Loretta Young

The Business of an Angelic Gaze

Gretchen Young never chose to be an actress. She was four years old when she first appeared on a silent screen because her family needed the money. Her mother ran a boarding house in Hollywood, and the three Young sisters were the closest resource for directors looking for child extras.

By fourteen, she was a professional with a contract under her arm. Colleen Moore changed her name to Loretta, and the industry discovered that that porcelain face hid an iron will. But the cinema of the 1920s did not forgive a lack of character, and she quickly learned to negotiate every clause in her contracts.

That little girl of four was already supporting her family.

By 1930, she was already making ten films a year. She worked nonstop for studios such as First National and Warner Bros, accepting roles others turned down. Loretta understood that in classic Hollywood, staying power mattered more than immediate artistic prestige.

A Secret Sealed in the Desert

While filming Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book in 1935, something happened that nearly destroyed her career. She became pregnant by Clark Gable while they were shooting on snowy outdoor locations. These were times of strict moral codes, and Loretta, a devout Catholic, could not afford a public scandal that would cost her income.

She arranged a trip to Europe to hide her condition and returned to the United States to give birth in secret. Months later, she faked the adoption of her own daughter, Judy Lewis, so she could raise her without losing the favor of exhibitors. She kept the lie going for decades in front of the press and her own castmates.

The public never suspected the truth.

And while her private life was a puzzle of silences, her professional career reached its peak. In 1947, she won the Oscar for Best Actress for Come to the Stable. It was a surprise to everyone, since she competed against critics' favorites, but her portrayal of a Swedish-born maid convinced the Academy.

The Woman Behind the Entrance Door

When the movie industry began turning its back on actresses over forty, she didn't retire to wait for calls. In 1953, she moved to television with The Loretta Young Show. She was one of the first film stars to produce and host her own anthology series on the small screen.

She became famous for her grand entrance in every episode. She would walk through a door in haute couture gowns, spin around, and introduce the story of the night. But behind the tulle was a businesswoman who kept an eye on every last dollar from the show's advertising and syndication rights.

She managed to keep the show going for eight seasons in a row. She won three Emmy Awards and became one of the wealthiest women in the industry thanks to her business vision. Because Loretta Young never saw film only as art, but as a tool for complete financial independence.

Television was her last great refuge.

In her later years, she stepped away from the spotlight to focus on charity work and her religious faith. She returned briefly for a couple of TV movies in 1986 and 1989, which earned her an additional Golden Globe. Her health began to decline at the end of the 1990s, and she withdrew to her home in Palm Springs.

She died on August 12, 2000, in Santa Monica from ovarian cancer at the age of 87. Her final filmography includes more than 90 movies produced between 1917 and 1989.