Wayne, in full western garb, filmed the most famous of his commercials for the bank in the Sequoia National Forest. After Wayne's death in 1979, Great Western went through a number of celebrity spokespersons including Ben Johnson, Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Maureen O'Hara and John Huston before settling on Dennis Weaver who became their main spokesman from 1982 until 1996. The tagline of the bank's advertising campaign during this time was "We'll Always Be There". John Wayne statue As a tribute to their most notable celebrity spokesman, Great Western commission in 1984 a full-sized bronze statue of the actor John Wayne by noted American western-motif sculptor Harry Jackson to stand in front of their then Beverly Hills headquarters at 8484 Wilshire Boulevard. The building was later sold after the company relocated their headquarters to Chatsworth in 1992. Magazine publisher Larry Flynt later obtained the building and statue in 1994. Naming rights and sponsors The Forum, an indoor arena in Inglewood, California, famous as the former home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings, was known as the "Great Western Forum" from 1988 to 2003. This name came from Great Western S&L, which paid for the naming rights on the arena in 1988. While naming rights to sports arenas and stadiums are now commonplace, such a thing was quite rare at the time of the deal. The name still remained for six years after Great Western had ceased to exist, with Washington Mutual letting the clock run on the deal without re-branding the arena as its teams departed. The 15-year naming rights contract expired in 2003, and the Great Western name was slowly removed from the arena; the last vestige, a weathered "GW" logo which painted atop the roof to attract the attention of passengers departing and arriving on planes from Los Angeles International Airport, was removed when the arena was renovated under new ownership in 2013. Chase Bank, the direct successor to Great Western after subsuming Washington Mutual's assets, became the sponsor of the Forum from 2014 until 2022 when Kia purchased the naming rights. References External links Banks established in 1919 Banks based in California Defunct banks of the United States JPMorgan Chase