Beverly Hills High School grads open up about their former A-list classmates

What Were Angelina Jolie and Nicolas Cage Like as Freshmen? See the Photos as Beverly Hills High School Alumni Dish on Their A-List Classmates

From Angelina Jolie to Nicolas Cage, Beverly Hills High School has educated a who’s who of A-list celebrities for generations.

The high school, which turns 90 this year, is even a bit famous in its own right. The memorable pool sequence from It’s a Wonderful Life was filmed in the gym, and it was also the inspiration for the high school in Beverly Hills, 90210.

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In celebration of its 90th anniversary, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with a handful of notable past graduates, like Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick and actress Joely Fiser, who dished on what their famous classmates were like before they became stars.

Angelina Jolie

“Angie Voight, who became Angelina Jolie, and I went from first grade all through high school together,” said Sam Nazarian, founder of Umami Burger and Katsuya.

“I was a lot closer to her in elementary school,” he added. “She was a pretty girl, and all of the older boys pay attention to the pretty freshmen, so she kind of went off into an older crowd. She was very Gothic.”

Image zoom Nicolas Cage (Coppola) Freshman Year 1979 Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Nicolas Cage

“Nic Cage and I were in a history class together,” said Will & Grace co-creator David Kohan.

“I remember we were doing a section on Cro-Magnon man, and we had to write a paper on it,” he added. “And we all wrote our one-page, dry little factoid papers, and Nic wrote an eight-page paper from the perspective of Cro-Magnon man waking up in a cave. I’m like, ‘That guy’s interesting.’ ”

Mutchnick added, “He was fantastic. And being closeted, I was speechless from that body. No one had a body like Nicolas Cage. He had a man’s body. A smokin’ hot man’s body.”

Image zoom Carrie Fisher Sophomore Year 1972 Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Carrie Fisher

“I’d pick up Carrie Fisher on Greenway Avenue and take her to school,” said literary agent and ICM partner John Burnham.

“She was a sophomore; I was a senior. I was a reprobate,” he added.

Image zoom Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Lenny Kravitz

“Lenny Kravitz and my brother were in band,” remembered Kohan. “He was a drummer. I remember him being cool and sweet. He wasn’t pierced and patchoulied yet. Not like a pulsating sex symbol. He didn’t exude that rock star thing yet.”

Weekend at Bernie’s star Jonathan Silverman added, “We knew that his mom [Roxie Roker] was the hot neighbor on The Jeffersons. He was the drum major. He had this amazing aura about him, as did Nic [Cage]. I never gathered up the courage to say anything more than a hello to either.”

Image zoom David Schwimmer Senior Year 1984 Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

David Schwimmer

“One of my best friends in high school was David Schwimmer,” said Silverman. “I came across this box of high school stuff recently, and in it was a letter David wrote to me when we were 17. It was so joyful and funny. I read it to my wife, who said, ‘Oh my God. Ross Geller wrote you a letter!’ ”

Fisher added, “David Schwimmer and I did aSam Shepardplay. And Anything Goes. He can sing! He played Moonface Martin. I was Hope Harcourt. The only time I ever played the ingenue in my life.”

Image zoom Betty White Senior Year 1940 Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Betty White, Class of ’39

“I did every school show and school play I could do,” White, 95, said of herself.

“And after I was done at Beverly Hills High School, I didn’t go to college — I just went right into television.”

Pauly Shore

“[He] was a few years ahead of me,” said Veep writer Gabrielle Allan. “He was real eccentric. My first job as a writer was doing punch-up on The Pauly Shore Show — a funny reunion.”

Steve Burton & Monica Lewinski

“I was Juliet in Romeo & Juliet andSteve Burton was my surfer Romeo,” said actress Kelli Williams.