Marjoe Gortner on AllMovie

Starting out as a child evangelist, Marjoe Gortner spent 25 energetic years preaching on the religious-revival circuit. In the early 1970s, Gortner turned his back on all that, summing up his new philosophy in the tell-all 1972 documentary Marjoe. He made his acting debut as a sex killer in the made-for-TV The Marcus/Nelson Murders (1973), then fluctuated between good and bad guys in such films as The Gun and the Pulpit (1974), Earthquake (1974), Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976) and When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979). Touted by Columbia's publicity department as the embodiment of "magnetic masculinity," Gortner never caught on as a leading man; his most impressive achievements in the past 20 years have been in the field of fundraising. Still, Marjoe Gortner has kept his hand in moviemaking into the 1990s, accepting supporting roles in films like Fire, Ice and Dynamite (1991) and Wild Bill (1995).