First Picture: Here we have Mopologist Scotty "Dog" Lloyd, who is not really known for anything other than his angry rants against gays and women and frequent meltdowns on mormondialogue.
Second Picture: Here we have actor James Hampton who is best known for playing Michael J. Fox's father on Teen Wolf and Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach.
First Picture: We have Boyd K. Packer who was known for advocating violence against gays and who enjoyed watching Three's Company.
Second Picture: We have Admiral Pike from Star Trek.
First Picture: This is young Neal Rappleye, the Mopologist from Book of Mormon Central who is most noted for allowing young Stephen Smoot to sleep on his parent's couch for several months while Smoot was unemployed and homeless.
Second Picture: This is Ralph Garman who has been a bit player in several films, but is most well-known as the host of the Joe Schmo seasons I, 2 and 3.
First Picture: This is Elder Gerrett Gong, member of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Second Picture: This is 80's icon Gedde Watanabe who was type cast as the Asian nerd in such films as Pretty in Pink, Gung Ho and Volunteers.
First Picture: This is Professor John Gee, known for his Mopologetic work on the Book of Abraham and for being thrown under the bus by the LDS Church in their essay on the Book of Abraham.
Second Picture: This is Danny Devito in his role as the villainous Penguin in the mediocre Michael Keaton Batman Movie.
First Picture: Elder James E. Talmage, who served in the Quorum of the Twelve from 1911 until his death in 1933. Elder Talmage was a chemist and geologist, and was one of our most prolific writers. Some of his books include The Articles of Faith, The House of the Lord, the iconic Jesus the Christ, and Yertle the Turtle.
Second Picture: Harry S. Truman (D), the 33rd President of the United States, who served from 1945 until 1953. Born in raised in the Mormon settlement of Independence, Missouri, President Truman is best remembered as the man who made the difficult decision to authorize the Allied dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during the final days of World War II.
First Picture: President James E. Faust, the gentle Democrat who served in the First Presidency with Gordon B. Hinckley from 1995 until 2007
Second Picture: Michal Gough, the late Shakespearian actor best known for his role as the butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the old Batman film franchise.
First Picture: Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Ballard was ordained an apostle and sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1985.
Second Picture: Ed McMahon, the long-time sidekick of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. McMahon is the one who coined the phrase, “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!” as he introduced the great comedian to his studio and television audience on a nightly basis for almost 30 years.
First Picture: Truman G. Madsen, Ph.D., who died in 2009 at the age 85. He was also one of the most intelligent and well-spoken scholars the Church has ever produced. A philosopher by education, Madsen was an eminent academic authority on the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was known to appear at BYU home games with his chest, face, and head painted royal blue.
Second Picture: Author Truman Capote, the enigmatic writer credited with creating the “Southern Gothic” genre of literature. Some of his timeless works include In Cold Blood, Music for Chameleons, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Some scholars speculate that he may have ghost-written Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, too.
First Picture: Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the Church’s legal eagles, and accomplished amateur historian, too.
Second Picture: Shakespearian stage actor Patrick Stewart, who is most widely recognized for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and as Professor Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” films.
First Picture: Orson Pratt, who was called by the Three Witnesses as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1835. Pratt served until 1842, when a disagreement with Joseph Smith over an issue relating to plural marriage came to a head. He humbled himself, however, and returned to the Quorum the same year, serving until his death in 1881.
Second Picture: Professor Albus Dumbledore of Harry Potter fame, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Magic.
First Picture: President Joseph F. Smith, the son of Hyrum Smith and the nephew of Joseph Smith. President Smith was set apart as the 6th President of the Church in 1901 and served until his death in 1918.
It was President Smith who was leading the Church when we, as an organization, finally became financially solvent. It was President Smith, too, who foresaw the need to take the temples to the people as the Church was beginning to experience unprecedented growth. During his administration, he presided over the ground-breaking of two temples: Cardston Alberta and Laie Hawaii. He was also instrumental in the planning of the Mesa Arizona Temple, although he died before ground could be broken.
President Smith is also the man whose vision of the spirit world, and the massive missionary efforts that go on there, resulted in Doctrine and Covenants 138.
And, lastly, it was President Smith whose legendary beard went on to influence a generation of jug band players, hillbillies, moonshiners, motorcycle gangs, hippies, tattoo artists, and rock musicians.
Second Picture: Musician Billy Gibbons, guitarist and singer of the rock band ZZ Top. ZZ Top enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1980’s, and is best known for hits such as “Sharp Dressed Man”, “La Grange”, “Legs”, and “Cheap Sunglasses”.
First Picture: President Spencer W. Kimball, the raspy-voiced legend whose courage, faith, and giant leadership changed the Church forever.
Second Picture: Yoda, from the Star Wars universe. Supposedly able to wield the power of the Force with unmatched competence, it was later revealed to the disappointment of many that Yoda was actually just a hand puppet operated and voiced by actor Frank Oz.
First Picture: Marvin J. Ashton, the tennis-playing apostle who served in the Quorum of the Twelve from 1971 until 1994.
Second Picture: Popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher. The Valparaiso, Indiana native once paid a marketing agency $50,000 to come up with a brand name for his new breed of gourmet popcorn. When the agency came back two weeks later with the suggestion “Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn”, Redenbacher lamented that he’d just paid $50,000 to have someone come up with the same name that his mother had come up with for free.
First Picture: Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1986 to 2008, striking a very serious pose.
Second Picture: Actor and comedian Don Rickles, who doesn’t have a serious bone in his body.
First Picture: President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, the World War II refugee whose family escaped from East Germany when he was 10, who later became a top gun in the West German Air Force, who later became captain for Lufthansa Airlines, who later accepted a call to serve in the Second and First Quorums of the Seventy, who later was ordained an apostle, who later became a counselor in the First Presidency.
Second Picture: Anthony Bourdain, the former lovably cynical celebrity chef, author, and host of the travel show “No Reservations”.
Above Left: Elder Jonathan Golden Kimball, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy from 1892 to 1938. Well-known for his use of mild profanity during speeches at stake conferences and even General Conferences, J. Golden Kimball was a tall, lean, narrowly-built, and extremely intelligent man. He was also gentle, humble, kind, and very funny.
His use of profanity at official Church meetings was a source of mild irritation to his priesthood leaders, and to President Heber J. Grant in particular. It’s probably difficult for us now to separate myth from fact when it comes to Elder Kimball’s purported use of profanities during speeches. But, true or not, the following is one of my favorite J. Golden Kimball tales:
In the late 1920’s, after radio broadcasts had become rather common in Salt Lake City, President Heber J. Grant wrote a speech free of profanity for Elder Kimball and insisted that he read it over the air as part of a Sunday night Church fireside radio program. President Grant was anxious that members of the Church understand that Elder Kimball was capable of delivering a talk without swearing. So, Elder Kimball, with President Grant standing next to him in the old KZN (present-day KSL) broadcast booth, began to read the speech over the air. Soon, however, Kimball found himself struggling to read President Grant’s fancy cursive handwriting and finally exclaimed something to effect of, “Hell, Heber! I can’t read this damned thing!”
Elder Kimball died in 1938 at age 85 in a single car automobile accident near Reno, Nevada while he was driving to preside over a stake conference.
Above Right: James Cromwell, a prolific character actor whose work you may have seen in “Babe”, “Star Trek: First Contact”, “Space Cowboys”, “I, Robot”, “Secretariat”, and “The Artist”.
Above Left: President Marion G. Romney, who was born in 1897 in the Mexican Mormon colony of Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Romney’s family left Colonia Juarez in 1912 because of the threat of violence from the escalating Mexican Revolution, led in part by General Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula (a.k.a. “Pancho Villa”). Pancho Villa had great respect for Mormons, and he and many of his troops found refuge in the Mormon colonies at different times during the Revolution.
Above Right: Political consultant and former Bill Clinton advisor James Carville, the Louisiana Cajun who speaks in the most hilarious accent and manner I’ve ever heard. I disagree with almost everything the man says, but I can’t think of anyone on T.V. I’d rather listen to more.
First Picture: Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who has been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve since 1994. Holland was formerly the president of BYU from 1980 to 1989, during which time the BYU Jerusalem Center was opened and BYU football won its only national championship.
Second Picture: Actor John Candy, the goofy Canadian who starred in goofy films such as “Spaceballs“, “Uncle Buck”, “Cool Runnings”, “The Great Outdoors”, and “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”.
First Picture: George Albert Smith, photographed here when he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, in which he served from 1903 to 1945.
Second Picture: Beaker, the hapless and oft-injured assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew at Muppet Labs.
First Picture: Ezra Taft Benson, President of the Church from 1985 until 1994. President Benson was the Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower between 1953 and 1960. During that time, he was serving simultaneously as an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve. Through his duties as Secretary of Agriculture, Elder Benson became familiar with the agricultural policies and practices of the Soviet Union and the communist Eastern European Bloc, and he was appalled at what he saw. His experiences made him vociferously anti-communist, and his politics sometimes surfaced during his General Conference addresses, and quite frequently during fireside or devotional addresses.
As President of the Church, Benson is remembered as the man who stressed the importance of the Book of Mormon as a message intended for our time. He is also remembered for a sharp rebuke he gave to the Church on the problem of pride. It was a message that many Utah Mormons needed, and still need. (Is it prideful of me to say that?)
Second Picture: A chimpanzee which, you’ve got to admit, we all kind of imagine whenever we see President Benson’s coal-black eyes, mouth, and ears in his official Church portrait.
First Picture: Elder Quentin L. Cook, who has served as an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve since 2007.
Second Picture: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, chief scientist at Muppet Labs and Beaker’s main tormentor.
First Picture: Elder Robert D. Hales, who served as Presiding Bishop from 1985 to 1994, when he was called to be an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve.
Second Picture: Comedic actor Bill Murray of Saturday Night Live fame, as well as great films like “Stripes”, “Caddyshack”, “Tootsie”, “Ghostbusters”, and “Groundhog Day”.
Above Left: Elder Bruce R. McConkie, the stern doctrinarian and son-in-law of the stern Joseph Fielding Smith.
McConkie, during his earlier years as a general authority, had a reputation for being tough-as-nails and even an archconservative on issues of doctrinal interpretation. His single-volume encyclopedia, Mormon Doctrine, which is no longer published by Deseret Book, was somewhat controversial even its own time and did not sit well with President David O. McKay. (McKay worried that readers would incorrectly view the book as the official pronouncement of the Church on the subjects it posited.)
In the last years of his life, McConkie’s discourses noticeably evolved as he began to regularly preach and testify of the grace of Christ and the purifying power of the Savior. Essentially, his heart had melted in the burning fire of his testimony of Jesus’ atonement, and he wanted to – he needed to – share it with the world.
Above Right: Lurch, the wordless, looming butler from the “Addams Family”.
