In 1963, Wayne starred in McLintock! for his own production company. As his costar Duke selected his most successful leading lady, Maureen O'Hara, who had earlier performed with him in Rio Grande and The Quiet Man. O'Hara was one of the few actresses feisty enough to hold her own against Wayne's machismo. "Maureen is kind of like a lady John Wayne," a stuntman on McLintock! said. Wayne treated her like "one of the guys," and she gave as good as she got in action scenes, much to Duke's amusement.

Wayne learned his craft in the B-Westerns, but unlike most leading men in those films, he moved on to big budget feature films and more challenging roles.

The most memorable sequence in McLintock! is a spectacular mud fight that ends up with Wayne, O'Hara, and half of the cast in an outrageous mud bath. The weather near Old Tucson, where the picture was filmed, had turned blustery and cold enough that smudge pots had to be set out each morning to thaw the ice that formed during the night on the mud puddle. Some of the stuntmen asked for hazard pay for going down into the mess, until Duke and O'Hara volunteered to do the stunt themselves. O'Hara went down the slide into the mud first, so Wayne had no choice but to follow. "He couldn't let me win," the actress said. Then the stars had to stand in the wind covered in movie mud (actually bentonite clay, which made for a better slide) while the scene was finished.

McLintock! was a classic screen romp with Maureen O'Hara.

Yet John Wayne, the heroic figure who had risen to be the biggest movie star in Hollywood history, was a sick man. In 1964, his time of private testing had come. Finally alarmed by a persistent cough, Duke went for a checkup after finishing In Harm's Way, and X-rays showed that the actor, a heavy smoker, had a spot on his lung. A month later Duke was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital, and a malignant growth was removed from his left lung. The tumor, about the size of a golf ball, was sufficiently large that the surgeon had to enter through the patient's back. Wayne awoke to discover that he had only one functioning lung. "I'll never forget that black day the doctors told me I had 'the big C,'" he said. "Ever since I heard those words, I haven't quite gotten over the feeling that I'm pretty much living on borrowed time."

Duke lost forty pounds following his surgery, but his willpower remained strong. Doctors told him that he must stay inactive for at least six months, but the work-oriented actor grew restless despite continued difficulty in breathing. His agent and advisers implored him to hide the real reason for his hospitalization, contending that the truth would destroy his image. But in December 1964, the ailing actor held a press conference in his home and explained the facts of his illness to reporters. "I always believe in facing everything directly," he told them. His brave words were typical of the intrepid John Wayne towering above celluloid hazards. "I'm not the sort to back away from a fight," he said. "It's not my speed. I never flinched before in my life, so I see no reason to do so now." Duke counted on his fans to embrace his frank approach, and he judged their loyalty correctly. Most of his public, including a host of converts, viewed Wayne's disclosure as a noble action. His valor and fighting spirit made him an even greater hero in real life than he had been on the screen. Later, he was awarded a citation for his role in combating the public's cancer phobia.

Rio Bravo has aged well, gaining ground consistently until it is now deemed one of the actor's best performances.

Convinced that he had beaten "the big C," Duke packed his bags in January 1965, less than four months after his operation, and left for Durango, Mexico, where he made The Sons of Katie Elder. "I figured I had loafed around long enough," he said. "I can't stand being idle."

But Durango is high in the Sierra Madre range, and the thin air there meant that Wayne would tire easily and be more dependent than ever on bottled oxygen. Making an action picture is physically demanding under the best of circumstances, and Duke was functioning on one lung. He did his own riding, roped steers, rounded up cattle, and handled his fight scenes without a double.

In one sequence, Wayne was pulled off a horse, fell into a mountain stream, and engaged in a lengthy brawl in freezing water. He came out of the stream chilled to the bone and could not stop coughing. An aide wrapped a blanket around him, and he immediately grabbled for an inhalator and placed the mask over his nose. As the press moved toward him, a photographer snapped a picture of Duke holding the oxygen mask to his face. Wayne snatched the camera from the reporter and angrily threw it to the ground.

Later in Durango, for the benefit of the press, the actor threw a couple of pills into his mouth, washed them down with a swig from a halfgallon jug of mescal, and proclaimed, "I'm the stuff that men are made of!" Despite his weakened condition, Wayne had to be the macho man. He soon began smoking again and spent evenings carousing with costar Dean Martin. Duke's daughter Aissa remembered seeing her father and Martin marching arm-in-arm down the street outside their hotel in Durango, inebriated and singing their lungs out.

Wayne in Valance, with Woody Strode.

The public appeared to accept John Wayne's image as the stalwart warrior who had wrestled "the big C" and come away victorious. But his screen persona was shifting to that of a mature hero- one of enduring muscle-who observed younger men's love affairs with understanding and a touch of humor.

Meanwhile, the gap between John Wayne, the movie star-and John Wayne, the family man and patriot-had narrowed. He would live another 15 years after his cancer surgery, make 18 more movies, and see his second set of children enter early adulthood. A bloated face and an expanding paunch had replaced his youthful good looks, but in the years that followed, Hollywood's favorite cowboy star soared off the screen to become a growing icon in world culture.

It may be a four-room house in a small town, but it is the birthplace of one the biggest silver screen stars of all-time-American legend John Wayne.

Winterset, Iowa-about 30 miles west of Des Moines-is a quiet town with a population of nearly 4,800. This unassuming locale is where John Wayne was born on May 26, 1907, and is where the "Birthplace of John Wayne" museum honors his memory today. "It has a Mayberry, Andy Griffith look to it," Wayne Davis, a spokesperson for the museum, says of Winterset. "A lot of what you expect from a place like that holds true."

The museum features memorabilia from Wayne's films, including a prop suitcase used in Stagecoach and an eye patch from the movie True Grit. The eye patch has a small hole, covered by gauze, so that Wayne could still see and ride during filming. During a guided tour, visitors learn behind-the-scenes facts like this, as well as bits of trivia about Wayne's life and career. Davis hopes the small museum turns into a destination for Wayne's fans.

"You could drive through and actually never know John Wayne was born there," Davis says.

That could all change when an 8,500-square-foot museum facility is built adjacent to Wayne's birthplace. The new museum will feature a larger-than-life statue of the Duke, as well as more memorabilia and merchandise than the current complex can hold. The museum's groundbreaking will coincide with Wayne's 100th birthday celebration in May. The completion date depends on how quickly funding is procured.

Birthplace of John Wayne Museum 515-462-1044; www.johnwaynebirthplace.org.