Hovannisian was born and raised in Tulare , California into a family of Armenian Genocide survivors . His father , Gaspar Gavroian , was born in 1901 in the village of Bazmashen ( Pazmashen ; now Sarıçubuk , Turkey ) , near Kharpert in the Ottoman Empire . Fleeing the genocide of 1915 , he moved to the United States by 1920 and changed his last name from Gavroian to Hovannisian , after his father 's name , Hovhannes . In 1926 , Kaspar married Siroon ( Sarah ) Nalbandian , also a child of the genocide survivors . Their two sons were born in 1928 ( John ) and 1930 ( Ralph ) . Richard Gable Hovannisian ( named after Clark Gable ) was born last on November 9 , 1932
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Richard G. Hovannisian