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With the kind of hype already surrounding the rerun of E.T., the little beast should have been portrayed with a Don King hairdo. And don't dismiss the E.T.-cocaine controversy so fast. There are only two types of people who actually enjoyed E.T.; people on drugs and people that have a taste for mushy, boring movies. If you're one of the latter, save your money this summer by renting "Fanny and Alexander." ROBB WILLIS Newport Beach The Times received a total of 46 letters on the E.T. affair, 35 of which expressed varying degrees of outrage over the drug paraphernalia in the original June 16 cover illustration by Will Weston.

Thank you for the excellent editorial (June 13), "Cave-in on the Contras. " It indicates someone is thinking honestly and wisely in these disturbing days. I am shocked that Congress finds the contras approach acceptable. When will the members of Congress open their eyes, and most important their minds, to see that our support of the contras perpetuates the Nicaraguan tragedy? If we would spend half as much money and attention on the Contadora process instead of military operations and attempts to overthrow the Sandinista government, we'd see twice the progress toward a genuine resolution of the unique Nicaraguan (not Communist)

I was astounded to read the recent Times news story and editorial that reported that pro bono work by lawyers is "a practice that hasn't fully taken hold in Orange County" and is just being discovered by the large, high-powered law firms. As the wife of a former Orange County attorney, who has been a Superior Court judge since 1981, I have been fortunate over the past 17 years to know and listen to countless attorneys share their stories about their pro bono experiences and those of their peers.

Producer Saperstein, referring to the ongoing controversy of the colorization of original black-and-white films, castigates those artists he calls self-appointed auteurs who claim creative involvement on their motion pictures. Saperstein labels creative talent as mere employees, as well as a bunch of hypocrites who fail to give producers a day's work for a day's pay. Based on Saperstein's past record and experience as a "producer" of films, it is puzzling what makes him believe he should sit in judgment of auteurship and creativity?

Regarding "The Rap Is: Justice," May 31: In Tian An Men Square, thousands upon thousands of demonstrators congregated. There was not one building torched, nor was there a business looted. That was an uprising. In Los Angeles there were lootings, torchings, killings. That, Ice Cube, I call a riot. JULIO L. FRANCESCONI

As president-for-life of Softbodies of America--whose membership consists of everyone who agrees with me, whether they've heard of me or not--I must respond to "How Best to Tackle Weight Problem?" (Oct. 18). The panel of 18 experts got it all wrong. Again. As our millions of members (rough estimate) could tell you, setting standards for "healthy" or "desirable" weights is enough to send a person running for Betty Crocker lemon bars. Most people older than 35 cannot achieve those weights without starving themselves and working out to the point of exhaustion or resorting to liposuction.

The ess in actress is not a diminutive and does not stand for less . The custom of designating the gender of persons performing an activity derives from languages in which every noun, whether referring to people, creatures, or objects, is "inflected," that is (assigned a gender), either male, female, or neuter. In our language the practice of inflecting nouns has all but died, with a few notable exceptions. It is--or was until recently, at least--common practice to refer to ships and nations as female.