John Wayne

John Wayne's grandson Matthew Munoz returned to the chapel of his youth Sunday as a newly ordained Roman Catholic priest, sharing the story of his own spiritual struggle that began with boyhood misadventures on Balboa Island. "Me and my brothers raised hell here," Munoz joked as he opened 10 a.m. Mass at St. John Vianney Chapel on the island, drawing bursts of laughter. "And now we're going to try to bring a little heaven back." Munoz, 37, is the eldest of five children born to Melinda and Gregory Munoz.

Henry Gibson, the veteran character actor who came to fame in the late 1960s as the flower-holding poet on TV's landmark satirical comedy show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," has died. He was 73. Gibson died late Monday night after a short battle with cancer at his home in Malibu, said his son, Jon. Gibson, who more recently played a recurring role as cantankerous Judge Clark Brown on "Boston Legal," was part of the original ensemble cast of "Laugh In," which ran on NBC from 1968 to 1973.

A collection of 130 letters and short notes written by the late actress Marlene Dietrich sold Wednesday for $4,200, a Berlin auction house said. The Berlin-born film legend's husky voice and smoldering eyes seduced audiences for more than four decades in German movies such as "The Blue Angel" and many American films, including "Destry Rides Again" with Jimmy Stewart and "The Spoilers" with John Wayne. The letters were written to Swedish costume designer Max Goldstein in Dietrich's large, spider-like handwriting and span four decades.

John Wayne, the late actor who's already got an airport named after him, now has his own beer commercial. Thanks to digitized computer technologies similar to those used by Hollywood during the filming of "Forrest Gump," Wayne is now appearing on television screens to pitch Coors beer. In the commercial, a drill sergeant badgers his troops to find out who left a six-pack of beer in the barracks. That's when Wayne appears with word that it's his beer.

Felisa Bill, who lives only a block from Orange County's John Wayne Airport, had just packed up her two small children and made a mad midnight dash to Los Angeles International Airport. Yet there was a happy glow on her face. LAX never looked sweeter. "I made it," she said as she rushed up to her husband, David, moments after he got off United Airlines Flight 321 from San Francisco.

The big arm began to move. The sling tightened. The coffin, gunmetal gray with gold-painted handles, shot straight up, so fast that John Wayne could hardly see it. The arm and the sling tugged the coffin into an arc, then flung it into the blinding blue sky over Rattlesnake Lake. It climbed 200 feet, end over end, tumbling and flashing like quicksilver. John Wayne heard the hint of a whistle. Otherwise there was no sound.

Elliot Goldman, a Lake Forest travel agent, books most of his customers on flights out of John Wayne Airport. They like the fact that it is only about 15 minutes away, he says, and usually less crowded than other Southern California airports. But beginning next year, Goldman's customers increasingly are likely to have to spend an hour or more driving to airports in San Diego, Ontario or Los Angeles, where the crowds will be thicker and the lines longer.

The nation's airlines are rolling out their spring fare sales and, as usual, passengers traveling out of John Wayne Airport are getting dissed instead of discounts. The latest rebuff comes from Southwest Airlines, which just announced a new promotion dubbed "Take Along Fares" that enables a full-fare round-trip passenger to take up to three companions for an additional $50 each. Southwest is offering the promotion in all of its nonstop markets except--you guessed it--Orange County.

For the second time in three months, the image of John Wayne has gotten mixed into a stew of racial resentments and labor-management tensions in the Los Angeles County Fire Department. A white firefighter filed a union grievance this week against an African American battalion chief, alleging that he was harassed by the chief after he put a 6-foot cardboard cutout of Wayne in the recreation room of the Palmdale station.

For the second time in three months, the image of John Wayne has gotten mixed into a stew of racial resentments and labor-management tensions in the Los Angeles County Fire Department. A white firefighter filed a union grievance this week against an African American battalion chief, alleging he was harassed by the chief after he put a 6-foot cardboard cutout of Wayne in the recreation room of the Palmdale station.