Sketch of the Day: John Wayne - by Greg Joens 27JAN26 As Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), John Wayne created one of the most enduring characters in Western film history, a one-eyed, whiskey-soaked U.S. Marshal whose gruff exterior hid a stubborn sense of honor—ironically mirroring Wayne’s own late-career fight to prove he was more than just a larger-than-life icon. Though already a star for three decades, Wayne had been repeatedly passed over by the Academy, and it was this seemingly offbeat role—adapted from Charles Portis’s novel and filmed largely in the rugged landscapes of Colorado and California standing in for Arkansas and Indian Territory—that finally earned him his only competitive Oscar. Wayne initially resisted wearing the eye patch and even worried the part made him look old and vulnerable, yet he later admitted Rooster was one of his favorite roles, in part because it let him play against his usual stoic hero type with humor, physical frailty, and moral ambiguity. True Grit arrived at a time when revisionist Westerns were beginning to eclipse the classic style Wayne embodied, and the film’s success helped secure his relevance in a changing Hollywood; it also subtly echoed his real-life health struggles and career anxieties, filmed just a few years after he had part of a lung removed due to cancer. That mix of mythic bravado and human weariness is what makes Rooster Cogburn not just another cowboy, but the role that crystallized John Wayne’s legacy for generations to come.