The Shootist , also starring Lauren Bacall , Ron Howard and James Stewart . It was Wayne's final cinematic role, whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer, to which Wayne himself succumbed three years later. It contains numerous plot similarities to The Gunfighter of nearly 30 years before,
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#17328439282945518-602: The production company co-founded by Wayne in 1952, was named after the fictional shipping company Batjak in Wake of the Red Witch (1948), a film based on the novel by Garland Roark . (A spelling error by Wayne's secretary was allowed to stand, accounting for the variation.) Batjac (and its predecessor, Wayne-Fellows Productions) was the arm through which Wayne produced many films for himself and other stars. Its best-known non-Wayne productions were Seven Men From Now (1956), which started
5607-457: The role of an estranged father who must track down a gang who kidnapped his grandson. The film was a critically acclaimed hit. In 1972, Wayne starred in Mark Rydell 's The Cowboys . Vincent Canby of The New York Times , who did not particularly care for the film, wrote: "Wayne is, of course, marvelously indestructible, and he has become an almost perfect father figure". The same year, he
5696-506: The role of the owner of a cattle ranch, who finds out that a businessman is trying to own neighboring land illegally. On September 16, Howard Hawks ' Rio Lobo premiered. Wayne played Col. Cord McNally, who confronts Confederate soldiers who stole a shipment of gold at the end of the Civil War. This was another remake of Rio Bravo albeit without a second lead the box office caliber of Dean Martin or Robert Mitchum. In June 1971, George Sherman 's Big Jake made its debut. Wayne played
5785-498: The role throughout the series' run on NBC . Director Robert Rossen offered the starring role in All the King's Men (1949) to Wayne, but he refused, believing the script to be un-American in many ways. Broderick Crawford , who was eventually cast in the role, won the 1949 Oscar for best male actor, ironically beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). He lost
5874-429: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ambassador Hotel . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ambassador_Hotel&oldid=1244400500 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
5963-451: The series, an international spy/detective show, Wayne played Dan O'Brien, a detective who used alcoholism as a mask for his investigatory endeavors. The show was intended by Garnett to be a pilot of sorts for a film version, though the motion picture never came to fruition. No episodes of the series featuring Wayne seem to have survived, though a demonstration episode with Brian Donlevy in the leading role does exist. Wayne, not Donlevy, played
6052-654: The site and construct a school on the property, and the Los Angeles Conservancy and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, who wanted the hotel and its various elements preserved and integrated into the future school. The Location Managers Guild organized an event together with the Jefferson High School Academy of Film and Television in March 2005, entitled Last Looks: The Ambassador Hotel . They mentored students in script breakdown and location scouting , using
6141-438: The speech in the Embassy Room, Kennedy was shot three times along with five other people in the pantry area of the hotel's main kitchen soon after midnight. Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the scene and later convicted of the murder. Kennedy died the following day at Good Samaritan Hospital ; the other victims all survived. During the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel in late 2005 and early 2006, portions of
6230-427: The television special Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night , first shown on Cinemax on January 3, 1988. Rock band Linkin Park held their press photo shoot for their 2003 album Meteora at the hotel. Guns N' Roses filmed the music video for their song, " Patience ", in the hotel in 1989. R&B singer Chuckii Booker filmed the music video for his song " Games " from the album Niice 'n Wiild at
6319-637: The time that Wayne would become the biggest star ever because of his appeal as the archetypal "everyman". America's entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor ) and family status (classified as 3-A – family deferment). Wayne repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford's military unit. Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios
6408-592: The war. Wayne wanted to make this movie because at that time Hollywood had little interest in making movies about the Vietnam War. During the filming of The Green Berets , the Degar or Montagnard people of Vietnam's Central Highlands, fierce fighters against communism, bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films. Also that year, Wayne played the lead in Andrew V. McLaglen's Hellfighters ,
6497-457: The work of the OSS. Donovan later issued Wayne an OSS Certificate of Service to memorialize Wayne's contribution to the OSS mission. By many accounts, his failure to serve in the military later became the most painful part of his life. His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home." Wayne's first color film
6586-637: The world. For decades, the hotel's famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub hosted well-known entertainers, such as Frank Sinatra , Barbra Streisand , Judy Garland , Shep Fields , Veloz & Yolanda , Lena Horne , Nancy Wilson , Bing Crosby , Nat King Cole , Liza Minnelli , Martin and Lewis , The Supremes , Merv Griffin , Dorothy Dandridge , Vikki Carr , Evelyn Knight , Vivian Vance , Dick Haymes , Sergio Franchi , Perry Como , Dizzy Gillespie , Benny Goodman , Sammy Davis Jr. , Little Richard , Liberace , Natalie Cole , Richard Pryor and Shirley Bassey . Designed by American architect Myron Hunt ,
6675-594: Was The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey . The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille , the Technicolor epic Reap the Wild Wind (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard ; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values. Like most Hollywood stars of his era, Wayne appeared as
6764-577: Was a box office failure. In 1974, Wayne took on the role of the eponymous detective in John Sturges 's crime drama McQ . On March 25, 1975, Douglas Hickox 's Brannigan premiered. In it, Wayne played a Chicago police lieutenant named Jim Brannigan on the hunt in London for an organized-crime leader. On October 17, Rooster Cogburn started its theatrical run; Wayne reprised his role as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn with strong elements of
6853-603: Was a filming location and backdrop for movies and television programs , starting with Jean Harlow 's 1933 film Bombshell . An early MGM color short film , Starlit Days at the Lido (1935), was filmed in the Lido Spa at the Ambassador Hotel. In the 1980s and early 2000s, the hotel was filmed in Forrest Gump ; Murder, She Wrote ; Beverly Hills, 90210 ; S.W.A.T. ; The Italian Job ; Blow ; Mafia! ; and much more. It
6942-511: Was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, a premier Los Angeles night spot for decades; host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States President from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon . Prominent figures such as Frank Sinatra , Judy Garland , Sammy Davis , Nat King Cole , Lena Horne , Barbra Streisand , Bing Crosby , John Wayne , Lucille Ball , Marilyn Monroe , Yma Sumac , Ray Charles , and The Supremes were some of
7031-538: Was also the president of the Latin Society and contributed to the school's newspaper sports column. A local fireman at the station on his route to school in Glendale started calling him "Little Duke" because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier , Duke. He preferred "Duke" to "Marion", and the nickname stuck. Wayne attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. As a teen, he worked in an ice-cream shop for
7120-491: Was also used in period films such as Almost Famous , Apollo 13 , Catch Me If You Can , Hoffa , and That Thing You Do . The interactive movie/game based on the 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic was filmed here with a $ 3 million budget. The last project filmed in the Ambassador Hotel's kitchen was "Spin the Bottle", a 2004 episode of the TV series Angel . The 2006 film Bobby
7209-807: Was built as part of the Ambassador Hotels System. At the time the hotel opened, on New Year's Day 1921, the chain consisted of The Ambassador in Los Angeles, the Hotel Alexandria in Los Angeles, The Ambassador in Santa Barbara, The Ambassador in Atlantic City and The Ambassador in New York. The Santa Barbara property burned down soon after on April 13, 1921, the Alexandria left the chain in 1925, while
7298-473: Was emphatically resistant to losing him, since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates , president of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract, and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne's further deferment. U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne, in fact, did make an application to serve in
7387-623: Was encouraged by Pilar, an avid tennis player, to build the John Wayne Tennis Club in Newport Beach, California. In 1995, the club was sold to Ken Stuart , former general manager, and became the Palisades Tennis Club . In The Quiet Man (1952), Wayne tells Michaeleen "Óge" Flynn (portrayed by Barry Fitzgerald ) that he is six feet "four and a half" (194 cm), an assertion corroborated by Pilar's book John Wayne: My Life With
7476-583: Was given on-screen credit as " Duke Morrison " only once, in Words and Music (1929). Director Raoul Walsh saw him moving studio furniture while working as a prop boy and cast him in his first starring role in The Big Trail (1930). For his screen name, Walsh suggested "Anthony Wayne", after Revolutionary War General "Mad" Anthony Wayne . Fox Studios chief Winfield Sheehan rejected it as sounding "too Italian". Walsh then suggested "John Wayne". Sheehan agreed, and
7565-696: Was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe , a BAFTA film award , and a Writers Guild of America award. Wayne was married three times and divorced twice. His wives included one of Spanish American descent, Josephine Alicia Saenz, and two from Latin America, Esperanza Baur and Pilar Pallete . He had four children with Josephine: Michael Wayne (1934–2003), Mary Antonia "Toni" Wayne LaCava (1936–2000), Patrick Wayne (born 1939), and Melinda Wayne Munoz (1940–2022). He had three more children with Pilar: Aissa Wayne (born 1956), John Ethan Wayne (born 1962), and Marisa Wayne (born 1966). Several of Wayne's children entered
7654-608: Was selected in the last round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons for his past football experience, though the pick was disallowed by league officials as he was 64 years old at the time. On February 7, 1973, Burt Kennedy's The Train Robbers opened; Wayne appeared alongside Ann-Margret , Rod Taylor and Ben Johnson . On June 27, Andrew V. McLaglen's Cahill U.S. Marshal premiered, with Wayne, George Kennedy and Gary Grimes . It
7743-468: Was soon changed from Robert to Michael when his parents decided to name their next son Robert, but extensive research has found no such legal change, although it might have been changed informally or the documentation may have been lost. Wayne's legal name apparently remained Marion Robert Morrison his entire life although to this day his original name is almost always referred to as Marion Michael Morrison. Wayne's father, Clyde Leonard Morrison (1884–1937),
7832-453: Was the last project to film on the hotel property, gaining access in late 2005 to film crucial establishing shots even while portions of the hotel were already in the process of being demolished. The Ambassador Hotel itself has also been depicted in films. The Cocoanut Grove was recreated in the films The Thirteenth Floor and The Aviator . The Cocoanut Grove hosted musician Roy Orbison and several performers on September 30, 1987, for
7921-528: Was the son of American Civil War veteran Marion Mitchell Morrison (1845–1915). Wayne's mother, the former Mary "Molly" Alberta Brown (1885–1970), was from Lancaster County, Nebraska . Wayne had Scottish , Scotch-Irish , English , and Irish ancestry. His great-great-grandfather Robert Morrison (b. 1782) left County Antrim , Ireland, with his mother, arriving in New York in 1799 and eventually settling in Adams County, Ohio . The Morrisons were originally from
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