Robert Dean Stockwell was born March 5, 1936 in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California, and grew up between there and New York City. Stockwell was born into a family of entertainers. He is the younger son of Elizabeth "Betty" Stockwell and Harry Stockwell, an actor and lyric baritone singer in New York productions of "Carousel" and "Oklahoma!" as well as the voice of Prince Charming in Disney's film "Snow White". His elder brother was television and film actor Guy Stockwell. His stepmother, Elizabeth Veronica Stockwell, was an actress, comedian, singer, and toe dancer in burlesque and theater in Northern America and New York.