Wayne Michael

American film producer and actor, and the eldest son of Hollywood actor John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. Michael Wayne graduated from Loyola University in California in 1956 with a Business degree and served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He began his film career as a production assistant on the set of the John Ford film The Quiet Man in 1951. He joined his fathers film production company, Batjac Productions, for Alamo (1960) and became line producer for McLintock! (1963) and producer on many other John Wayne vehicles including Big Jake (1971) and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973). He served on the board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund and was The John Wayne Foundations president and chairman of the board. He also was founder and chairman of the board of the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint Johns Health Center. Michael Wayne and his wife, Gretchen, had five children, son Christopher, daughters Alicia, Josephine, Maria, and Teresa. He died in Burbank, California on 2 April 2003 at the age of 68 of heart failure as the result of complications from lupus erythematosus, just two months before his mothers death. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less