When True Grit was released in the summer of 1969, it brought us John Wayne as the craggy and cranky, ever-drunk but always quick on the draw, Rooster Cogburn. Wayne played the one-eyed antihero of author Charles Portis’ spare but powerful novel, published just a year before the hit film. He is not only a character for the ages, but also the one meant to be the final peak to John Wayne’s immense career, finally winning the star an Oscar.
Despite Wayne’s conservative views, the actor made sure that blacklisted screenwriter Marguerite Roberts got full screen credit for True Grit, which he called “the best script I’ve ever read.”