John Wayne received a letter from this teacher and did something no Hollywood star would do today… March 1961: a teacher in rural Montana asks her 12 students to write a single sentence to John Wayne.

The 12 students are frozen, staring. Several are speechless. A girl starts to cry. Not from sadness: from being overwhelmed.

Wayne enters. The room is tiny. One large room, 12 desks, a wood-burning stove in the corner, a blackboard, an American flag, and at the back, the projector mounted on a table, with 10 film canisters stacked beside it.

Did you receive everything I sent you?

Margaret cannot speak, she can only nod.

Wayne walks over to the projector and touches it.

—Have you been using it every Friday?

Margaret finally manages to say:

—The children eagerly await it all week.

Wayne turns to the students: 12 pairs of eyes fixed on him; some scared, some excited, all incredulous.

—I received your letter, from all of you. Thank you for what you wrote. It meant a lot.

A small voice from the front row:

—Did you read my sentence?

Wayne looks. A girl, maybe seven. Blonde braids. Sarah.

—Yes, I read it. You said I’m the bravest cowboy. It’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Sarah blushes. She smiles.

Wayne spends the next three hours with them: answering questions, signing autographs on notebook paper, telling stories about filming, showing them how to pull off a scene, how to fall without getting hurt, how to make a shootout look real. He asks them what they’ve learned from his movies.

They respond: