Biography

In his early career as the 4-year-old "World's Youngest Ordained Minister," Pentecostal preacher Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner became a 'Miracle Child' extraordinaire. Born on January 14, 1944 in Long Beach, California, the young tyke, who ministered the gospel from memory and performed faith healings, drew capacity crowds as he barnstormed throughout the Bible Belt. The son of Vernon Robert Gortner, an evangelical minister who preached at revivals, it was his mother Marge who pushed and introduced Marjoe to the world as a boy preacher, and it the primary reason for his success. At age 16, however, Marjoe grew acutely disillusioned with what he considered a horrible deception, eventually withdrawing from the scene. Unbeknownst to his father and other ministers of his purpose to reveal this deception, Marjoe agreed to let a film crew follow him throughout his final 1971 national tour of revival meetings before leaving "the business." The fascinating Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe (1972) t

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Filmography