James McAfee Atkins was born to Alfred James Atkins, a naval officer,
and Ola Nadine Atkins, a nurse, in Temple, Texas. Not uncommon to
military households, they soon made a shift of residence, this time to
the deep south of Pensacola, Florida where James spent the next
twenty-three years of his life. Bearing interests in everything from
art, music and film to writing, politics, and science, it was only a
natural progression westward to Los Angeles and a career in the film
and television industry.
