John Wayne’s final days:

On January 12 of 1979, he went into the hospital for gall bladder surgery, and it turned in to a 9 1/2 hour operation because they found cancer in his stomach, and doctors removed it. He was released, attended the Oscars on April 9 and returned to the hospital on May 2, where cancer was found in his intestines. According to one report, Wayne was in total agony at the end, and often refused pain killers because he wanted to be with his children and his grandchildren.  He was taken to the 9th floor of the UCLA Medical Center where Jimmy Carter paid him a bedside visit, and the Queen sent him a get well card. According to his daughter, John Wayne had converted to Catholicism while on his death bed.  He went into a coma on Sunday the 10th, and he died at 5:35pm on Monday, June 11th, 1979. He was 72 years old.