Early Life
Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His mother, Mary Martin, was 17 at the time of his birth and later became a Broadway actress and musical comedy star; his father, Benjamin Jackson Hagman, was a lawyer, accountant, and district attorney, who was of Swedish descent. Hagman's parents divorced in 1936, when he was five years old. He lived with his grandmother in Texas and California while his mother became a contract player with Paramount in 1938.
In 1940, his mother met and married Richard Halliday and gave birth to a daughter, Heller, the following year. Hagman attended the strict Black-Foxe Military Institute (now closed). When his mother moved to New York City to resume her Broadway career, Hagman again lived with his grandmother in California. A couple of years later, his grandmother died and Hagman joined his mother in New York.
In 1946, Hagman moved back to his hometown of Weatherford and attended Weatherford High School. One summer he worked for oil field-equipment maker Antelope Tool Company and witnessed the eldest son of the company founder win a battle to succeed him. Although his father wanted Hagman to become a lawyer and join his practice, he was drawn to drama classes and reportedly fell in love with the stage. He graduated from high school in 1949, and decided to pursue his acting.
Read more about this topic: Larry Hagman
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