Marshall Applewhite est né le 17 mai 1931 au Texas, États-Unis. Il était marié à Ann Frances Pearce. Il est mort le 26 mars 1997 en Californie, États-Unis.
Applewhite and Nettles were huge fans of Star Wars: Épisode IV - Un nouvel espoir (1977) and Rencontres du troisième type (1977), and they brought ideas from sci-fi to the group - resulting in theories like that Virgin Mary had been taken aboard a spaceship and impregnated with Jesus. It also led to the members that would eventually kill themselves to wear patches that said "Heaven's Gate Away Team," which you can see in the group's farewell video, a reference the specialized crew that went on missions to alien planets in _Star Trek (1980). [Rolling Stone, 2017].