Marjoe Gortner, whose childhood as an evangelical preacher was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary  Marjoe  and who went on to have a career as an actor, died Friday. He was 82.

His wife Susan Magestro told Variety he died in Santa Fe, N.M. Her memorial notice said he had been suffering from years of congestive heart failure.  Marjoe lived an extraordinary life, shaped by his imagination and rare gift for bringing people together,  the statement said.

Actor Ian Ziering remembered him for his charity work, writing,  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. 

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Born in Long Beach, California, in an evangelical family, the name Marjoe is a combination of  Mary  and  Joseph.  His parents pushed him to become a child preacher, staging a photo op for the press when he performed a marriage ceremony at 4 years old. The family traveled around the country preaching and soliciting donations, and when Gortner was 16, his father absconded with what was reported to be $3 million in donations.

In his 20s, Gortner became disillusioned with the evangelical movement and became an aspiring actor in New York.

When he was approached by documentarians Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan, he agreed to let them follow him around on his final revival tour in 1971, partially to help publicize his acting career. The resulting documentary,  Marjoe,  won the Oscar for best documentary. Roger Ebert saw it at the Cannes Film Festival and wrote  The real sleeper this year is  Marjoe. It generated the most elect

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