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Two Iowans on the Finale of Boston Legal

By Steve Lombardi

Jim Turner is an actor from Des Moines and in the finale on Boston Legal on December 8, 2008 he played the role of a “very offensive” Catholic priest who officiated the marriage between two lawyers. But he’s not alone. Jerry Espenson a role played by Christian Clemenson, is from Humboldt, Iowa. Hands joined the show in 2005 and has received an Emmy for his role.

If I may quote the Des Moines Register:

“Clemenson, who worked as a Des Moines Register paperboy in junior high, studied theater at Harvard University and has performed in a number of movies ("United 93," "The Big Lebowski") and TV shows ("The West Wing," "CSI," "Ally McBeal").

Turner, who grew up in several Iowa towns, has acted in independent movies and popular sitcoms ("Dharma and Greg," "Roseanne," "Grace Under Fire," "The King of Queens").”

Iowans like pointing out Iowans who become famous. To be a famous Iowan you don’t have to be exactly from Iowa; just be connected enough to make us want to say you’re from Iowa. There are a number several famous Iowan lists, but here are a few of the more familiar Iowans. Those included are associated with being Iowan, which is usually good right up until you run for Governor of Iowa. I you want to be Governor, then your opponent will claim he’s the only one born, raised, attended an Iowa college, married an Iowa woman or man, drank only Iowa water, ate only Iowa pork, never thought of leaving Iowa, dress only in bib overalls, speak Iowaegan, know several Minnesota and Wisconsin jokes and have never ever missed a day of the Iowa State Fair. So here is a list:

Steve Allen, comedian and Tonight Show host

Don Ameche, actor

Dave Armbruster, inventor of the butterfly stroke in swimming

Tom Arnold, actor and comedian

John Vincent Atanasoff, Co-inventor of the digital computer

Jack Bailey, game show host

Willie Beamon, football player

Bix Beiderbecke, jazz musician

Jim Belilove, founder, Creative Edge

Ralph Bellamy, actor

Sarah Bernhardt, actress

Clifford Berry, co-inventor of the digital computer

Earl Blakesley Jr., screenwriter

Amelia Jenks Bloomer, women's rights activist. Bloomers were named after her.

Tommy Bolin, singer

Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and father of the Green Revolution

Laura Flynn Boyle, actress

Neville Brand, actor

Norman Breyfogle, comics illustrator

Wallace Hume Carothers, inventor

Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show host

George Washington Carver, scientist and inventor. He was the first black man to serve on the faculty of the Iowa Agriculture College.

Virginia Christine, actress (Mrs. Olson)

Dallas Clark, football player

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, frontier scout and wild west showman

Stephen Collins, actor, Seventh Heaven

Gary Cooper, actor

Troy Davis, star running back of Iowa State. In 1996, he ran his total yards gained for two seasons to 3,970 yards, the most in consecutive seasons in Division 1-A football.

August and Frederick Duesenberg, car builders

Tim Dwight, football player

Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, Western heroes

Mamie Doud Eisenhower, first lady, wife of president Dwight David Eisenhower

Everly Brothers, singing group

Dan Gable, wrestler and wrestling coach; Olympic gold medal winner. As a coach, his wrestling teams at Iowa won 22 straight Big Ten titles and 15 NCAA team titles.

George H. Gallup, pollster

Annabeth Gish, actress

Fred Grandy, actor (Love Boat) and congressman

William Grant, in 1885, this doctor performed the first appendectomy in the world on Mary Gartside.

Doug Henning, magician

Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States

Howard Hughes, Sr., inventor

Mary Beth Hurt, actress

John Irving, novelist

Bruce Jenner, Olympic decathlete

Zach Johnson, golfer

Alex Karras, football player and actor

Nile Kinnick, football player

W.P. Kinsella, novelist, Field of Dreams

James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise (TV and movie character)

Carl Klaus, founding director, University of Iowa nonfiction writing program

Carol Zurer Kline, author, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul

Larry Kline, author, Chicken Soup for the Military Soul

Ashton Kutcher, actor, That ’70s Show and movies

Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer), advice columnist

Harry Langdon, silent movie actor

Frank Lawery, gunfighter

Cloris Leachman, actress

Randy Lewis, wrestler

Jock Mahoney, actor and stuntman (Tarzan)

Arabella Mansfield, first woman lawyer in the U.S.

Jerry Mathers, actor, Leave It to Beaver

John Matuszek, football player

Elmer and Frederick Maytag, manufacturers; founders of the Maytag Company

E.T. Meredith, magazine publisher

Glenn Miller, big band leader and musician of the Swing Era

Samuel F. Miller, justice, U.S. Supreme Court

Greg Morris, actor, Mission Impossible TV series

Christian Nelson, patented the first ice cream bar, the Eskimo Pie, in 1919

Harriet Nelson, actress

Nick Nolte, actor

Robert Noyce, inventor of the microchip

Radar O'Reilly, TV character

Daniel Palmer, inventor of chiropractic medicine

Ed Podalak, football player and radio commentator

Ronald Reagan, actor and U.S. president

Harry Reasoner, TV commentator

Donna Reed, Academy Award-winning actress and star of It’s a Wonderful Life

George Reeves, actor (Superman)

Ringling Brothers, circus entrepreneurs

Wiley Rutledge, justice, U.S. Supreme Court

Bob Sanders, football player

Wilhelm Schneider, inventor of the merry-go-round

Robert Schuller, Hour of Power minister, founder of the Crystal Cathedral

Loren Shriver, astronaut

Hugh Sidey, journalist

Slipknot, rock band

Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of A Thousand Acres

Phil Strong, novelist, State Fair

Tom Thumb, circus performer

Tiny Tim, singer (Tip Toe Through the Tulips)

Clyde Tolson, FBI agent

Forrest Tucker, actor

Mark Twain, novelist and humorist

James A. Van Allen, astrophysicist, Van Allen Belt named after him

Abigail Van Buren (Lederer), advice columnist

Henry Wallace, founder of Wallaces Farmer

Henry A. Wallace, vice president under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred International

Henry C. Wallace, U.S. secretary of agriculture

Marcia Wallace, actress (Bob Newhart Show)

Robert Waller, novelist, Bridges of Madison County

Kurt Warner, football quarterback

John Wayne, Oscar-winning actor, one of the best cowboy actors

Gene Wilder, actor

Laura Ingalls Wilder, writer

Andy Williams, singer (Moon River)

Roger Williams, pianist

Tennessee Williams, playwright

Meredith Willson , composer of the Broadway musical The Music Man

James A. Wilson, U.S. secretary of agriculture

Elijah Wood, actor, the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Grant Wood, painter; painted American Gothic and many other famous paintings

Wilbur and Orville Wright, inventors of the airplane

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on December 15, 2008 (boomark / email).