Hey, we’ve been traveling for several days and just got back to the Bunker. While we try to catch up, we thought we’d point out something we saw in an excellent article about Scientology which Premiere magazine published way back in 1993.
The point of the piece was how Scientology maintained a grip on Hollywood, and about a third of the way into it, writer John H. Richardson paused to survey the landscape of Scientology’s entertainment dominance…
“The list of celebrity Scientologists now includes [Tom] Cruise, [Nicole] Kidman, Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, Anne Archer, Juliette Lewis, Kelly Preston, John Travolta, Mimi Rogers, Karen Black, and Kirstie Alley. There are dozens of lesser-known Scientologists in show biz as well: Lee Purcell (Big Wednesday), Jeff Pomerantz (General Hospital), Geoffrey Lewis (Juliette’s dad, who was in Every Which Way but Loose, among other movies), Judy Norton-Taylor (The Waltons), Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson), child TV actor Vonni Ribisi (My Two Dads), Michael Wiseman (Predator 2), Kimberley Kates (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), Michael D. Roberts (Rain Man), and Gary Imhoff (the forthcoming Thumbelina). ”
The forthcoming Thumbelina?
Well, what strikes us is that it was a pathetic list even then, and more than twenty years later, you realize that things really aren’t any better.
Kidman quit of course, and Katie Holmes came and went as well. Lisa Marie Presley is gone (but not talking about it), and we suspect her mother Priscilla is quietly out the door as well. Mimi Rogers is out, Leah Remini got famous after the Premiere article was published but she’s out now as well, Jason Beghe made a lot of noise getting out and he’s getting more famous all the time, and Karen Black, sadly, is dead.
In the meantime, Scientology really hasn’t added a single big star to its lineup in more than 20 years. It’s the same sad roster: Cruise, Travolta, and Alley, each of whom has been involved with pretty disastrous publicity of one sort or another in the last couple of years. There are some younger actors on the list, but they all seem to have some sort of connection with the Ribisi family.
We bring this up because we continue to see media types gushing about how “so many” celebrities are involved in Scientology. Actually, a small number of really annoying TV and movie people are hanging on after getting sucked into Scientology back in the 1970s and 1980s.
We wish more media outlets would point that out.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on February 10, 2014 at 09:50
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BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41
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