What Hollywood Got WRONG About Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker

In 1990, NBC turned the PTL scandal into a TV movie, "Fall from Grace," with Kevin Spacey as Jim Bakker and Bernadette Peters as Tammy Faye, while the real Jim Bakker sat in a federal prison. Then came a Saturday Night Live sketch, the 2000 documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," Jessica Chastain's Oscar-winning 2021 film with Andrew Garfield and Vincent D'Onofrio, and an Elton John musical that went from London to Broadway. Every one of them changed something about Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, and some of the changes are much bigger than they look. Jim Bakker died on October 5, 2026, at 86, exactly 37 years to the day after a jury found him guilty on all 24 counts. This is the real story set against the screen versions, scene by scene: Tammy Faye's childhood, Gary Paxton and the hospital room, John Wesley Fletcher and the rumors, Jessica Hahn and the hush money, Jerry Falwell and the PTL takeover, the pills, the prison visiting room, the Oral Roberts University ending, the Broadway closing, and the one mistake that every version of the Bakker story shares. 🔔 Subscribe for the real stories behind the legends, every week. 💬 Which version of Jim and Tammy Faye did you see first: the 1990 TV movie, the documentary, the Jessica Chastain film or the musical? And which one got them right? Tell us in the comments. #JimBakker #TammyFaye #TheEyesOfTammyFaye