Famous child preacher and ‘Falcon Crest’ actor dies at 82
For many people, Marjoe Gortner’s journey was almost impossible to believe.
The former child preacher whose extraordinary life became the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary would go on to build a successful career as an actor, producer and entertainer.
But now, heartbreaking news has emerged: Marjoe Gortner has died at the age of 82.
Turned into a traveling preacher at 4
Marjoe Gortner died October 2 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from complications related to congestive heart failure, according to Variety and his family and wife.
He was just 4 years old when his parents turned him into a traveling preacher, taking him from town to town to deliver dramatic sermons at packed revival meetings. His natural gift for speaking quickly made him a sensation, and before long, the little boy had become a celebrity in his own right.
He had reportedly been ordained as a minister at just 3 years old and, a year later, performed an actual wedding ceremony — lisp and all.
His name, Marjoe, was a combination of Mary and Joseph.
His parents, Vernon and Marge Gortner, claimed that their young son had experienced a vision from God. Marjoe later said that story wasn’t true and that he had been trained to repeat it.
By his teenage years, he had become one of the most recognizable child evangelists in America. With his striking features and thick, tawny curls, he was impossible to overlook.
Amassed around $3 million
His family traveled from revival to revival, where he preached with dramatic gestures and powerful performances while donations poured in.
“When I started back, I preached about redemption, love, the war, social responsibility,” Gortner recalled in 1972.
Some nights, there could be as many as 400 people in the audience, while on others, only 30 showed up. But according to Gortner, the message people came to hear was always the same: “about eternal damnation, to be threatened with Hell, to be driven into repenting.”
The goal was to push the audience into a state of religious ecstasy — a point where they would do as they were told and empty their wallets and purses for God and the preacher. Gortner later estimated that the family had amassed around $3 million by the time he was 16. Then, shortly after his birthday, his father disappeared with all the money.
Life-changing decision
As he grew older, Gortner became increasingly disillusioned with the world he had been raised in.
He eventually decided to leave the ministry and pursue a career in entertainment.
That decision led to one of the most remarkable chapters of his life.
In 1971, Gortner allowed filmmakers Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan to follow him during what would become his final revival tour. The cameras captured a side of the revival circuit that audiences had rarely seen, including Gortner speaking openly about the techniques he and other evangelists used to persuade people to give money.
The result was the 1972 documentary Marjoe.
The film became a sensation, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and ultimately won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Gortner had turned one of the most painful chapters of his childhood into a story that reached audiences around the world.
And then he reinvented himself once again.
Starring in disaster classic
Following the success of Marjoe, he recorded an album, Bad, but Not Evil, and landed an acting contract with Universal Pictures.
His first major screen role came in The Marcus-Nelson Murders, the 1973 television movie that served as the pilot for Kojak. He went on to appear in a string of films and television shows, often playing troubled, dangerous or eccentric characters.
”All of my life I thought of being an actor. My training for it was the best I could have had,” he told Oakland Tribune in 1974.
He appeared in the disaster classic Earthquake in 1974 and later starred alongside Candy Clark in When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?.
His film credits also included Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, The Food of the Gods, Viva Knievel! and the cult sci-fi favorite Starcrash.
On television, Gortner appeared in shows including The A-Team, Fantasy Island, Airwolf, Police Story and Falcon Crest, where he played the corrupt psychic Vince Karlotti.
”A force of nature”
But his life was about much more than acting.
Gortner later became involved in producing celebrity sports events and Circus of the Stars specials, using those events to help raise money for charity.
Actor Ian Ziering remembered him as someone who brought people together and used his connections to help others.
“Marjoe Gortner was a force of nature. He became an evangelist in his teens, an actor in his young adulthood. His life story won an Oscar. I knew him because he produced the Marjoe Gortner celebrity sports invitationals that aired on CBS Saturdays for years. He brought celebrities all over the world to raise money for different charities …This man raised millions and millions of dollars for different charities while providing some of the most incredible celebrity experiences of my lifetime. I will never forget this man, and I will always be appreciative of not just what he did for me, but what he did for everyone who knew him.”
Gortner’s personal life was just as eventful. He married several times before marrying Susan Magestro in Santa Fe in 2019.
In the end, though, perhaps no part of his story was more extraordinary than where it began.
A little boy who was placed on a stage before he was old enough to understand what was happening grew up to expose the world behind that stage, win an Oscar for telling his story, and then build an entirely new life for himself.
Marjoe Gortner lived many different lives in one.
Child preacher. Hollywood actor. Documentary subject. Musician. Producer. Philanthropist.
And through all those chapters, he remained a man who had experienced an extraordinary journey that few others could ever understand. Rip, Marjoe!
READ MORE