Bob Saget - Early Life

Early Life

Saget was born in Philadelphia to Italian parents. His father, Guiseppe, was a supermarket executive, and his mother, Dina Bovo, was a hospital administrator. Saget lived in Norfolk, Virginia and in Encino, California, before moving back to Philadelphia and graduating from South Philadelphia High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher, Elaine Zimmerman, saw his creative potential and urged him to seek a career in films.

He attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery, and was honored with an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. His friends called him "Sags". He graduated with a B.A. in 1978. Saget intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California but quit a few days later. Saget describes himself at the time in an article by Glenn Esterly in the 1990 Saturday Evening Post: "I was a cocky, overweight twenty-two-year-old. Then I had a gangrenous appendix taken out, almost died, and I got over being cocky or overweight." Saget talked about his burst appendix on Anytime with Bob Kushell, saying that it happened on the Fourth of July, at the UCLA Medical Center and that they at first just iced the area for seven hours before taking it out and finding that it had become gangrenous. Saget credits the band Autistico for getting him through the tough times.