John Waynes son Ethan tells his story, about going on location, with his dad reminds me of my own story with Jack

I grew up going to work with my dad at 10 years old at Ziv Studio my dad ran the commissary and became a motion, picture cater, and a team driver local 399

Ziv studio produced their own TV shows and was one of the early syndicators

highway patrol record the Cisco kid sea Hunt tombstone territory

I used to hang out with the wranglers and the teamster drivers listening to the stores. Now I’m the old guy telling stores and my passion is to preserve other peoples stories from behind the scenes.

I asked my dad for a camera at 10 years old at Ziv studio. He asked me what I was gonna do with it and I told him I didn’t know so he didn’t buy me a camera imagine all the pictures that I would’ve had

I do now know what I would have done with a camera, now at 73 years old and I see the world through a camera lens. My passion is creating content as they call it now I call it telling and preserving peoples stories

Looking back, I realize that little kid already knew what he wanted to do. The kid just needed a lifetime to understand the answer.

Here’s Ethan Wayne’s story

as posted on Facebook

Ethan Wayne was still a boy when John Wayne began pulling him into the working world behind the cowboy hat. Film locations became part of childhood. There were horses, cables, crews moving before sunrise, and long days when his father was not simply a movie star. He was Dad, already aware that time with his youngest son would never feel unlimited.

John Ethan Morrison was born on February 22, 1962, the youngest son of John Wayne and Pilar Pallete. His father was 54. Ethan was named for Ethan Edwards, Wayne’s character in “The Searchers” (1956), but his earliest memories were not red carpets. They were dust, boats, ranches, movie crews, and following his father wherever work happened to lead.

Ethan later explained why John kept him so close. “He knew we weren’t gonna have a lot of time together, and I’d eventually turn into a teenager and we’d probably spend some years apart.” John took Ethan on location again and again. Ethan remembered early flashes from sets, then clearer memories from “True Grit” (1969), when he could roam around and watch his father work.

By eight, Ethan was no longer only watching. In “Big Jake” (1971), he played Little Jake McCandles, the kidnapped grandson of his father’s character. Mexico became a playground and workplace at the same time. Maureen O’Hara was there, his brother Patrick acted in the film, his brother Michael produced it, and familiar stuntmen, wranglers, wardrobe people, and crew members surrounded him. It felt less like entering Hollywood than joining the family business.

John did not treat that world as an excuse for Ethan to be spoiled. There were jobs everywhere. Ethan swept at home, worked with horses and equipment on sets, and cleaned the deck of John’s boat, the Wild Goose. He remembered the rule plainly. “If you were on location, there were chores. If you wanted to ride a horse, you had to take care of it.” Fun came with responsibility attached.

The lessons often arrived without speeches. Ethan watched his father get up early, understand the work around him, and expect people to do their part. John expected his son to listen, pick up after himself, correct mistakes, and finish what he started. Ethan saw toughness in routine, not in performance.

There was tenderness inside that discipline. Ethan remembered swimming long distances with his father, exploring wild country, and traveling aboard the Wild Goose. He also carried autograph cards in his pockets because John wanted fans to receive something when he could not stop to sign. When Ethan wondered why they had to stop for strangers, John explained that those people allowed him to keep making movies and supporting his family.

Then the time John had worried about ran out. On June 11, 1979, John Wayne died of stomach cancer at 72. Ethan was only 17. He had driven his father to the hospital that day, still believing the man who had survived illness and injuries would somehow come home again. Years later, Ethan said, “This was an outdoor adventurous guy who lived life to the fullest. I lived with my father until the day he died.”

Ethan carried those years into adulthood. He worked as a stuntman and actor, then took responsibility for John Wayne Enterprises. When he became manager of his father’s estate, he discovered about 30 wooden vaults sealed after John’s death. Inside were awards, letters, clothing, personal objects, and pieces of a private life that fans had never seen.

Some items were eventually shared or auctioned, while a core collection stayed with the family for preservation and historical use. Ethan also became deeply involved with the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, carrying forward his father’s request that the family use his name in the fight against cancer.

The world remembers Duke. Ethan remembers Dad. I remember Jack as I was taught to do not to call him, Dad on location.