Gaines was working in a small auction gallery in 1971 when he met former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner at Max's Kansas City, a New York restaurant and club.
Sunshine regularly host the Marjoe Gortner Celebrity Sports Invitational charity ski events to raise money for charities such as the Dream Foundation and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance.
The 1979 film version, adapted by Medoff and directed by Milton Katselas, starred Marjoe Gortner, Candy Clark, Stephanie Faracy, Lee Grant, Hal Linden, Peter Firth, Pat Hingle, Audra Lindley, and Anne Ramsey.
The Marcus-Nelson Murders is a 1973 TV-movie written by Abby Mann from a book by Selwyn Raab, directed by Joseph Sargent, and starring Telly Savalas, Marjoe Gortner, José Ferrer and Ned Beatty.