Harland David "Colonel" Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was an American fast food businessman who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant chain. His image remains iconic in KFC promotions, and a foundation he established in his later years aids charities and funds scholarships with more than a million dollars in grants a year.

Sanders was born to a Presbyterian family in Henryville, Indiana. His father, Wilbur David Sanders, died when Harland was six years old, and, since his mother worked, he was required to cook for his family. He dropped out of school in seventh grade. When his mother remarried, he ran away from home because his stepfather beat him.^{[citation needed]} Sanders falsified his date of birth and enlisted in the United States Army at the age of sixteen, completing his entire service commitment in Cuba. During his early years, Sanders held many jobs, including: steamboat pilot, insurance salesman, railroad fireman and farmer. He had a son, Harland, Jr., who died at an early age, and two daughters, Margaret Sanders and Mildred Sanders Ruggles.

James Orsen "Jim" Bakker (born January 2, 1940, pronounced "Baker") is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, convicted felon, and a former host (with his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker) of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program.

A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry. Subsequent revelations of accounting fraud brought about his imprisonment and divorce. He later remarried and returned to televangelism.

Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, the son of Raleigh Bakker and Furnia Lynette "Furn" Irwin. Bakker attended North Central University, a Bible college affiliated with the Assemblies of God, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where in 1960 he met fellow student Tammy Faye LaValley. He worked in a restaurant inside a department store in Minneapolis, and she had a job in a boutique for a time.

On April 1, 1961, Bakker and Tammy Faye were married. They left the Bible college to become evangelists. They had two children, Tammy Sue "Sissy" Bakker Chapman (born March 2, 1970) and Jamie Charles "Jay" Bakker (born December 18, 1975).

Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W (Westinghouse) Broadcasting. Griffin created the game shows Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Click, and Merv Griffin's Crosswords with his own "Merv Griffin Enterprises" television production company. During his life Griffin was considered an entertainment business magnate.

Griffin was born into an Irish-American family on July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California, to Mervyn Edward Griffin, Sr., a stock broker, and Rita Elizabeth Griffin (née Robinson), a homemaker. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Griffin started singing in his church choir as a boy, and by his teens was earning extra money as a church organist. This is one of the reasons he got into show business early; he was considered a piano prodigy. He attended San Mateo High School, class of 1942, and continued to aid in financing the school.

James Allen Whitmore, Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American film and stage actor.

Born in White Plains, to Florence Belle (née Crane) and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut. He went on to study at Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones and had his first taste of radio drama as part of other broadcasting experience as a member of the student-run WOCD-AM, later renamed WYBC-AM. He later was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and served in the United States Marine Corps in the Panama Canal Zone during World War II.

Following World War II, Whitmore appeared on Broadway in the role of the Sergeant in Command Decision. MGM hired Whitmore on contract, but his role in the film adaptation was played by Van Johnson. Whitmore's first major picture was Battleground, in a role that was turned down by Spencer Tracy, and for which Whitmore was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other major films included Angels in the Outfield (1951 film), The Asphalt Jungle, The Next Voice You Hear,Above and Beyond, Kiss Me, Kate, Them!, Oklahoma!, Black Like Me, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and Give 'em Hell, Harry!, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of former U.S. President Harry S Truman. In the film Tora! Tora! Tora! he played the part of Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey.