Sorry to burst the bubble but our beloved little sage finds his roots in the British workshop of Grand Master of SFX Stuart Freeborn who lays sole claim to have found inspiration by his own face - with the addition of Albert Einstein's eyes. Whatever, myth busted!
One might also be interested to note that the puppeteer and voice that gave life to Yoda is that of world renowned Master Puppeteer Frank Oz. Oz also brought life to favourites such as Miss Piggy and Cookie Monster. In fact, he worked on Sesame Street at the Muppets for years. (You just KNEW the voice didn't you?)
Digging a little deeper we may find that alas, this whimsical myth may trace its origins to Lucas' association with Gary Kurtz, who produced Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. (You can read about this further via the following link:- http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/George_Lucas.html.)
The cut and paste version (bold, italics and underscoring added) is as follows:-
"Lucas was born and raised in a strongly Methodist family. After inserting religious themes into Star Wars he would eventually come to identify strongly with the Eastern religious philosophies he studied and incorporated into his movies, which were a major inspiration for "the Force." Lucas eventually came to state that his religion was "Buddhist Methodist." Gary Kurtz, a Latter-day Saint who had studied Comparative Religion extensively in college and on his own, was pivotal in introducing Lucas to Eastern religions (particularly Buddhism) and Native American religion, and discussing with Lucas how best to improve "Star Wars" by giving it a believable but sufficiently universal religious underpinning. Kurtz was the producer of "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back" and also did some work on the "Star Wars" screenplay."
From: John Baxter, Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas, Avon Books: New York, NY (1999), page 16."
And for those Battlestar Galactica fans, you may find the following of interest:-
"The most successful science fiction TV series launched soon after the success of Star Wars was "Battlestar Galactica," created by prolific Latter-day Saint TV producer Glen A. Larson. More than anything else, "Galactica" was based on the stories from the Old Testament and on Larson's own religious and historical background as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series was inspired in part on the stories of the Mormon pioneers, and many key aspects of the fictional star-traveling culture depicted in the series were based on contemporary Latter-day Saint beliefs and practices. But Lucas filed lawsuits claiming that "Galactica" infringed on Star Wars copyrights. Eventually Lucas lost this fight in court, although he did cause headaches for the "Galactica" camp. Larson had even worked out an agreement with Star Wars producer (and fellow Mormon) Gary Kurtz regarding ways to minimize similarities between Star Wars and "Galactica," but that didn't prevent Lucas from suing." (Another cut and paste from the above link.)
So sleep well my pretties, tomorrow the sun will rise and set even though your hopes are now dashed that Yoda was once a Mormon!
(Graphic by Kelvin Chan aka RocketRayGun and can be found at http://rampagedreality.com/post/561008951/yoda-is-a-little-grumpy-this-morning-i-guess-he )
