Person:Loretta Young (2)

Biography

Biography for Loretta Young [1]

Height 5' 6"

Mini Biography

Sweet, sweeter, sweetest. No combination of terms better describes the screen persona of lovely Loretta Young.

When Gretchen Young was 3 years old, her mother moved with Gretchen and her sisters to Hollywood, where she established a boardinghouse. Gretchen was appearing on screen as a child extra by the time she was 4, joining her elder sisters, Polly Ann Young and Elizabeth Jane Young (later and better known as Sally Blane), as child players. Gretchen would later absent herself from the screen to attend convent school but returned at age 14 with a bit appearance in the 'Colleen Moore' vehicle "Naughty But Nice." (See related Trivia.) Gretchen Young became known as Loretta Young and let her blond hair revert to its natural brown. With her blue eyes, satin complexion and exquisite face, she succeeded in short order to be graduated from bit player to ingenue, thence to leading lady. Headlines erupted in 1930 when the actor Grant Withers, who was previously married and nine years her senior, eloped to Yuma, Arizona, with the 17-year-old Loretta. (They had both appeared in the 1930 Warner Bros. production "The Second Floor Mystery.") The marriage was annulled in 1931, the same year in which the pair would again co-appear on screen, in a film called, ironically enough, "Too Young to Marry." Loretta Young has always shown an elegant sort of beauty in her films, many of which were rather pedestrian fare. Yet she could act if called upon, as witness her performance in "The Farmer's Daughter" or in "Come to the Stable." She retired from films in 1953 and began a second, equally successful career. "The Loretta Young Show," a half-hour drama anthology series which ran on NBC-TV from September 1953 to September 1961, and which in its first season was called "A Letter to Loretta," featured Miss Young as hostess and frequently as lead actress. Although she is most remembered for her stunning gowns and swirling entrances, over the broadcast's eight-year run Miss Young also showed again that she could act. She won Emmy awards (for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series) in 1954, 1956 and 1958.

IMDb mini-biography by Bill Takacs <kinephile@aol.com>

Mini Biography

A&E's biography recently summed up Loretta Young this way, "She remains a symbol of beauty, serenity, and grace. But behind the glamor and stardom is a woman of substance whose true beauty lies in her dedication to her family, her faith, and her quest to live life with a purpose." That statement, in a nutshell, summed up Loretta who entered the world in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 6, 1913. Here parents separated when Loretta was just three years old. It was then that her mother moved the rest of the family to Southern California. Mrs. Young's brother-in-law was an assistant director and managed to get the young Loretta a small role in the film, THE ONLY WAY in 1917. Actually the role consisted nothing more than a small, weeping child lying on an operating table. Later that year she appeared in another small role in THE PRIMROSE RING. It was this film that starred Mae Murray who was taken with the little Loretta. She even wished to adopt her, but Mrs. Young said no. Loretta did wind up staying with the Murray's for a year and a half. She would not be in another film again until 1921 when she had a brief scene in THE SHEIK. During that period she and her sisters were educated in parochial schools. Afterwards she went back to helping her mother run the boarding house Mrs. Young started when they had first moved west. In 1927, Loretta came back to the silver screen in a small part in NAUGHTY, BUT NICE. She was all of fourteen, but anxious to get started in a film career for real. As Denise Laverne in 1928's THE MAGNIFICENT FLIRT, she began to shape any character she had with total dedication. It was the first of many outstanding roles for her. Later in the year she received second billing in THE HEAD MAN. Loretta continued to toil in many roles as the twenties turned into the thirties. She was appearing anywhere from six to nine films per year. Her two older sisters were also involved in the acting profession, but they weren't making near the films their younger sister was. Loretta's career overtook theirs early on. It seemed that Loretta's natural beauty was a distinct advantage for her. By the mid 1930's Loretta had switched studios leaving First National and going over to rival Fox studios. She had worked for Fox before, but only on a loan out basis from First National. It was at Fox that Loretta became one of the premiere leading ladies of Hollywood. In 1938, Loretta starred in KENTUCKY as Sally Goodwin. The film was an outstanding success. Although she was not nominated for an award, her co-star, Walter Brennan, won for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Peter Goodwin. It was only a matter of time before Loretta would get the accolades she so deserved. By the time the forties dawned, Loretta was still churning out quality films. Newcomers were now hitting the big screen, but Loretta's star never dimmed. She was still one of the most beautiful ladies in the film world. Loretta, finally, was given her due when she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER (1947) a tale of a farm girl who rises through the ranks and becomes a Congresswoman. The film was a smash and the one for which she is best remembered. With the win she had reached the pinnacle of her career. But she was not finished yet. That same year, she starred in the delightful fantasy, THE BISHOP'S WIFE with David Niven and Cary Grant. It was a hit then as well as today. It continues to be a staple of television during the Christmas season. In 1949, Loretta starred in the well-received film, MOTHER IS A FRESHMAN with Van Johnson and Rudy Vallee as well in COME TO THE STABLE. It was this latter film which garnered her a second Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, she lost to the great Olivia de Havilland for her film, THE HEIRESS. In 1953, Loretta filmed IT HAPPENS EVERY THURSDAY. It was to be her final performance on the big screen. She had plans on entering the relative new medium of television. That year she started her TV series, "The Loretta Young Show". The show was absolutely fabulous garnering Loretta with three Emmy Awards. After that series long run, she took a hiatus for a short while, returning in 1962 with "The New Loretta Young Show". It didn't do as well as the first series and flopped. Then for the next 24 years she didn't appear in any entertainment medium. Her final fling before the cameras was with a made for TV film called LADY IN THE CORNER. Today Loretta is living a quiet retirement in Palm Springs, California. She has every right to take pride with her part in the history of motion pictures and how she has made the world a little brighter for fans around the world.

IMDb mini-biography by Denny Jackson

Spouse Jean Louis (I) (1993 - 20 April 1997) (his death) 'Tom Lewis' (1940 - 1969) (divorced); 2 sons, 1 adopted daughter Grant Withers (1930 - 1931) (divorced)

Miss Young's return to the screen following convent school came about rather fortuitously. A casting call was sent out by the producers of "Naughty But Nice" for Polly Ann Young. Answering the telephone, the young Gretchen replied that her sister was unavailable and wondered if she herself might substitute. And so she did. It was merely a bit part, but it led to a movie contract and eventual stardom for Loretta Young.

Cast members in the 1939 film "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" included not only Loretta Young but, portraying her character's sisters, her real-life, actress sisters as well: Polly Ann Young and Sally Blane. Further, portraying the fourth on-screen sister was a fourth real-life sister, Georgiana Young, although the latter was not a professional actress. (Years later, Georgiana, whom Loretta dubbed "Georgie," would appear occasionally on Loretta's TV show.)

In 1972, Miss Young sued NBC for violating her contract in allowing reruns of "The Loretta Young Show" to be shown, wherein audiences might have ridiculed her gowns and hairstyles, which were by then 10 or even 20 years out of date. The court awarded her more than a half-million dollars.

Had an illegitimate daughter by Clark Gable. For years this was covered up in Hollywood, and was presented as an adoption. The daughter's resemblance to both parents is uncanny.

Loretta Young's third husband was Academy Award winning clothing and costume designer, Jean Louis. He was well known for designing for the stars at Columbia Studios, Universal and in his own salon in Beverly Hills. His most famous creations included the strapless gown for Rita Hayworth in the film, "Gilda," as well as Marilyn Monroe's white sequined gown she wore to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy. Jean Louis married Loretta after the death of his first wife, Maggy, who was a personal friend of Loretta for over 50 years.

Loretta Young died at the home of her sister Georgiana Montalban and Georgiana's husband, actor Ricardo Montalban, early morning Saturday 12 August.

In her posthumously published autobiography, she admitted that her "adopted" daughter, Judy Lewis, was her biological daughter by Clark Gable.

Los Angeles Times (CA) - August 13, 2000

Deceased Name: Loretta Young Dies; Elegant Film, TV Star

Loretta Young, the elegant Academy Award-winning actress who charmed film and television audiences for half a century with her beauty, wholesome image and aura of unabashed romanticism, died early Saturday of ovarian cancer, her longtime friend and agent Norman Brokaw announced. She was 87.

Young, who had been reported hospitalized since early July, died in Los Angeles at the home of her sister Georgiana Montalban, the wife of actor Ricardo Montalban.

Young's gritty determination to be a star--and her hardheaded business sense--kept her in front of the cameras for decades after most stars from Hollywood's Golden Age had faded into nostalgia.

Gliding easily from silent films to talkies to television, the ever-slim and smiling Young delighted fans with her luminous eyes, wistful face and elaborate wardrobes.

She made nearly 100 movies, churning out mainly comedies and romances until she left the wide screen for television in 1953.

She played opposite all the romantic heroes of her day: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Tyrone Power. She acted for famed directors Orson Welles ("The Stranger"), Cecil B. De Mille ("The Crusades") and Frank Capra ("Platinum Blonde"). And to sear her image into the public's consciousness, she modeled for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.

Her lead role in 1947's "The Farmer's Daughter"--as a Swedish maid who parlays her smarts into a seat in Congress--won her the Academy Award for best actress. And she became one of the first Oscar winners to pull in a television Emmy in 1955, when she was honored for her anthology series, "The Loretta Young Show."

Throughout her career, Young remained acutely aware that her movies and television shows appealed to audiences for their sentimentality and glamour, not for their intellectual content. Typical was "A Man's Castle" in 1933, which featured her gazing adoringly at Spencer Tracy as she cooked and cleaned for him.

"My [TV] shows are not 'Birth of a Nation,' " Young once said. "They're charming little half-hours."

She was born Gretchen Michaela Young, the third of five children, in Salt Lake City on Jan. 6, 1913. Her parents separated when she was an infant, and her mother moved the brood to Los Angeles, where she opened a boardinghouse.

As a teenager, Young adopted the stage name Loretta, when studio executives decided that "Gretchen" sounded too clunky for the dainty young actress. Her cash-strapped mother allowed Gretchen and her sisters to act in "the flickers" to raise extra money for the family. Little Gretchen made her debut at age 4 in "The Only Way" as a child weeping on an operating table. She also appeared as an Arab child in Rudolph Valentino's 1921 classic "The Sheik."

In every minor role, Young strove to attract attention. She would run to the front of the pack during crowd scenes to make sure her face flashed prominently before the cameras. Forever courting fame, she was candid about her ambition.

"I was always sure," she reportedly said, "that I was going to be a big star, not just an actress."

Although she was skinny and somewhat gawky, Young broke into the big time at age 14, with a featured appearance in "Naughty but Nice." The next year she signed a contract with First National Pictures and appeared in six films, including a starring role opposite Lon Chaney in "Laugh, Clown, Laugh."

Her ingenuity masked her naivete: She managed to simulate lust for one leading man by pretending she was face to face with a scrumptiously tempting ice cream sundae.

"You had fun if you did your work well. There was no such thing as kidding around or joking. It was a dead-serious business," she once said. She hired a personal publicist to spin news for the gossip columns. And she appeared on the arm of one dashing man after another as she toured nightclubs and parties in the role of Hollywood socialite.

For all her publicized exposure, however, Young wanted audiences to perceive her as a wholesome, upstanding Catholic.

Sometimes, she was hard-pressed to keep up that image.

Against her mother's wishes, Young eloped with a freewheeling, hard-drinking vaudeville actor named Grant Withers when she was only 17, flying off to Arizona to obtain a marriage license. They had appeared together in a 1930 film, "The Second Floor Mystery." Typically, she took advantage of the hullabaloo by filming a movie with Withers provocatively titled "Too Young to Marry."

The hotly publicized union crumbled swiftly, and Young filed for divorce after just one year.

Keeping an Image for the Screen

That episode exemplified the contradictions between her private life and her public image.

Young refused to utter the word "divorce" in a movie, but was herself twice divorced. She set up a puritanical system to fine fellow actors who cursed on the set, but she carried on blazing love affairs with her leading men behind the scenes.

And she maintained a devoutly religious image while reportedly passing off her illegitimate child as an adopted daughter.

Hollywood has long gossiped about that daughter, Judy Lewis, who says she is the biological child--born out of wedlock--of Young and Gable.

Rumor has it that the two stars enjoyed a torrid affair in 1935, while they co-starred in "Call of the Wild."

Immediately after filming the movie with Gable, Young reported to Paramount Pictures to star in DeMille's epic "The Crusades." But as soon as her obligation to that film ended, she took off for Europe--where she vanished from view for several months. She returned to Hollywood in late 1935 and two years later adopted Judy as a toddler.

Observers noted that Judy was exactly the right age to have been born during Young's mysterious sojourn in Europe. They whispered that the girl--said to have Gable's flyaway ears and drop-dead smile--might have been conceived during the filming of "Call of the Wild."

But Young brushed off the buzz, declaring simply that she wanted to forget Judy was adopted and treat her as a biological child.

When her daughter published an autobiography in 1994, contending that the old rumors were correct, the 81-year-old Young issued a terse statement: "This rumor is a product of bygone time. As I have in the past, I have chosen not to give it any further credence."

And she was quoted in the book "Hollywood Royalty" as saying: "They were rumors then, they're rumors now and they'll always be rumors. Gossip sometimes . . . [takes on] such a life of its own."

Ever coy, however, she added a tantalizingly suggestive coda: "Clark Gable certainly was everything that he appeared to be."

Her reputed relationship with Gable may have attracted the most attention, but Young was linked romantically with a dozen actors, directors and athletes over the years, including Tracy. Finally, at age 27, she married Tom Lewis, a successful radio and advertising executive 11 years her senior.

Three years later she gave birth to a son, Christopher Paul. Then, in 1945, Young had a second son, Peter Charles.

But she hardly retreated into the home.

For all her feminine wiles and soft smiles, she was known as a tough businesswoman. Long before she adopted her stage name, her sisters had nicknamed her "Gretch the Wretch," in wry recognition of her stubbornness. And as an adult, she was sometimes dubbed "The Steel Butterfly" or "The Iron Madonna."

Using that legendary persistence to win her prime roles, Young rushed from movie set to movie set throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Even after her second marriage, she averaged two films a year, a schedule that sent her into occasional bouts of exhaustion.

After World War II, Young earned special praise--and a photo on the cover of Life magazine--for her performance as a woman who discovers that her husband is a Nazi in "The Stranger," a 1946 film starring and directed by Orson Welles.

Two years later, she won the best actress Oscar for her role in "The Farmer's Daughter." She had thrown herself into the role, dying her hair blond, reading books about the immigrant experience and hiring a tutor to teach her a Swedish accent. The film, an inspirational comedy like many of her movies, became one of the biggest box-office draws of 1947.

Still, Young scarcely expected the Oscar--and was stunned into numbness when she heard her name called. Finally, her husband nudged her to stand up and accept the honor. Young floated to the stage in her frilly green taffeta dress, clutched the statuette and said with typical frankness, "At long last!"

She received a second Academy Award nomination for her portrait of a nun in 1949's "Come to the Stable."

Her film career slowed as she entered her mid-30s, while television was gaining in popularity. She expressed a desire to try her hand at the new medium--with her own show.

Her actor friends criticized her for turning her back on feature films. Young, however, was determined to try to "visit" with her fans in a more relaxed, chatty format than the silver screen afforded. Each half-hour show, she decided, would open with a letter from viewers and close with an uplifting, moralistic quotation, usually from the Bible.

On Sept. 20, 1953, "The Loretta Young Show" (then called "A Letter to Loretta") premiered on NBC, starting an eight-year run.

Today, fans may remember the show for Young's trademark twirl as she entered her studio "living room." Gracefully pirouetting to close the door behind her, she showed off a different gown each week--all designed to look sensational but not ostentatious.

Earning $5,000 a week, she scrutinized every aspect of "The Loretta Young Show": the story lines, the publicity shots, even the meetings with lawyers.

She delighted in the chance to play, as she put it, "parts no other producer would dare give me." She decked herself out as the Egyptian queen Nefertiti in one episode. In another, she portrayed an impoverished Indian widow. Wrapped in a kimono, hair pinned primly in a bun, she played an Asian woman in several popular shows. Other roles included an alcoholic, a shopgirl, a floozy and a nun.

But always, Loretta Young opened the program as herself--out of concern that audiences might interpret her costumed character roles as a sign that she had aged. "After the audience has seen me well groomed," she said, "I can wear horrible clothes, wigs, ugly makeup and false noses during the show without having people wonder whether I've aged overnight or something."

After the show's cancellation, Young began writing. In 1961, she published a book of philosophical homilies called "The Things I Had to Learn."

Still, she itched to return to the cameras.

So she put together plans for "The New Loretta Young Show"--a demure weekly sitcom in which she played a writer supporting herself while raising a family. The show premiered in September 1962. But lasted only until March.

With both her career and her marriage foundering, Young turned to the church, long an important part of her life. She and Lewis divorced in 1969.

A few years later, Young moved to Phoenix to live with the nuns at St. Joseph's Hospital, aiming to create a program for underprivileged children. But that effort, too, failed, and she returned to Los Angeles, where she volunteered to help homeless women and the mentally ill on skid row. She gave money to Catholic charities and presided over dazzling fund-raiser balls, dressed in flowing gowns and sparkling jewels.

Young emerged from retirement in 1986 to film her 98th movie: the made-for-TV special "Christmas Eve." In the melodramatic tear-jerker, she played a wealthy Manhattan matriarch at odds with her son until she is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Three years later, Young resurfaced in the television movie "Lady in a Corner"--playing a magazine editor determined to save her publication from slipping into smut.

Asked why she selected the role, Young gave a typical answer: "It's got a lot of pretty clothes, a lot of nice sets and a subject that interests me. It is a tiny little spear against pornography."

Keeping up her pure image, she added, "Sex is fine, but not lust."

Although some critics suggested that "Lady in a Corner" might spin out into an ideal television series, Young quickly rejected the notion of transferring the one-time appearance into a sitcom character.

"I would end up doing bits," she said. "I never have played bits. I don't want to start now."

In August 1993, Young surprised her friends by marrying fashion designer Jean Louis. She was 80; he was 85. An Academy Award-winner for his costume designs, he died in 1997.

Young, who had lived most of her retirement years in the Palm Springs area, is survived by her sister and her three children.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Los Angeles Times (CA) Date: August 13, 2000 Author: STEPHANIE SIMON Edition: Home Edition Page: B-1

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Lewis, Judy. "Uncommon Knowledge", Pocket Books, New York, 1994, page 34.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Tipton, Jim, Compiler, Find a Grave
   Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012; Original data: Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg, accessed 19 March 2015.

   Loretta Young; Memorial # 11806, Record added 17 August 2000

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Social Security Death Index (SSDI), Ancestry.com
   Source Information: Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011; Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration, accessed 20 March 2015.

   Source Citation: Number: 564-18-4791; Issue State: California; Issue Date: Before 1951
   
   Name: Loretta Y. Louis
   SSN: 564-18-4791
   Last Residence: 92264 Palm Springs, Riverside, California, USA
   BORN: 6 Jan 1913
   Died: 12 Aug 2000
   State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

4. ↑ Death of Loretta Young on www.palmspringslife.com/whispers/loretta/html.
5. ↑ Loretta Young, in Find A Grave: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California
   Memorial #11806, 17 Aug 2000.

   Birth: Jan. 6, 1913, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
   Death: Aug. 12, 2000, Los Angeles, California, USA
   Burial: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California, USA
   Plot: Section F, Tier 65, Grave 49
   GPS: 33.99114, -118.38744

   Actress. Loretta Young began her career at the age of 4 as a child extra in silent films. From that time on she appeared in numerous films and made a smooth transition into talking pictures. Throughout the 1930's she was an established actress acting mostly in very run of the mill films. The 1940's were more successful for her as she acted in notable films such as "A Night to Remember" (1943) and "The Stranger" (1946) which she starred in opposite Orson Welles. In 1947 she starred in "The Farmers Daughter" (1947) which she won an Academy award for her performance and "The Bishop' Wife" (1947) starring opposite Cary Grant. Her last notable film appearances were in the films "Cause For Alarm" (1951) and "It Happens Every Thursday" (1953). She retired from films in 1953 to host her own TV series appropriately titled "The Loretta Young Show". The show was very successful, winning 3 Emmy awards. In 1961 she wrote a memoir entitled "The Things I Had to Learn." She is buried in the same plot along with her mother, Gladys Belzer.