MOVIE MEMORIES

It’s been 10 years since John Wayne died (on June 11, 1979), and his daughter Aissa Wayne says fans continue to express their admiration for him. She attributes his continuing popularity to “his personality on screen, and also the kind of man he was off screen.” A longtime friend, Pat Stacy, who was Wayne’s secretary during his final years, told the Associated Press that although “he had that rough, tough cowboy image, he was much more than that in real life. He was a man who didn’t mind crying or showing emotion.” She said the Oscar-winning actor was often moved to tears during hospital charity trips, especially when he visited wards caring for terminally ill children. “Seeing little children sick like that, the smiles on their faces looking up at him, would make him cry. . . . It seems just like yesterday I was hearing his voice. It doesn’t seem possible that was 10 years ago.”