Rodney Bingenheimer - Early Life

Early Life

Bingenheimer was born December 15 in Mountain View, California to a star-struck mother who separated from Bingenheimer's father when he was only three years old. His father had wanted to be a celebrity but settled for attending celebrity golf events. His mother was described as a "difficult woman" and a "relentless autograph hound". One report suggested he had a lonely childhood, since he often spent nights alone while his mother worked as a waitress. Another report suggested that the emerging rock music of the day became his "home" and a way for him to deal with the divorce of his parents. He devoured fan magazines; he was "obsessed" with stars. When 16, his mother drove him to southern California and dropped him off at the house of Connie Stevens, and instructed him to get the star's autograph. Then she left abruptly. This was the beginning of a six-year separation from his mother, and he was on his own in Los Angeles, around the year 1963.