John Wayne items to be auctioned off, including ONE of his 'True Grit' eye patches

Wayne statue, Winterset, Iowa

This fall the family of John Wayne will auction off many of the legendary actor's personal items, including 50 movie scripts--some with the Duke's handwritten notes, cowboy boots, and an eye patch the Duke wore as Rooster Cogburn in the original True Grit.

Mainstream press reports are referring to it as "the eye patch," but a tour guide at John Wayne birthplace site in Winterset, Iowa told me last summer that the patch they have on display is just one of the eye patches he wore during the filming of the 1969 classic. As with probably all of them, it's a trick-eye patch--Wayne could see through it.

The auction will be for a good cause. Proceeds from it will benefit the the John Wayne Cancer Foundation. Wayne died of stomach cancer in 1979.

UPDATE September 8: For the latest on the auction, click here.

Related posts:

John Wayne's birthplace
Monument Valley at sunrise
Monument Valley at sunset
The road to Monument Valley


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