Hollywood's Lapsed Mormon Renaissance

Hollywood has a long tradition of holding certain religions in vogue, during the golden era it was Christian Science, today its Scientology and Kabala. Despite sharing a certain esoteric element with those faiths, I think its safe to say that Mormonism will never be a popular religion among the Hollywood stars, it’s both to demanding and to middle American. Now there has always been a Mormon presence in Hollywood, though admittedly characters actors like Moroni Olsen or Priscilla Lane statues leading lady’s like Larraine Day (see Foreign Correspondent, sadly forgotten Hitchcock film) were never among the who’s who in town. However lapsed Mormons (as a group) have apparently never had a problem succeeding in Hollywood, and now may just be their golden age.

Notable Hollywood lapsed Mormons of an earlier time include John Gilbert, the silent screen leading man who had a very public romance with Greta Garbo. The great love of Rudolph Valinteno’s life, Natacha Rambova, an actress and fashion designer who cultivated a foreign mystique, was actually one Winifred Shaughnessy, a product of Mormon polygamy by way of her great-grandfather Church leader Heber C. Kimball. Robert Walker was the son of an editor of the Church owned Desert News, he made a stock and trade out of playing earnest young solders during the World War II era, and was even briefly married to Jennifer Jones. A career resurgence was in the works after Walker gave a impressive performance cast against type as the villain in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, only the poor guy died of an apparent prescription drug overdose the same year the film was released. Harold and Maude director Hal Ashby also came from a broken LDS home.

Today’s lapsed Mormons of Hollywood are A list, starting with current it girl Amy Adams (whom I love). Raised a Mormon in Colorado until here parents split when she was 11, Adams burst on the scene last year with the lead in Disney’s Enchanted and a supporting part in Charlie Wilson’s War, though she had previously been Oscar nominated for Junebug. Aaron Eckhart is a BYU graduate who has been in loads of high profile Hollywood movies including Erin Brockovich, The Pledge, and Thank You For Smoking in which he played the lead. He will appear as Harvey Dent in this summers Batman movie. Eckhart has expressed a certain affection in interviews for his time as a practicing Mormon, but such religious devotion is not currently central to his everyday living. Interestingly Eckhart is often cast in films by another lapsed Mormon, director Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty, The Wicker Man).

Ryan Gosling was launched to stardoom in 2004 with the female favorite The Notebook, and is apparently dating his co-star and fellow Canadian Rachel McAdams. He was Oscar nominated for Half Nelson, and probably should have been for Lars and the Real Girl. Lastly I’d like to mention Katherine Heigl, who was recently voted the most desirable women in the world by the website AskMen. Heigl took awhile to make it to the front ranks, laboring in TV movies and the sci-fi teen drama Roswell. Now with both a mega successful TV series in Gray’s Anatomy and near top teir movie statues after Aptow’s Knocked-Up, she seems pretty set for the time being. Heigl’s family are converts to the Church from Connecticut, joining in the aftermath of her brothers tragic death in 1986. Her family still practice, and I belive she even has a sister who was recently married in the temple.

I could also mention lesser lights including Buffy the Vampire Slayers Eliza Dushku, and Paul Walker of Fast and the Furious fame. Matthew Modine’s activity statues is unknown to me.
So it’s a good time to be a lapsed Mormon in Hollywood. If your successful in the industry it appears adhering to a restrictive religious tradition can come to be unimportant, if it hasn’t become so already. Anyway you always have the option of exchanging Joseph Smith for L. Ron Hubbard.