American Toby Jug Museum 

John Wayne character jug modeled by Timothy Potts and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, as the 2007 Character Jug of the Year. John Wayne (1907-1979) was born Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. When he was six, the family moved to California where he picked up the nickname “Duke” after his pet Airedale dog. While playing football on scholarship at the University of Southern California, he secured work as an assistant prop man on a movie set, from which he worked his way into roles on the screen. His first leading role was in The Big Trail, for which the director gave him the stage name, John Wayne. Other movies followed but it was the 1939 role of the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach that made him a star. Rejected for war service due to an old football injury, his age (34), and his status as a married father of four, Duke poured himself into the war effort by making inspirational war films, among them The Fighting Seabees (1944), Back To Bataan (1945) and They Were Expendable (1945). To many he became a symbol of the determined American fighting man. John Wayne appeared in over 175 films during his fifty years in the industry, winning an Academy Award for best actor in 1969 for his role in the film True Grit. Many said the award was based on the accomplishments of his entire career. Others claimed it was Hollywood's admittance that it had been wrong to deny him Academy Awards for a host of previous films. A stagecoach, hand holding a rifle and cinema film form the handle of the jug.