Marjoe Gortner

Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner was born in 1944 in Long Beach, California, into a family with a long evangelical heritage.{{Cite journal|title = Marjoe Gortner, Imposter Revivalist: Toward a Cognitive Theory of Religious Misbehavior|last = Cooper|first = Travis|date = 2013|journal = PentecoStudies}}{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19490107&id=g_8uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MtwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4104,1333211|title = Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search}} The name "Marjoe" is a portmanteau of the biblical names "Mary" and "Joseph".{{efn|The formation of his name from combining the names of Mary and Joseph is alluded to in numerous sources; however, some early sources state that he was named for his mother, Marge. cf. His brother's name, Vernoe, father, Vernon; and sister's name, Starloe.}} His father, Vernon Robert Gortner, was a third-generation Christian evangelical minister who preached at revivals. His mother Marge, who has been labelled as "exuberant," was the person who introduced him as a preacher, and is notable for his success as a child. Vernon noticed his son's talent for mimicry and his fearlessness of strangers and public settings. His parents claimed the boy had received a vision from God during a bath, and he started preaching. Marjoe later said that was a fictional story that his parents forced him to repeat. He claimed they compelled him to do that by using mock-drowning episodes; they did not beat him as they did not want to leave bruises that might be noticed during his many public appearances.{{cite web |url=http://dangerousminds.net/comments/a_lot_of_people_do_bad_things_the_bizarre_tale_of_child_evangelist_turned_c |title='A lot of people do bad things': The bizarre tale of child evangelist turned conman, Marjoe Gortner |website=Dangerous Minds |date=February 27, 2015 |author=Jason Schafer |access-date=July 3, 2015}}

They trained him to deliver sermons, complete with dramatic gestures and emphatic lunges. When he was four, his parents arranged for him to perform a marriage ceremony attended by the press, including photographers from Life and Paramount studios.{{efn|The ceremony was performed on January 2, just 12 days before Gortner's fifth birthday, leading to differing reports as to his age.}} Until his teenage years, Gortner and his parents traveled throughout the United States holding revival meetings, and by 1951 his younger brother Vernoe had been incorporated into the act.

By the time he was sixteen, his family had amassed what he later estimated to be three million dollars. Shortly after Gortner's sixteenth birthday, his father absconded with the money.{{cite journal|last1=Stollznow|first1=Karen|author-link=Karen Stollznow|date=2013|title=Kids of the Cloth: Childhood Preacher|journal=Skeptic Magazine|volume=18|issue=3|url=http://karenstollznow.com/kids-of-the-cloth-child-preachers/|access-date=20 August 2015|archive-date=27 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427073751/http://karenstollznow.com/kids-of-the-cloth-child-preachers/|url-status=dead}}

Gortner spent the remainder of his teenage years as an itinerant beatnik.{{cite web |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/interview-with-marjoe-gortner |title=Interview with Marjoe Gortner |website=RogerEbert.com |date=September 25, 1972 |author=Robert Ebert |access-date=July 3, 2015}}

In the late 1960s, Gortner experienced a crisis of conscience about his double life. He decided his performing talents might be put to use as an actor or singer. When approached by documentarians Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan, he agreed to let their film crew follow him throughout 1971 on a final tour of revival meetings in California, Texas, and Michigan.

Unknown to everyone involved{{spaced ndash}}including, at one point, his father{{spaced ndash}}he gave "backstage" interviews to the filmmakers between sermons and revivals, some including other preachers, explaining intimate details of how he and other ministers operated. The filmmakers also shot footage of him while counting the money he had collected during the day, later in his hotel room. The resulting film, Marjoe, won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Gortner capitalized on the success of the documentary. Oui magazine hired him to cover Millennium '73, a November 1973 festival headlined by the "boy guru" Guru Maharaj Ji. He cut an LP with Chelsea Records titled Bad, but Not Evil, named after his description of himself in the documentary.

He began his acting career with a featured role in The Marcus-Nelson Murders, the 1973 pilot for the Kojak TV series. In 1974, he made several appearances in film and television. In the disaster film, Earthquake, he was Sgt. Jody Joad, a psychotic grocery manager-turned-National Guardsman, the main antagonist.

Gortner portrayed the psychopathic, hostage-taking drug dealer in Milton Katselas's 1979 screen adaptation of Mark Medoff's play When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?. He starred in a number of B-movies including Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976), The Food of the Gods (1976), and Starcrash (1978).

In the early 1980s, Gortner hosted the short-lived reality TV series, Speak Up, America. He also appeared frequently in the 1980s Circus of the Stars specials. He also played a terrorist preacher in a second-season episode of Airwolf, and appeared on Falcon Crest as corrupt psychic-cum-medium "Vince Karlotti" (1986–87). His last role was as a preacher in the western Wild Bill (1995).

In 1984, Gortner directed a major photo-fumetti, "Biblical Vision", for the American pornography magazine Hustler.

Gortner recorded an album, Bad but Not Evil which was released on the Chelsea Records label in 1972. It included the songs, "Hoe-Bus", "The Ballad of Spider John", "Lo And Behold!", "Wind Up", "I'm A Man", "Collection Box", "Glory Glory Hallelujah", "I Shall Be Released", and "Faith Healing Remedy (Jesus Is Your Friend)". Vocal backing was by Maxine Waters, Gwen Johnson, Clydie King and Venetta Fields etc. The musicians included Tom Scott, Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine and Michael Omartian etc.Music Metason - [https://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=Marjoe%20Gortner&title=Bad%20But%20Not%20Evil ArtistInfo, Marjoe Gortner, Bad but Not Evil] It was reviewed in Billboard's November 18 issue that year with the reviewer saying he was off to a flying start with a Bob Dylan composition, "Lo and Behold". The reviewer also called it a strong debut. The other songs noted as highlights were "Hoe-Bus", "Glory Glory Halelujah", and another Dylan composition, "I Shall Be Released". The single "Lo And Behold!" was also attracting attention.Billboard, November 18, 1972 - [https://books.google.com/books?id=NQ8EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Marjoe+Gortner%22Billboard&pg=PA24 Page 24 Billboard Album Reviews]

Gortner’s first marriage was to Carol Raney on 27 May 1960 in Reno, Nevada.{{cite journal |title=Gortner-Raney Wedding News is Revealed |journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel |date=4 September 1960 |volume=104 |issue=209 |page=6 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-cruz-sentinel-marjoe-married/168512314/ |access-date=21 March 2025}}

Gortner married Virginia Humphreys in on 1 April 1968 in Las Vegas.{{cite journal |title=Miss Virginia Humphreys Wed to Ross Gortner |journal=The Chapel Hill News |date=28 April 1968 |volume=46 |issue=24 |page=6 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-chapel-hill-news-marjoe-married-agai/168512488/ |access-date=21 March 2025}}

In 1971, Gortner married Agnes Benjamin, who had appeared in his documentary.{{cite book|last1=Sewall-Ruskin|first1=Yvonne|title=High on Rebellion: Inside the Underground at Max's Kansas City}} From 1978 to December 14, 1979, Gortner was married to actress Candy Clark.

Gortner married Susan Magestro in 1999 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2007, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival commissioned actor and writer Brian Osborne to write a one-man play about Gortner. The play, The Word, premiered at the Festival with Suli Holum as director and main collaborator. In 2010, the play was recreated as The Word: A House Party for Jesus, with director Whit MacLaughlin. The play opened October 14, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and has been performed in New York (the Soho Playhouse), Los Angeles, Philadelphia (the 2011 NET Festival), and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (the Kelly Strayhorn Theater).

In 2008, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia held the first retrospective of Marjoe Gortner's roles as part of its ninth festival.

• Al Sharpton – another well-known child preacher
• Child preacher

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite book |last=Stowe |first=David W. |title=No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zt_kCEvP4KcC&pg=PA121 |year=2011 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807834589 |pages=121–122}}

{{cite magazine |title=Marjoe the Minister |magazine=Life |date=January 17, 1949 |volume=26 |issue=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40 |access-date=2013-02-09}}

{{cite news |title=Marjoe Continues by Popular Demand (advertisement) |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19510316&id=lOA-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=G00MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2460,5656802 |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |date=March 16, 1951 |page=2 |access-date=2015-02-07}}

{{cite news |title=World's Youngest Evangelists (advertisement) |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=XUmZziu-z7kC&dat=19510922&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |date=September 22, 1951 |page=2 |access-date=2015-02-07}}

{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/31480/Marjoe/details |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228020928/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/31480/Marjoe/details |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-02-28 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2011 |title=Movies: Marjoe (1972) – Cast, Credits & Awards |access-date=2014-05-02}}

{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/27902/Marjoe-Gortner |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211165930/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/27902/Marjoe-Gortner |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-12-11 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2008 |title=Marjoe Gortner – About this person |access-date=2013-05-10}}

{{cite journal |last=Gortner |first=Marjoe |date=May 1974 |title=Who Was Maharaj Ji? |journal=OUI}}

State of California. California Divorce Index, 1966–1984. Microfiche. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. p. 8613.

{{cite magazine |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQ8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24 |date=November 18, 1972 |volume=84 |issue=47 |page=24 |title=Album Reviews |issn=0006-2510}}

{{cite journal |last=Crist |first=Judith |author-link=Judith Crist |journal=New York Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=reYCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57 |date=July 24, 1972 |page=57 |title=Machine-made 'Man' |issn=0028-7369}}

{{cite book |last=Mansour |first=David |title=From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7GN0E_diWbAC&pg=PA137 |year=2011 |publisher=Andrews McMeel |isbn=978-0-7407-9307-3 |page=137}}

{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |author-link1=Tim Brooks (television historian) |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&pg=PA1281 |edition=9th |year=2009 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |page=1281}}

{{cite web |title=Genre-Defying Work |website=Network of Ensemble Theaters |url=http://www.ensembletheaters.net/programs/micro-festivals/genre-defying-work-philadelphia |access-date=2015-02-08}}

{{cite web |title=MUFF9: Marjoe |website=Melbourne Underground Film Festival |date=October 2008 |url=http://www.muff.com.au/vault/2008/marjoe.html |access-date=2015-02-08}}

{{cite news |last=Meyer |first=Robert |title=How Can They Condemn Me? |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |date=January 7, 1949 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19490107&id=g_8uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MtwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4104,1333211 |access-date=2015-02-08}}

{{cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |title=Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AKlgjBCPPnsC&pg=PA91 |volume=II |year=1985 |publisher=VNR AG |isbn=978-0-918432-61-2 |page=91}}

}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0331374|name=Marjoe Gortner}}
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bvxhx7 The child preacher who exposed a con] (BBC World Service Outlook, March 17, 2022)
• [http://www.sarahkernochan.com/documentaries/index.html Resurrecting 'Marjoe' article] by Sarah Kernochan.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20000901002143/http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/marjoe.htm Interview with Marjoe]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gortner, Marjoe}}

Category:1944 births

Category:Living people

Category:American evangelists

Category:American male film actors

Category:Male actors from Long Beach, California

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:People from Long Beach, California