Wendell Ray Burton was born in San Antonio, Texas on July 21, 1947. He attended Sonoma State University and San Francisco State University but did not graduate. He played the lead in a production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in San Francisco. He then starred opposite Liza Minnelli in the 1969 movie The Sterile Cuckoo. He was part of the national touring company of Butterflies Are Free with Eve Arden; made television appearances in Room 222, Kung Fu, Go Ask Alice, and Medical Center; and appeared in the 1986 movie Heat.
While acting, he began a spiritual quest that included studying Eastern religions. He turned to ministerial work for the megachurch preacher Joel Osteen. He worked in advertising sales for the Family Channel and as director of programming and national sales for KTBU. He became senior director of the Champions Network in 2002. He was also an ordained minister. His memoir, Godsmacked: A Sojourner's Guide to the Heart of God, was published in 2015. He died from complications of brain cancer on May 30, 2017 at the age of 69.
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