Early Life
Hagen was born as Jean Shirley Verhagen in Chicago, to Christian Verhagen (born August 10, 1890 — died April 1983), a Dutch immigrant, and his Chicago-born wife, Marie. The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was 12, and she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School. She studied drama at Northwestern University and worked as a theater usherette before making her Broadway theatre debut in Another Part of the Forest in 1946. On Broadway, she was understudy for Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday.
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