text: When Kellerman was in fifth grade, the family moved from Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley. She spent her early life in then-rural Granada Hills in a largely unpopulated area surrounded by orange and eucalyptus groves. During her sophomore year of high school, the Kellermans moved from San Fernando to Park La Brea, Los Angeles, where she attended Hollywood High School. She grew to stand 5'10 1/2" (179.07 cms). Due to her shyness, she made few friends and received poor grades (except in choir and physical education) but appeared in a school production of Meet Me in St. Louis.
  With the help of a high-school friend, Kellerman submitted a recording demo to Verve Records founder and head Norman Granz. After signing a contract with Verve, however, she was daunted by the task of becoming a recording artist and walked away.
  Kellerman attended Los Angeles City College, and also enrolled in Jeff Corey's acting class. Within a year, she appeared in a production of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger staged by Corey and featuring classmates Shirley Knight, Jack Nicholson, Dean Stockwell, and Robert Blake. Towards the end of the 1950s, Kellerman joined the newly opened Actors Studio West and debuted before the camera in the film, Reform School Girl (1957). To pay her tuition, Kellerman worked as a waitress at Chez Paulette.
  Career