Pilar Pallete (born September 3, 1928) is a former Peruvian actress and third wife of the American film star John Wayne.

Biography

Pallete was born into an upper-class family, the daughter of a Peruvian senator in the Paita Port (northern Peru). She married and divorced professional big-game hunter Richard Weldy. She met John Wayne, 21 years her senior, in Lima, Peru, in 1953, while still married to Weldy. Wayne was in Peru scouting locations for The Alamo. In 1953, Pallete came to Los Angeles to dub a film in English, when she ran into John Wayne for the second time. A year later on November 1, 1954, they married in Kona, Hawaii, the same day Wayne's divorce became final. Pallete retired from her motion picture career to be a wife and mother to their three children: Aissa, Ethan, and Marisa.

During the next 10 years of their marriage, they traveled extensively, usually on location for John Wayne's many films. In 1965, they moved to Newport Beach, California. She rented a studio inside the Fernleaf Courtyard, in Corona Del Mar, California, where she would entertain her clients outdoors with coffee and finger sandwiches and found herself, one year later, with a full-time restaurant.

Pallete has created among other works of art, a collection of still nature and beautiful ladies, belly dancers called "Glamour Girls", and group images from the Hollywood world.

In 1973, she and Wayne separated, and he died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979.

In 1984, she married Stephen Stewart, a municipal court judge. They were later divorced.

In 1998, Pallete married Jesse Upchurch, a travel company executive.