Comments on: I know I've seen this guy before.

Question: I know I've seen this guy before.

phunniemee — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:04:35 -0800

Who is the guy in this poster?

I have been trying to find out who the man in this picture is. He looks so familiar to me, but I just can't seem to place him. My gut feeling is that he's a writer, but he could be an actor or scientist or something.

Through some internet sleuthing, my friends and I have traced the image itself down to a website for the Spiritwatch Ministries (whatever that is), and I emailed the wife of the guy who wrote the article (who happens to run the page) to ask where they got the image and what they know about it. (Haven't heard back yet, and it doesn't appear that I ever will.) We traced the slogan-as-poster to an ad campaign for the Episcopal Church, but I don't know if it's the same one, since it's just briefly mentioned on the bottom of the page.

If anyone knows who he is, or has any clues about the origin of the picture, please let me know! It's been driving me crazy for over a week now.

People I'm nearly 100% certain he's not, but I'd like a second opinon (because the suggesters of these people keep insisting that they're correct):
Richard Dawkins
Christopher Lloyd
Barry Lynn

p.s. I finally joined metafilter after being a long-time reader specifically to ask this question, so I really hope you guys can pull through!

By: nax

nax — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:11:43 -0800

I immediately thought Christopher Lloyd too, but not having any luck trying to connect him to the poster, the slogan, religion in general or any of the websites you mentioned.

By: heavenstobetsy

heavenstobetsy — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:13:16 -0800

I could swear he is an actor, but not Christopher Lloyd. That doesn't help. Your welcome.

By: puckish

puckish — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:14:34 -0800

Ira Flatow? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's the first thing that popped into my head

By: limon

limon — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:23:45 -0800

A younger Vincent Schiavelli?

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:34:31 -0800

puckish: I think you may be right! The second I googled his picture I thought "YES!", but since I couldn't find any direct connection to cults/religion I started to second guess myself. So...I found Mr. Flatow's email address and went ahead and asked him. *Best answer pending*

(Keep suggestions coming, though, just in case.)

And THANKS!

By: nanojath

nanojath — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:54:27 -0800

Have you contacted that church through its website? They describe it national advertisement - what's reproduced at that website is obviously a scan of an old print ad, probably from a magazine though maybe from a newspaper - seems like a bit of a stretch to be a coincidence.

It's a longshot but someone might be able to connect you with someone who was involved with its production or (if the model was either someone in the Episcopal church or some semi-famous actor of the time) even know as a bit of church trivia who it was. It's actually not that unlikely - I worked for a short while for a public radio distributor and eventually I knew who all the "big name" voices they'd gotten to do little promo cuts ("you're listening to..."), it was just part of the local lore.

The worst case is if it's just some model or really off-brand actor who happens to have a familiar face. Given the dude's haircut, glasses and the cut of his suitcoat lapels, it's pretty old. You "know" you've seen this guy before, but remember, your dumb friends "know" it's Richard Dawkins, which is, like, ridiculous because if it was Dawkins the slogan would be "the problem with any religion is that all religions suck" or something. It's a poor repro, his mouth is obscured, perception is deceptive.

By: wsg

wsg — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:56:32 -0800

It's Christopher Lloyd.

By: nanojath

nanojath — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:08:07 -0800

Oh, googling, this article confirms that this image is a poster put out by the Episcopal church (search "don't allow questions" on the page, it includes a description of the image. Here's another mention with a little picture confirming the origin. This sort of attributes the quote to John Shelby Spong, this one to Minnesotan Episcopal priest named George Martin... but either of them might have just been quoting the ad, it's a pretty catchy slogan.

By: mccxxiii

mccxxiii — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:08:19 -0800

I don't know who it is, but I can tell you that it's definitely not Barry Lynn. I know Barry Lynn ... this is not him.

By: nanojath

nanojath — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:19:17 -0800

(Incidentally Ira Flatow seems really unlikely. Age doesn't seem right (though I guess I'm guessing at the picture's age, but it looks like 70s to me which would have Flatow in his 30s, and that guy looks older than his 30s to me). There's no connection I can see between Flatow and the Episcopal church - the notion that this is some sort of skeptics poster having been debunked, while calling for open-mindedness, it's still a religious poster, so I can't see it would feature science types unless they happened to also be Episcopalians. Okay I'm done now.

By: nanojath

nanojath — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:20:54 -0800

Except that in my second comment I forgot to link the first article I mentioned. It's here.

By: sysinfo

sysinfo — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:21:21 -0800

Doesn't help with his identity, but it looks like a scan of this poster (without the smaller text.) They say they produce the ads, posters, etc so while it may not be the original source, they might be able to tell you where they got it from.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:24:09 -0800

I suspect it's just a stock photo.

The guy does tremendously remind one of Christopher Lloyd, but the actor has a straighter eyebrow line and even when younger had distinctly different features (second photo has bonus Vincent Schiavelli, for that comparison -- his face is just too damn long).

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:28:10 -0800

Oh, and you may just want to confirm that you're not thinking of Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:31:14 -0800

(Extensive photo comparison had already determined (for me) that the guy is not Christopher Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd's got ears from here to Sunday. Posterman doesn't. And any ad wizard who would suggest Vincent Schiavelli for anything would be fired on the spot. haha)

I have contacted several of the sites suggested by nanojath and sysinfo to see if I can get any further information. Thanks for the suggestions!

By: neroli

neroli — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:00:17 -0800

The ad is almost certainly part of the series of print spots done for the Episcopal Church in 1988 by the agency Fallon McElligott.

Which doesn't really help you with your question. (The guy was probably just a model they hired. Maybe he was in Minneapolis, where the agency is located; maybe they did the shot somewhere else.) But if you're emailing people, you'd probably do best with the current version of the company.

By: Dreamcast

Dreamcast — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:53:52 -0800

Looks like Joe Flaherty to me.

By: electroboy

electroboy — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:22:33 -0800

It's neither Christopher Lloyd, nor Vincent Schiavelli, but he's definitely a fairly well-known character actor. I can't for the life of me figure out what he's been in though.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:43:37 -0800

He looks just enough like Michael Caine to trigger that déjà vu thing for me.

By: dogwalker

dogwalker — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:45:28 -0800

Kinda looks like a young David Paymer to me. At least it did in the original pic linked, but the version sysinfo linked to looks like it's probably not him. Just a guess then.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:47:39 -0800

Here, for example.

By: heavenstobetsy

heavenstobetsy — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:11:13 -0800

dogwalker has it. David Paymer without a doubt.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:53:08 -0800

It's not David Paymer. (The noses!) It's not Michael Caine.

I've received one email back (from the church ad company) and they didn't know who it was. I'm still waiting for other replies. *sigh*

By: neroli

neroli — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:01:49 -0800

Really, get in touch with Fallon, the ad agency I mentioned above. There's a good chance they have a corporate archivist. If anyone has the information about this, they would.

Good luck!

(He looks really familiar to me too, by the way.)

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:05:52 -0800

I emailed Fallon last night and am eagerly awaiting their reply. =)

By: Theresa

Theresa — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:08:25 -0800

That looks a lot like Christopher Lloyd to me too, though I can also believe it's not. Can't wait to hear what you found out!

By: theora55

theora55 — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:36:36 -0800

It reminded me of Donald Sutherland.

By: gjc

gjc — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:45:27 -0800

Looks like a mid-80's P. J. O'Rourke to me.

By: wsg

wsg — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:45:35 -0800

I will bet anybody 20 bucks it's Christpher Lloyd.

By: electroboy

electroboy — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:35:46 -0800

I will bet anybody 20 bucks it's Christpher Lloyd.

I'll take that action.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:08:15 -0800

Yeah, wsg, I'll take you up on that, too.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:08:40 -0800

(By the way, I still haven't heard from Fallon.)

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:01:09 -0800

I'll take those bets. Now how do we find out who it is?

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:22:16 -0800

I sent the question to Christopher Lloyd's management agency. If I hear back (which I doubt will happen) I'll let you know.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:54:38 -0800

OK, wsg, this one is for you. =)

By: wsg

wsg — Fri, 23 May 2008 06:51:03 -0800

It's in the mail, phunniemee. That's quite an analysis you have provided. It is persuasive, but still not definitive.

By: electroboy

electroboy — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:58:37 -0800

I'm not getting my money unless I have a signed affadavit from Christopher Lloyd, am I?

By: dersins

dersins — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:35:39 -0800

Have you heard from Fallon?

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:58:11 -0800

No, unfortunately. Contacted multiple times.
I have resigned myself to never finding out. The dude above at least got the closest, by finding the ad agency, date, and location. *sigh*

By: alyxstarr

alyxstarr — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:47:46 -0800

I e-mailed Dean Hanson, who was apparently one of the main designers of the project for Fallon McElligott (and still works for Fallon Worldwide). He was very quick to respond:

The person in the ad is Tom McElligott, the originator (and primary
writer) of the ad campaign back in the 80"s.
Regards, Dean

So there you have it.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:01:26 -0800

Holy cow, alyxstarr. You win all the cookies. Thanks! I can't believe you got a quick response! (...I emailed the company 4 times and never heard back.)

Now, I think that wsg owes some people some money.