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| - Colbert was born in Washington D.C. , and was raised in Charleston, South Carolina, the youngest of eleven children of an Irish-Catholic family. His father, James William Colbert, Jr., was the vice president for academic affairs at the Medical University of South Carolina, while his mother, Lorna Colbert (née Tuck), was a housewife. His family fostered a intellectual and religious atmosphere, and his parents told Stephen and his siblings that they could challenge the Church and still be considered Christian. From a young age, Colbert recognized that a Southern Accent was seen as negative, making the person seem less intelligent, so he worked hard to suppress his accent, imitating the news anchors on television.
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| abstract
| - Colbert was born in Washington D.C. , and was raised in Charleston, South Carolina, the youngest of eleven children of an Irish-Catholic family. His father, James William Colbert, Jr., was the vice president for academic affairs at the Medical University of South Carolina, while his mother, Lorna Colbert (née Tuck), was a housewife. His family fostered a intellectual and religious atmosphere, and his parents told Stephen and his siblings that they could challenge the Church and still be considered Christian. From a young age, Colbert recognized that a Southern Accent was seen as negative, making the person seem less intelligent, so he worked hard to suppress his accent, imitating the news anchors on television. On September 11, 1974, when Colbert was ten years old, his father and two of his brothers, Peter and Paul, were killed in the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 while it was attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina, while trying to enroll the senior sons in a private school in Connecticut. His mother relocated the family to the more urban environment of East Bay Street in Charleston. By his own account, Colbert found the transition difficult and did not easily make new friends in his new neighborhood. Colbert later described himself during this time as detached, lacking a sense of importance regarding the things with which other children concerned themselves. He developed a love of science fiction and fantasy novels, especially the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, of which he remains an avid fan. During his adolescence, he also developed an intense interest in fantasy role-playing games, especially Dungeons & Dragons, a pastime which he later characterized as an early experience in acting and improvisation.
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