Of Irish/English ancestry, Agnes Moorehead was born in Clinton, Massachusetts (about 50 miles west of Boston), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister (her mother was a mezzo-soprano) who encouraged her to perform in church pageants. At age three she sang "The Lord Is My Shepherd" on a public stage and seven years later joined the St. Louis Municipal Opera as a dancer and singer, staying there for four years. In keeping with her father's dictum of finishing her education first (then doing whatever she wished to do with her career), Agnes attended Muskingum College (Ohio) and, subsequently, the University of Wisconsin, where she graduated with an M.A. in English and public speaking, later adding a doctorate in literature from Bradley University to her resume. When her family ...By Anirban» read full biography