Patriarch

The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church celebrated his first Sunday religious service in the United States before 1,200 worshipers who packed a Manhattan cathedral. Dimitrios I, 75, conducted the three-hour ceremony in the Byzantine-style Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Of 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, 6 million live in the United States.

William C. Cox Jr., the patriarch of the Bancroft clan that controlled Dow Jones & Co. for 105 years and sold it to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in a decision sparking a family feud, died Wednesday at his home in Hobe Sound, Fla., according to his daughter, Ann Bartram. He was 82. The cause was complications from diabetes. Cox was at the center of a protracted family dispute that ultimately led to the sale of New York-based Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal, to News Corp.

Sir Michael Redgrave, the British film and stage actor and patriarch of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died today. He was 77 and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for 12 years. Redgrave died at a nursing home in the county of Buckinghamshire west of London. His agent said his son, Corin, was at his bedside when he died.

JOHNANNESBURG, South Africa - When Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe was in college, a European professor assigned "Mister Johnson," which portrayed Africa as a land of grinning, shrieking savages. Time magazine called it "the best novel ever written about Africa. " Achebe was outraged. He vowed that if someone as ignorant as Joyce Cary, the novel's Anglo-Irish author, could write such a book, "perhaps I ought to try my hand at it. " FOR THE RECORD: Chinua Achebe obituary: In the March 22 Section A, the obituary of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe referred to writer Ngugi wa Thiongo as a fellow Nigerian.

One Missed Call | People begin receiving cellphone calls that broadcast their final moments, and it's up to a traumatized woman (Shannyn Sossamon) and a police detective (Edward Burns) to solve the mystery before they get calls themselves. With Ana Claudia Talancon, Ray Wise and Margaret Cho. Screenplay by Andrew Klavan, based on a story by Miwako Daira and Yasushi Akimoto. PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, frightening images, some sexual material and thematic elements.

An aged patriarch nears his end as one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the Caribbean. The two oldest of his four legitimate sons fight a bitter, multimillion-dollar power game, each maneuvering to seize control when the old man falters or dies. The patriarch's long-estranged wife and their two wealthy younger sons, one a playboy and the other a mystic, teasingly switch allegiance, first to one of the older brothers, then the other, as they decide which--if either--they will back in the dynasty game.

The first half of Eugene O'Neill's "The Rope" (Arts & Entertainment Cable Network, tonight at 6 and 10) is slow going, as a grim-faced rural woman (Elizabeth Ashley) tells us and her somewhat senile, Bible-quoting father (Jose Ferrer) about everything that happened in this family before the play began. Although director Lela Swift keeps Ashley moving around the barn where the conversation takes place, it's awkward exposition even by the standards of early O'Neill (this play dates from 1918).

Krupali Tejura wants a frozen banana stand in Newport Beach. No, not Dad's or Sugar 'N Spice or any of the other venerable spots around town. She wants  that  banana stand. Earlier this month, it was announced that  Netflix would promote new episodes of the revived TV comedy "Arrested Development"  by touring the show's fictitious Bluth's Original Frozen Banana stand in the United States and England. Apparently, though, the promotion doesn't include a stop in Newport, where the series takes place.

Brody Jenner is joining "Keeping Up With the Kardashians. " The son of Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner, patriarch of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, will be joining the E! series' season along with brother Brandon Jenner and his wife, Leah, according to stepsister Khloe Kardashian. "I'm always excited for each new season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians," Kardashian wrote on her blog Monday. "But I'm especially excited for this upcoming season because you're going to be seeing a lot more of the Kardashian/Jenner clan!

When the delivery truck pulled up at the base of their steep driveway, the Beardsley children knew what to do. The crew, clad in hand-me-down clothes, poured out of their eight-bedroom Carmel home and down the hill. They helped unload 50-pound bags of flour and huge tubs of jam. Grocery shopping for 22 was pandemonium; instead, a restaurant supply company brought the food to them. "A jar of peanut butter? Gosh, that would last one meal. Maybe," said Susie Pope, a middle child in a big, blended family that inspired a Lucille Ball movie.

If your dad advises you not to go into the family business, it's perhaps understandable when the family business happens to be fighting fires or window-washing skyscrapers. But it might seem odd that Raul and Mexia Hernández's dad urged his sons not to become musicians. Music, after all, has been very good not only to their father, Hernán Hernández, but also to his brothers and cousins who make up the superstar Mexican norteño band Los Tigres del Norte. "One thing my dad always mentioned to us was the sacrifices you have to make, being away from your family, and kind of missing those things, the graduations, the soccer games," Mexia recalled recently.

When the delivery truck pulled up at the base of their steep driveway, the Beardsley children knew what to do. The crew, clad in hand-me-down clothes, poured out of their eight-bedroom Carmel home and down the hill. They helped unload 50-pound bags of flour and huge tubs of jam. Grocery shopping for 22 was pandemonium; instead, a restaurant supply company brought the food to them. "A jar of peanut butter? Gosh, that would last one meal. Maybe," said Susie Pope, a middle child in a big, blended family that inspired a Lucille Ball movie.

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of people came to the square in front of a Moscow cathedral Sunday in a show of support for the Russian Orthodox Church, which is facing criticism for its close ties to the Kremlin and the wealth of its leaders. Under golden cupolas and a warm spring sun, church leaders dressed in red-and-gold robes carried crosses and icons around the mighty white walls of Christ the Savior Cathedral in a procession led by Patriarch Kirill. "What are we doing, my dears, here today, having gathered in such a multitude?"

KARABANOVO, Russia - His unruly mane of white hair giving him the look of Moses, Father Georgy Edelstein struggled over the grayish snow that is the late-spring landscape of this barren village, heading to his church for Good Friday services. When he got to its small, darkened main hall, the 79-year-old put a simple silver cross over his robes and began saying prayers on one of the holiest days in the Russian Orthodox Church. His audience: his assistant and one villager. Two days later, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, exchanged hearty Easter kisses with President-elect Vladimir Putin amid the lavish interiors of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, his jewel-encrusted cross and gold brocade robe shining in the television limelight.

  Pope Shenouda III, the charismatic patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church whose shrewd grasp of religion and politics guided Egypt's Christians through deepening animosities with Muslims, died Saturday. He was 88. The state news agency reported that Shenouda, who led the church for four decades, had struggled with respiratory and liver ailments. There was no announcement about a successor. A stately figure with a flowing gray beard, the pope had attempted in recent months to buttressEgypt'sestimated 9 million Copts against persecution from Islamists following the revolution that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak.

In the black before dawn, Adali Gutierrez has no trouble waking. He's used to rising before the alarm has a chance to buzz. It's Friday, which means he'll be supervising a crew sentenced to community cleanup. He doesn't mind the three-day weekend shift if it means $10 an hour - - better pay than at his other job emptying recycling bins. Photos:  Taking on a leading role Yasmin is up too, taking advantage of a rare empty bathroom. She's 17 and doesn't like to be hurried when straightening her hair before school.

Fred Gwynne, a dour but lovable stage, film and television actor for four decades who was best remembered for his leading roles in the 1960s cult television series "The Munsters" and "Car 54 Where Are You?" died Friday. He was 66. Gwynne died in his home near Baltimore of pancreatic cancer, his New York legal representatives at Kraditor, Haber & Bienstock announced.

NEW YORK - On a soundstage in an industrial Brooklyn neighborhood, Tom Selleck sits at the head of a prop-heavy dinner table filled with three generations of actors. As a crew goes about its preparations, there's little wisdom that Selleck won't dispense: his March Madness pick (Duke, because "Coach K is a great guy, and his players graduate"), his aversion to gourmet vegetables, his favorite lines from "Airplane. " Then the cameras roll, and he's doling out nuggets all over again.

Reporting from Johannesburg — As a young man Mexican Coach Javier Aguirre came to admire Nelson Mandela. But on Friday he'll be trying to spoil the opening act of the month-long World Cup party Mandela's victory over apartheid made possible. "I was very interested to study Nelson Mandela and read books about him," Aguirre said Thursday. "He is an icon. I hope that I can shake his hand. It would be a great honor." Aguirre made the comments during a meeting with reporters at Soccer City Stadium, where Mexico will open the first World Cup on African soil against the host country Friday.

Patriarch Pavle, 95, who led Serbia's Orthodox Church and called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan ethnic conflicts of the 1990s but stopped short of openly condemning Serb nationalism, died in his sleep Sunday in Belgrade of cardiac arrest, the church and Belgrade Military Hospital said. Pavle had been hospitalized for two years with heart and lung problems. The government proclaimed three days of national mourning. Pavle took over the church in 1990, just as the collapse of communism ended years of state policy of repressing religion.