Early Life
Prentiss was born Paula Ragusa in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Paulene (née Gardner) and Thomas J. Ragusa, who was a Social Sciences professor at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Prentiss' father was of Italian descent. Prentiss was always the tallest person in her school classes. She attended Lamar High School in Houston, Texas. In 1958, while attending Northwestern University's school of drama, she met her future husband, Richard Benjamin, who also impressed her with his sophistication. He was taller than she was While still a student at Northwestern, she was discovered and offered a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film contract. Prentiss initially intended to be a doctor, but somehow became involved with theater while at Northwestern.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)