Hope Lange - Early Life

Early Life

Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut. Her father, John George Lange (1885–1942), was a cellist and the music arranger for Florenz Ziegfeld and conductor for Henry Cohen; her mother, Minette (née Buddecke) (1898–1970), was an actress. They had three daughters, Minelda (1922–2004), Joy, (1927–2007), and Hope, and a son, David. John worked in New York City and the family moved to Greenwich Village when Hope was a young child.

Hope sang with other children in the play Life, Laughter and Tears, which opened at the Booth Theatre in March 1942. At age 9, Lange had a speaking part in the award-winning Broadway play The Patriots, which opened in January 1943.

John Lange died in September 1942 but the family stayed in New York City. Minette ran a restaurant on Macdougal Street near Washington Square Park from 1944 to 1956. The name was "Minette's of Washington Square", although some sources confuse it with "Minetta Tavern", an Italian restaurant on Macdougal Street founded in 1937. The entire family worked in the restaurant; the oldest daughter, Minelda, ran the cash register while Joy and Hope waited on tables.

While attending high school; Lange studied dance, modeled, and worked in the family restaurant. She sometimes walked the dog of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who had a nearby apartment. When her photo appeared in the newspaper, she received an offer to work as a New York City advertising model. She appeared on the June 1949 cover of Radio-Electronics magazine wearing the "Man from Mars" Radio Hat. This portable radio built into a pith helmet was a sensation in 1949.

Lange attended college for two years at Reed College in Oregon and at Barmore Junior College in New York. She met her future husband, Don Murray, at Barmore.