Early Life
McGavin was born William Lyle Richardson in Spokane, Washington, a son of Grace Watson (née Bogart) and Reed Daniel Richardson. He graduated from Puyallup High School.
In magazine interviews in the 1960s, he said his parents divorced when he was very young. His father, not knowing what else to do, put him in an orphanage at the age of 11. McGavin began to run away, sleeping on the docks and in warehouses. He lived in three orphanages. The last was the Dyslin Boys Ranch in Pierce County, Washington, a boys' home, which turned out to be a safe haven. Farm chores were assigned, and he lived with several other boys who had also been abandoned. McGavin commented that the owners of the home helped him develop a sense of pride and responsibility that turned his life around. McGavin did not serve in the military during World War II because he had bad knees, though he did make a training film for the military on venereal disease.
Read more about this topic: Darren McGavin
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