Editing Rod McKuen (section)

==Early years==
McKuen was born as Rodney Marvin Woolever<ref>[https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1942874:5247?ssrc=pt&tid=79529027&pid=112431085835 California Birth Index]</ref> on April 29, 1933,<ref name=schudel>{{Cite web| last = Schudel| first = Matt| title = Rod McKuen, popular poet, singer and songwriter who was a '60s bard, dies at 81 | work = The Washington Post (Online)| accessdate = 2021-09-01| date = 2015| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/rod-mckuen-popular-poet-singer-and-songwriter-who-was-a-60s-bard-dies-at-81/2015/01/30/2747c5e4-a899-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html}}</ref> in a Salvation Army hostel in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], California<ref name=independent/> to Clarice Woolever.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Muncie Evening Press 13 Apr 1971, page Page 10 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/251001620/ |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> Per ''[[The New York Times]],'' he had "two birth certificates, each giving conflicting dates and spelling his father's name different ways."<ref name="Finding My Father">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/05/archives/finding-my-father.html | title=Finding My Father | work=The New York Times | date=September 5, 1976 | last1=Lifton | first1=Betty Jean }}</ref>  He never knew his biological father, who had left his mother.<ref name="nytimes-obit"/> Sexually and physically abused by relatives,<ref name=theguardian>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/01/rod-mckuen|title= Rod McKuen obituary |author= Michael Carlson| work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date= February 5, 2016|date=February 1, 2015}}</ref> raised by his mother and stepfather, who was a violent alcoholic, McKuen ran away from home. He drifted along the West Coast, supporting himself as a ranch hand, surveyor, railroad worker, lumberjack, rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and radio disc jockey, always sending money home to his mother.<ref name="allmusic-bio"/>

At some point, he began using the name "McKuen" as the best approximation of what he thought his father's name was.  His mother told him that his father's name was "Mac" McKuen (although she was unsure how it was spelled).  At one point later in life, McKuen hired a detective agency to try to locate his father.  Per ''The New York Times'', "Whether or not he found his father, at least he (and the detectives) found a man 10 years deceased who satisfies him -- Rodney Marion McKune, a lumberman in Utah, twice married (the last time to a woman 20 years his senior), who at the close of his life was an iceman in Santa Monica, Calif., 20 miles from where McKuen was living.  No relative of this McKune remembers him taking a trip from Utah to Oakland that summer of 1932 when the author was conceived, but a Mormon churchman remembers taking a trip there with him in 1931 or 1932."<ref name="Finding My Father"/>

To compensate for his lack of formal education, McKuen began keeping a journal, which resulted in his first poetry and song lyrics. After dropping out of [[Oakland Technical High School]] prior to graduating in 1951,<ref>{{cite web|title=Rod McKuen, Class of 1951|url=http://oaklandtech.com/staff/centennial/2015/03/14/rod-mckuen-51/|website=School Historical Archive|date=March 14, 2015|access-date=25 February 2016}}</ref> McKuen worked as a newspaper columnist and propaganda script writer during the [[Korean War]]. He settled in San Francisco, where he read his poetry in clubs alongside Beat poets like [[Jack Kerouac]] and [[Allen Ginsberg]].<ref name="nytimes-obit"/>  He began performing as a folk singer at the famed [[The Purple Onion|Purple Onion]]. Over time, he began incorporating his own songs into his act. He was signed to [[Decca Records]] and released several pop albums in the late 1950s. McKuen also appeared as an actor in ''[[Rock, Pretty Baby]]'' (1956), ''[[Summer Love (1958 film)|Summer Love]]'' (1958), and the western ''[[Wild Heritage]]'' (1958). He also sang with [[Lionel Hampton|Lionel Hampton's band]]. In 1959, McKuen moved to New York City to compose and conduct music for the TV show ''[[CBS Television Workshop|The CBS Workshop]]''.<ref name="allmusic-bio"/>  McKuen appeared on ''[[To Tell The Truth]]'' on June 18, 1962, as a decoy contestant and described himself as "a published poet and a twist singer."<ref>{{cite web|title=Rod McKuen|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572106/?ref_=nv_sr_1/|website=imdb.com|access-date=14 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=To Tell The Truth |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5QTF4AER3g |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/t5QTF4AER3g |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|website=CBS | date=June 30, 2016 |access-date=25 April 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>