Loretta Young: A Legend Passes On

Book: Uncommon Knowledge by Judy Lewis

On August 12, 2000, Oscar-winning actress Loretta Young died of ovarian cancer at the age of 87. I had intended to write an article on her in the next few months - a few weeks ago I bought an old copy of the book written by Young's daughter about the affair between Young and Clark Gable. I am sad that now this article on Loretta Young comes after her death.

She was Gretchen Michaela Young in Salt Lake City on Jan. 6, 1913, but Gretchen and her two older sisters moved with their mother to Hollywood following the split-up of her parents. All three sisters got uncredited bit parts in some silent films, with young Gretchen making several appearances between the ages of 3 and 8.

As children the Young children attended parochial school and helped their mother run a boarding house, but Gretchen finally landed her first credited screen appearance in the 1927 film "Naughty But Nice," which led to a contract with a studio called First National (which was the precursor of Warner Bros.), and her name was quickly changed to Loretta.

Graced with amazing facial features, she quickly rose from a bit player to playing the ingenue and managed to establish herself as one of Hollywood's most prominent leading ladies by the late 1930s. She played opposite such popular leading men as Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, and Spencer Tracy. During the 1930s she made such films as Frank Capra's 1931 film "Platinum Blonde", Cecil B. DeMille's 1935 film "The Crusades", and John Ford's 1938 film "Four Men and a Prayer".

In 1930, at the slight age of 17, Loretta had made headlines by secretly eloping to Arizona with the older actor Grant Withers, with whom Young had appeared in "The Second Floor Mystery." There was a nine year age difference, and it showed - the marriage was annulled in 1931, although (ironically enough) they appeared later that year in the film titled "Too Young to Marry."

At the end of the 1930s Young met and married again - this time to producer Thomas Lewis, with whom she raised daughter Judy and two sons, Christopher and Peter. This married last until 1969, despite the long-hidden secret about daughter Judy. Judy Lewis had been presented to the public as their adopted daughter, but Lewis wrote in the 1994 book "Uncommon Knowledge" that she was actually the biological daughter of Young and Clark Gable. She claims that she was conceived on the set of the 1935 film "Call of the Wild", while Gable was married to his second wife.

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