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Marjoe Gortner, the former child preacher who became the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary and went on to act in "Earthquake" and "Falcon Crest," died Friday of complications from congestive heart failure, his family said. He was 82.
Born Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner on Jan. 14, 1944, in Long Beach, California, he was ordained as a preacher at age 4 by his evangelist parents and toured the United States on the revival circuit as a child. His family amassed a fortune estimated at $3 million, but Gortner said his father left with the money shortly before he turned 16.
In 1971, he let a film crew follow his final revival tour. The resulting 1972 documentary, "Marjoe," premiered at Cannes and won the Oscar for best feature documentary. In the film, Gortner described how evangelists manipulated audiences.
The attention led to a contract at Universal Pictures. He made his acting debut in 1973 in "The Marcus-Nelson Murders," the TV movie that served as the pilot for "Kojak," and later appeared in "Earthquake" (1974), "Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw" (1976) and "Starcrash" (1978).
In "Earthquake," he played Jody Joad, a grocery store manager turned National Guardsman. In 1979, he played a psychopathic, hostage-taking Vietnam veteran in "When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?" He also starred opposite Lynda Carter in "Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw" and appeared in the daredevil biopic "Viva Knievel!" in 1977.
On television, he played a colorful polygamist and fake psychic medium for 17 episodes of "Falcon Crest" in 1986-87. His guest credits included "Barnaby Jones," "Police Story," "Laugh-In," "The A-Team," "Fantasy Island" and "Airwolf." In one of his last roles, he played a preacher in the 1995 film "Wild Bill."
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