It was during this time that actors began to make their mark playing famous cowboys in movies. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart made their names in Westerns playing cowboys that soon became famous around the world.

Just because big names like Clint Eastwood had yet to materialize in the Cowboy genre in the 1950s, that wasn't to say that Westerns of the era couldn't have an impressive ensemble cast studded with the era's brightest stars.

Long before kids traded in their six-shooter cap guns for science fiction energy blasters, the idea of the illusive American Cowboy was the most captivating for a post-World War II media landscape. Though the Spaghetti Westerns of the following decades may be more recognizable today, the 1950s produced some of the genre's most incredible entries.

John Wayne In all likelihood, John Wayne is the most well-known cowboy actor ever. More than 170 of the movies he appeared in are regarded as Western genre classics. “The Duke” in Stagecoach (1939), “Ethan Edwards” in The Searchers (1956), and “Rooster Cogburn” in True Grit (1976) are among Wayne’s most well-known performances (1969).