Editing Blake Edwards (section)

==Early life==
Born William Blake Crump July 26, 1922,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weiss |first1=Philip |title=Return of the Punk Panther |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/01/magazine/return-of-the-punk-panther.html |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |date=1 October 1995|quote=[...] Edwards's wife, Julie Andrews, said his birthday was the 22nd [...]}}</ref> in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], he was the son of Donald and Lillian (née Grommett) Crump (1897–1992).<ref name=Harmetz2010>{{cite news |last1=Harmetz |first1=Aljean |title=Blake Edwards, Prolific Comedy Director, Dies at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/movies/17edwards.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 December 2010}}</ref> In an interview with [[Andre Previn]], Blake Edwards claimed to be a descendant of [[William Blake]].<ref>BBC2 program 1987</ref> His father reportedly left the family before he was born. His mother married again, to Jack McEdward,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8207853/Blake-Edwards.html |title=Blake Edwards |work=[[The Telegram]]|publisher=Telegraph.co.uk |date=December 16, 2010 |access-date=September 7, 2012 |location=London}}</ref> who became his stepfather. McEdward was the son of [[J. Gordon Edwards (director)|J. Gordon Edwards]], a director of [[silent movie]]s, and in 1925, he moved the family to Los Angeles and became a film production manager.<ref name=Wakeman>Wakeman, John (Ed.) ''World Film Directors'' Vol. 2. H.W. Wilson Co. (1988) pp. 302–310</ref> In an interview with ''[[The Village Voice]]'' in 1971, Blake Edwards said that he had "always felt alienated, estranged from my own father, Jack McEdward".<ref name=Village>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Village Voice]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19710805&id=VclHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7YsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6592,2244716|title=Confessions of a Cult Figure|first=Stuart|last= Byron|date= August 5, 1971|page=56}}</ref> After graduating from [[Beverly Hills High School]] in the class of Winter 1941, Blake began taking jobs as an actor during World War II.

Edwards describes this period:
<blockquote>I worked with the best directors – [[John Ford|Ford]], [[William Wyler|Wyler]], [[Otto Preminger|Preminger]] – and learned a lot from them. But I wasn't a very cooperative actor. I was a spunky, smart-assed kid. Maybe even I was indicating that I wanted to give, not take, direction.<ref name=Village /></blockquote>

Edwards served in the [[United States Coast Guard]] during World War II, where he suffered a severe back injury, which left him in pain for years afterwards.<ref name=Wakeman />