Burbank Airport, near Los Angeles, was renamed Bob Hope Airport Wednesday in honor of the beloved entertainer who died in July at the age of 100.
Hope, who spent six decades flying around the world to entertain U.S. servicemen abroad, kept a private plane at the regional flying hub located at the heart of U.S. television and movie production studios.
Hope’s widow Dolores, his daughter Linda and comedienne Phyllis Diller took part in the renaming ceremony, which coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight.
“He was in the air most of the time ... on the air, in the air, one way or the other. It was his thing and this was his airport,” Diller told reporters.
“Everything about him was around Burbank. He lived here, he worked here and he flew here,” she said.
Hope died at his Toluca Lake home in suburban Los Angeles just two months after the nation marked his 100th birthday with movie retrospectives, television specials and the naming of ”Bob Hope Square” in central Hollywood.