Marjorie Wallace - Early Life

Early Life

Wallace was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, where her family ran an industrial supply business and raised her in the suburbs, she told People magazine. With a population of about 740,000 in 1970, "dancing at the Holiday Inn was the biggest thing in town," she joked.

When she was 14, her parents divorced and Wallace was already showing her wild side, People reported. Once she suddenly took off with a girlfriend on a 1,200-mile roadtrip to Miami, Florida. But her teen years also included typical high school pursuits -- such as competitive swimming and cheerleading, according to the magazine. Men began to play a larger role in her life. At age 17 she found herself smitten enough to move in with a guitarist in the Indy rock band "Pure Funk."

"My mother always says that if I ever have a daughter, I deserve to have one like myself," she told People in 1976.

Wallace also began traveling the 180 miles between Indianapolis and Chicago, Illinois, to work as a model. A modeling agent pushed her to enter the Miss Indiana World and Miss World USA beauty pageants, which she won, opening the door to the 1973 Miss World contest in London.

Wallace's decision to compete in the London pageant triggered a series of life-changing tragedies during the following year, which would be marked by disappointment, death and a serious overdose of drugs.