Wallace Maynard “Wally” Cox was born in Detroit on December 6, 1924, and spent parts of his childhood in Evanston, Illinois and New York City, where he became a close lifelong friend of Marlon Brando; he graduated from Denby High School in Detroit, attended City College of New York, served briefly (about four months) in the United States Army during World War II, and after his discharge studied at