The 1969 film for which John Wayne won his only Academy Award is True Grit. Wayne plays Rooster Cogburn, a hard-drinking, one-eyed U.S. marshal hired by Mattie Ross to track down her father’s killer.
Directed by Henry Hathaway, the film adapts Charles Portis’s 1968 novel. Kim Darby plays the determined Mattie, while Glen Campbell portrays Texas Ranger La Boeuf. Their uneasy partnership with Cogburn drives the story through the Arkansas and Indian Territory frontier.
Wayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 42nd Academy Awards, held in 1970. Although he was nominated for other performances, including in The Alamo, True Grit remains his only competitive acting Oscar. The film also earned nominations for Best Original Song and other awards recognition.
A common mix-up is the 2010 Coen brothers remake, which also stars a character named Rooster Cogburn. Jeff Bridges played Cogburn in that version, but Wayne’s Oscar-winning performance belongs to the original 1969 film.