John Gavin - Early Life

Early Life

Gavin's father (Herald Ray Golenor)'s family is of Irish origin, who were early landowners in California when it was still under Spanish rule. Gavin's mother, Delia Diana Pablos, hailed from the historically influential Pablos family of Sonora, Mexico. After attending St. John's Military Academy (Los Angeles) and Villanova Prep (Ojai, California), both Catholic schools, he earned a B.A. from Stanford University, where he did senior honors work in Latin American economic history and was a member of Stanford's Naval ROTC unit. During the Korean War Gavin was commissioned in the U.S. Navy serving aboard the USS Princeton offshore Korea where he served as an air intelligence officer from 1952 to 1955. Due to Gavin's fluency in both Spanish and Portuguese he was assigned as Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Milton E. Miles. Following his naval service he offered himself as a technical adviser to a film about the US Navy, but was instead offered a screen test.