Two collections of movie & television videos were recently acquired by the Dickinson Research Center. The Bob Lewis collection is comprised of 27 western titles starring such actors like Audie Murphy, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne. Of those 27 titles, eighteen are those of John Wayne. They include The Big Trail, Cahill United States Marshal, Chisum, Dark Command, Hondo, The Horse Soldiers, North to Alaska, Rio Grande, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Stagecoach, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit, The Undefeated and The War Wagon. John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26, 1907. After more than 70 low budget westerns, Wayne was cast by director John Ford in the 1939 feature, Stagecoach which arguably made him a star. For his role as Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 western True Grit, he won an Oscar. Best remembered for his parts in Ford's cavalry trilogy - Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950), Wayne died on June 11, 1979.

Michael A. Paller has given us 33 additional titles, all of which are Gary Cooper movies. They include Along Came Jones, Dallas, Garden of Evil, High Noon, The Plainsman, Sergeant York, Springfield Rifle, They Came to Cordura, and Vera Cruz. Gary Cooper was born on May 7, 1901 in Helena, Montana. During his career that began in 1925, Cooper received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice, for Sergeant York and High Noon. He succumbed to cancer on May 13, 1961.

These movies are available to the general public for viewing in the Dickinson Research Center. If you have a Facebook profile, become a fan of the Dickinson Research Center. Also, become a subscriber to the Museum's YouTube channel and view the latest videos.

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