John Wayne’s career officially started in the 1939 classic Stagecoach ,and “the Duke” has appeared in over 250 films since that time, with over 80 of them being Westerns. Biographer Ronald Davis says, "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth." With Classics like The Searchers, True Grit, and (of course) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it’s almost impossible to go wrong with a John Wayne Western. He was the winner of an Academy Award for best actor, as well as a Golden Globe; the only person known to sell more tickets than John Wayne during their lifetime was Clark Gable (who had a fifteen year head start).