Loretta Young

Early life and education

Young was born Gretchen Michaela Young on January 6, 1913, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Gladys (née Royal) and John Earle Young. She was of Luxembourgish descent. When she was two years old, her parents separated. A year later, her mother moved the family to Hollywood. A priest helped Gladys establish a boarding house to generate income. Gladys' brother-in-law helped Gretchen and her sisters get small parts in silent films for income.

Around 1925, Gladys met Ida Botiller Lindley, a very wealthy widow. Ida had no children, but wanted to carry on her husband's name. To do so, she proposed adopting Gretchen's younger brother John Royal Young (1914–1997), educating him to be a lawyer like her late husband. Her brother thus became John Royal Young Lindley (later John R. Lindley), and he became a lawyer. As a result, though, he did not remain in close contact with his sisters.

Gretchen and her sisters, Polly Ann and Elizabeth Jane (better known as Sally Blane), all worked as child actresses, but of the three, Gretchen was the most successful. Polly Ann Young, Sally Blane, and John R. Lindley all died in their 80s in 1997. John R. Lindley's son, David, became a well-known multi-instrumentalist rock musician.

Career

1916–1939: Film

Young's first role was at the age of just three (although uncredited) in the silent film Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1916). During her high-school years, she was educated at Ramona Convent Secondary School in Alhambra, California. She was signed to a contract by John McCormick, husband and manager of actress Colleen Moore, who saw the young girl's potential. Moore gave her the name Loretta, explaining that it was the name of her favorite doll.

Young was billed as Gretchen Young in the silent film Sirens of the Sea (1917). She first appeared as Loretta Young in 1928, in the First National Pictures film The Whip Woman. That same year, she co-starred with Lon Chaney in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film Laugh, Clown, Laugh. The next year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1930, when Young was 17, she eloped with 26-year-old actor Grant Withers; they were married in Yuma, Arizona. The marriage was annulled the next year, just as their second movie together for First National (entitled Too Young to Marry) was released.

In 1931, Young costarred with Jean Harlow and Robert Williams in his final role in the Columbia Pictures release, Platinum Blonde. In 1934, she co-starred with Cary Grant in the pre-Code drama Born to be Bad, released by Twentieth Century Pictures. This film was rejected by the Hays Office, which enforced film morality, twice before it was finally approved. The next year, Young starred opposite Clark Gable and Jack Oakie in the 1935 film adaptation of Jack London's action-adventure novel The Call of the Wild, directed by William Wellman for Twentieth Century. Also in 1935, she portrayed Berengaria, Princess of Navarre in the Cecil B. DeMille-directed historical epic The Crusades (1935) for Paramount Pictures. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, where it received an award for Best Foreign Film.

The following year, Young starred as Lady Helen Dudley Dearden in the MGM picture The Unguarded Hour (1936). The film was directed by Sam Wood and was based on the 1935 play of the same name by Bernard Merivale. In 1938, she played Countess Eugenie de Montijo in the romantic drama Suez, starring opposite Tyrone Power. The film was directed by Allan Dwan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck.

1940–1952: Career breakthrough

During World War II, Young made Ladies Courageous (1944; reissued as Fury in the Sky) for Universal Pictures. The film was the fictionalized story of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. The plot depicted a unit of female pilots who flew bomber planes from the factories to their final destinations. Young made as many as eight movies a year, and her films in the 1940s were among the best regarded and most memorable of her career.

In 1946, Young made The Stranger, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. She protrayeda small-town American woman who unknowingly marries a Nazi war criminal (Orson Welles) who later tries to kill her. Welles recalled that the film's producer ordered a close-up of Young during a pivotal scene, a choice that Welles, the director, considered "fatal" to the scene's impact. Young took Welles' side, even getting her agent on the phone to support them. "Imagine getting a star's agent in to ensure that she wouldn't get a closeup!", Welles later said. "She was wonderful." Critic Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post noted in his movie review,"The languorous Miss Young has the toughest assignment, being called on to shift from the starry-eyed bride of the early reels to the woman who must know in her heart that her husband is one of the most hated of men."In 1947, Young won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Farmer's Daughter, a political comedy from RKO that required her to learn a Swedish accent. Ruth Roberts, who had coached Ingrid Bergman on how to lose her Swedish accent, taught Young how to gain one. That same year, Young co-starred with Cary Grant and David Niven in the romantic comedy by RKO, The Bishop's Wife. In 1949, she received another Academy Award nomination for her role as Sister Margaret in the 20th Century Fox comedy drama Come to the Stable.

Young reunited in 1950 with Gable for the romantic comedy Key to the City. The next year, Young starred in the MGM melodrama Cause for Alarm! (1951) and the 20th Century Fox comedy Half Angel (1951). These were followed by Columbia Pictures' film noir release, Paula (1952). Also in 1952, she starred in the romance drama Because of You from Universal Pictures. In 1953, Young acted in her final theatrical film, It Happens Every Thursday. It was a comedy from Universal about a New York couple who move to California to take over a struggling weekly newspaper; her co-star was John Forsythe.

1953–1961: The Loretta Young Show

Starting in 1953, Young hosted and acted in the half-hour anthology television series Letter to Loretta (later retitled as The Loretta Young Show) on the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). She earned three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for the program. Her trademark introduction of each episode showed her walking onto a living room set wearing a high-fashion evening gown. At the conclusion of the episode, she returned to offer a brief Bible passage or a famous quote that reflected upon the evening's story. In her contract, Young stipulated that the introductions and concluding remarks of each episode be cut for reruns. Her reason was that she did not want the gowns to date the episodes.

The Loretta Young Show was originally based on the premise that each drama answered a question from Young's fan mail. The program title was changed to The Loretta Young Show during season one (as of the episode of February 14, 1954). The "letter" concept was dropped from the series at the end of season two. Toward the end of season two, Young was hospitalized as a result of overwork. The network then replaced her with guest hosts and guest stars; Young's first appearance in the 1955–1956 season was for the Christmas show. For the remaining seasons, Young acted in half the episodes and hosted the remainder. The Loretta Young Show ran in prime time for eight years, the longest-running primetime network program hosted by a woman up to that time.

After The Loretta Young Show ended it first run, NBC repackaged it for daytime viewing as the Loretta Young Theatre from 1960 to 1964. As per the contract, the introductions and final remarks were deleted. The series also appeared in syndication into the early 1970s, before being withdrawn. In 1972, a jury in Los Angeles awarded Young $550,000 in a lawsuit against NBC for breach of contract. Filed in 1966, the suit contended that NBC had allowed foreign television outlets to rerun episodes without cutting the introductions. Young testified that showing her in "outdated gowns" had damaged her image. She had sought damages of $1.9 million.

1986–1994: Final roles

Young came out of retirement to star in the NBC television film Christmas Eve (1986). The story revolves around an elderly woman, played by Young, who befriends the homeless and volunteers time with children. They learn that she has a terminal illness and desperately wants to reunite her three grown grandchildren before she dies. Young starred in Christmas Eve with Trevor Howard and Ron Leibman, all three of whom received Golden Globe Award nominations. Young won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film.

Young then starred in her final role, another NBC television film, Lady in a Corner (1989). She portrayed the editor-in-chief of a high-fashion magazine. Her co-stars were Brian Keith, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Bruce Davison. For her performance, Young received another Golden Globe Award nomination in the same category, but lost to Christine Lahti.

Personal life

Marriages

Young was married three times Her first marriage was an elopement with actor Grant Withers in 1930. This action fractured her family as Withers was non-Catholic. Young soon grew disillusioned with Withers and had the marriage annulled the following year. She then reconciled with her family.

From September 1933 to June 1934, she had a well-publicized affair with actor Spencer Tracy, her co-star in Man's Castle. Tracy, also a Catholic, was separated from his wife Louise Tracy, but would not contemplate a divorce. In 1940, Young married producer Tom Lewis. They divorced in 1969.

In 1993, Young married for the third and final time to fashion designer Jean Louis. Their marriage lasted until his death in April 1997. Young was godmother to Marlo Thomas (daughter of TV star Danny Thomas).

Children

Young had three children. She and Tom Lewis had two sons: Christopher Lewis, born in 1944, and Peter Lewis, born in 1945.

Young's only daughter was Judith Lewis, the daughter of Clark Gable, born in 1935. Young and Gable were the lead actors of the 1935 Twentieth Century Pictures film The Call of the Wild. Young was then 22 and Gable was 34. She was single and he was married to Maria "Ria" Langham.According to on-location reports, both Gable and Young were flirting with each other. Young herself felt that "you fell a bit in love with your co-stars." Young's biography stated that she was "wildly infatuated" with Gable.

Nothing happened between Gable and Young until they took an overnight train trip together. During the night, Gable visited Young in her separate sleeping compartment. According to Young, this was the only time that they had sex.

Young did not want her pregnancy to damage her or Gable's careers. She also knew that if Twentieth Century found out, they would pressure her to have an abortion. She believed abortion to be a mortal sin and would not consent to it. To avoid this scenario, Young, her sisters and their mother devised a plan; they would conceal the pregnancy by sending Young away, hide the baby after the birth and then pretend to adopt them.

When Young's pregnancy began to show a baby bump, she announced a "vacation" to England. After returning to California months later, she gave an interview from her bed, covered in blankets to hide her pregnancy. During the interview, she stated that her long work absence was due to a condition she had had since childhood.

Young secretly gave birth to Judith on November 6, 1935, in Venice, California. Young named her after St. Jude because he was the patron saint of difficult situations.After Judith was born, a family member sent a telegram to Gable informing him that his baby was well, "blonde and beautiful."Young's mother had told Gable that her daughter was pregnant.

Weeks after Judith's birth, Young placed her in an orphanage. Judith spent the next 19 months in various "hideaways and orphanages" before being reunited with her mother. Young then publicly announced that she had adopted a baby named Judith. After Young married Tom Lewis in 1940, Judith took Lewis as her last name.

Politics

Young was a lifelong member of the Republican Party. In 1952, she appeared in radio, print, and magazine ads in support of General Dwight D. Eisenhower in his campaign for US president. After he won the election, she attended his 1953 inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C.. She was a vocal supporter of Vice President Richard Nixon and California Governor Ronald Reagan in their successful presidential campaigns in 1968 and 1980, respectively. Young was also an active member of the Hollywood Republican Committee.

Charity

After retiring from television, Young devoted herself to volunteer work for charities and churches. She was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild. A devout Catholic, she worked with various Catholic charities.

Other

A tobacco smoker since age eight, Young quit the habit in the mid-1980s, gaining 10 pounds (4.5 kg).Young kept a 4 ft (1.2 m)-tall silver crucifix in her home, bought in Mexico in the 1940s.

Illness and death

Young died of ovarian cancer on August 12, 2000, at the home of her maternal half-sister, Georgiana Young (the wife of actor Ricardo Montalbán) in Los Angeles, California. She was interred in the family plot in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Her ashes were buried in the grave of her mother, Gladys Belzer.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Young has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for her work in television, at 6135 Hollywood Boulevard, and the other for her work in motion pictures, at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 2011, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars, in Palm Springs, California, was dedicated to her.