Statue At John Wayne Airport, Orange County, California.

We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them. Robert Ryan, The Wild Bunch

John Wayne was probably the biggest star in the world...yet he retained the qualities of a small boy. He had the enthusiasm for life that would make a high school football star envious.

And through it all, Duke never changed. As a man he was exactly the boy he started out. And as a friend ... well, you just wouldn't want a better one.

In his lifetime, Duke stamped AMERICA across the face of the motion picture industry. Few other men, living or dead, have ever portrayed the fine, decent, and generous American qualities as Duke did.

He portrayed on screen the values he lived off screen. Gentle...so much so, it would have surprised his critics. Loyal ... once your friend, always your friend. Courageous ... if you doubt it, remember his fight against cancer, or the way he faced heart surgery. And decent. Above all, Duke was a decent man.

He was also far from perfect. He made his mistakes as I have made mine and you have made yours. All in all, I would say they were unintentional. Mistakes of the heart, I would say.

Of course the man had faults ... but I wouldn't be the one to cast the first stone.

Let me say this about the John Wayne I knew. He was an Original. He was the Statue of his Times.

All in all, I think it was the man's integrity that speaks most of him. His principles never varied. Nor did his ideals. Nor did his faith in mankind.

-- Jimmy Stewart