Chuck

When I think of actress Lupe Ontiveros, who passed away from liver cancer at 69 Thursday night, what stays with me most is her strength. Her women tended to be strong and resilient, no-nonsense types, whether they were running a theater company as she did in "Chuck & Buck," dealing with a rebellious daughter in "Real Women Have Curves," or picking up after some well-heeled white family, as she did in"The Goonies. "There was a "I have seen it all" quality that danced in her eyes, more bemused by the frailties of the human race than bitter about them.

Chuck Muncie, a star running back with the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers who overcame a cocaine habit that ended his career and then devoted his later life to helping others avoid drug abuse, has died. He was 60. Muncie died Monday of a heart attack at his Los Angeles-area home, his family announced. After a stellar career at UC Berkeley, Muncie played in the National Football League from 1976 to 1984 and was selected to play in three Pro Bowls. He spent more than four years with the Saints before joining the Chargers in the middle of the 1980 season.

'Chuck' Where: NBC When: 8 p.m. Monday Rating: TV-PG-DV (may be unsuitable for young children with advisories for suggestive dialogue and violence)

JERUSALEM -- Not long ago, Chuck Hagel's past comments about Israel nearly torpedoed his nomination as Defense secretary. In his first visit here since winning confirmation, he's sticking to one word in particular: “Friend. " “I look forward to renewing some old friendships,” Hagel told reporters on the flight from Washington. Aides noted he had visited Israel six times as a U.S. senator from Nebraska and as a private citizen. After touring Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Hagel addressed a message in the guest book Sunday to “my friends of Israel.” He praised the museum and archive for its “beautiful and important tribute” and signed it, “your friend, Chuck Hagel.” Hagel has appeared a veteran statesman in his first two days of meetingS here, touting not only the close relationship between the United States and Israel but also his own fidelity to the Jewish people.

There are now 324 child-oriented Chuck E. Cheese's pizza restaurants.

It doesn't surprise me that a clown like Norris is heated up about an accurate military presentation. If enough people see and understand "Platoon," it might jeopardize his career as a communist exterminator. I'd be worried if I were him; or Stallone, or Schwarzenegger. I hope all vets boycott future movies that misrepresent soldiers as Johnny Rambos. "Rambo: First Blood Part II" stands as the last Stallone movie I will ever see.

At a very short (half-hour) panel for NBC's "Chuck," producers announced that former "Terminator" babe Linda Hamilton has been signed to play Chuck's spy mom. For Season 4, Hamilton will play a recurring guest-star role as Mary Bartowski, who vanished mysteriously from the life of Chuck ( Zachary Levi) when he was a boy. "Hamilton will appear throughout the season, leading Chuck to discover that her life was shrouded in secrets," according to a news release. "She was a spy, a CIA agent ... and that's just the beginning."

Women who believe that male playwrights ignore them might reconsider after seeing "How Much Would Chuck?" or "Albertine in Five Times." Although the style of the two plays could hardly be more different, both playwrights focus almost exclusively on the waste of women's lives. The women in Ebbe Roe Smith's "How Much Would Chuck?" waste their time in pursuit of a man--and this man is no prize. Chuck (Kyle Gass) is a chubby amnesiac.

A national coalition of conservative activists plans to endorse Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in the U.S. Senate race, spurning two more popular candidates in favor of the underdog bidding to take on Democrat Barbara Boxer. The Tea Party Express, whose backing helped propel Scott Brown in his successful effort to claim the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, will announce the endorsement Saturday at a Nevada rally headlined by conservative stalwarts such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, who is better known as Joe the Plumber.

In a universe in which nothing is really ever created or destroyed, there are only so many stories to tell; you can switch the atoms around, but most everything will look like something you've seen before. This week sees the premiere of two series so structurally alike they might have been created from the same "Mad Libs" page.

Greg Willard Longtime NBA referee worked more than 1,600 games Greg Willard, 54, a longtime NBA referee who worked more than 1,600 games before he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer , died Monday at his home in Huntington Beach, according to NBA spokesman Tim Frank. Willard was diagnosed with the illness during last season's playoffs and worked only one more game, a Lakers exhibition at the Honda Center in October. Moments of silence to honor him were planned at all NBA games Tuesday and Wednesday.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - On his way home from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had planned to stop Monday at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the U.S.-run hospital in Germany where thousands of American soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated over the last decade. But the visit was canceled when Hagel's staff learned no Americans were being treated for combat wounds there now, a military official said. Only three U.S. military personnel have been killed in combat since January, and about 60 have been wounded.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two deadly suicide bombings minutes apart Saturday morning marred Chuck Hagel's maiden visit to Afghanistan as Defense secretary and served as a jarring reminder of the problems still facing the U.S. as it seeks to disengage from the 11-year-old war. A bicyclist detonated explosives strapped to his body about 30 yards from a main entrance of the Defense Ministry in Kabul about 8:45 a.m., mowing down Afghans who were waiting in...

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran and former Republican senator from Nebraska, as the 24th secretary of Defense after a brutal confirmation process that saw members of his own party question his capacity to lead the Pentagon. Just hours after a vote to end the first-ever filibuster of a defense nominee, Hagel was approved 58 to 41, by far the narrowest margin for a successful appointment going back to the Carter administration. Hagel could get to work at the Pentagon as early as Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Chuck Hagel, who won two Purple Hearts in the Vietnam War, survived the turbulent battle over his nomination to lead the Pentagon, where he will confront two new challenges: potentially dramatic budget cuts and tensions with congressional critics. The Senate voted largely along party lines Tuesday to confirm Hagel as the nation's 24th secretary of Defense, making the former Republican senator from Nebraska the first Vietnam veteran in the post. The 58-41 vote marked the lowest level of support for any successful Cabinet nominee since 2007, when Michael B. Mukasey won 53 votes as George W. Bush's third attorney general.

Chuck Person stands out in a crowd, but the former NBA forward turned Lakers assistant coach isn't instantly recognizable, even to some ardent basketball fans. That has its advantages. The 6-foot-8 Person, nicknamed "The Rifleman," finished fourth in the three-point shooting contest at the 1995 NBA All-Star game. And he still has a deadly shot from the perimeter. He proved that recently at a street fair in Redondo Beach, where, anonymously, he made some jaws drop at a long-range-shooting game.

Family members said Charlie Vanhager felt sorry for Chuck, a man in his 80s who lived in the Torrance senior citizens' home where she spent the last five years working as a manager. Because Chuck had no family and few friends, Vanhager made extra attempts to be nice, despite his abrasive remarks toward her and other staff members - even inviting him to her family's Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago. But about two years ago, the man's crass comments turned threatening. Family members said Vanhager reported his violent threats to upper management and took stress-related time off due to his harassment.

I watched them gather in small clusters around a desk. They wore expressions of shock and horror. One man who was seated gasped and looked as though he might pass out. They spoke in stunned whispers, then drifted like dream-walkers back to their own desks to stare once more into space and consider at some length the death of Chuck. I hadn't known his name even though for several months he sat not 20 feet from me, supervising a small group of Times Poll telephone callers in this office.

Celebrate the 100th birthday of Chuck Jones, one of the most beloved directors of animated shorts. This Cinefamily tribute screens 35mm prints of Jones' best cartoons, including films from his personal collection featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. In addition, animation historian Jerry Beck will lead a panel discussion, and the night will end with a rare showing of Jones' 1973 television special "A Cricket in Times Square. " Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. 4 p.m. Sat. $12. (323)

WASHINGTON - The persistent opposition by Senate Republicans to Chuck Hagel's nomination as Defense secretary isn't just about his national security views. It's also deeply personal. President Obama's choice of the former Republican senator, whose nomination received another setback Thursday, looked, on the surface, like a gesture of bipartisanship. But to many of his former colleagues, it's anything but. Hagel was seen as a tacit supporter of Obama in 2008 rather than Republican nominee John McCain - one of the senators key to his chances of confirmation.