About Me
Gretchen Young was born on January 6, 1913 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the daughter of Gladys Royal Young and John Earl Young. When she was around 4 her family, minus her father, moved to California and into the home of Gladys' sister. Loretta's father moved to be with them. Later Gladys found him with the maid and told him to get out. His children never saw him alive again. The family moved to a boarding house that Gladys ran. Around that time also she and her cousin went to live with an actress the called Aunt Mazi and these girls who had lived a poor life lived the life of a movie star's daughters. After a year they both went back to their biological mothers. When Loretta was 10 her mother got married again to one of her boarders George Belzer and they had daughter Georgianna two years later. At the age of 14 Loretta answered the phone and the person at the other line who was looking for her sister Polly Ann hired her. Gretchen was under contract, had braces put on her teeth and had her name changed to Loretta. In 1930 Loretta got married to her costar Grant Withers. They eloped to Arizona where the legal age to get married was 16. Loretta was just 17. Less than a year later they got divorced. In 1935 she was considered to be a very successful actress when she made Call of the Wild with a King, Clark Gable. They had an affair, and Loretta became pregnant. Because of the strict morality clauses in their contracts and the fact that Clark was married they could not tell anybody, except her mother, Gladys Royal Belzer. Mother and daughter went to Europe during Loretta's pregnancy and she delivered a healthy baby girl on November 6, 1935, in a house that nobody knew about, but family. Her daughter was brought up thinking that Loretta had adopted her, and did not know Clark Gable was her father until after she had had a child herself. In 1940 Loretta got married again to businessman Thomas Lewis. Even though now her daughter is called Judy Lewis, Tom never adopted her. Four years after they got married Loretta had Christopher Paul Lewis. About a year later Loretta had Peter Charles. Loretta continued to make movies until the early 1950's when she decided to go into television. She was very popular for about eight years and then the show went off the air. In 1960 she tried a new show with a new concept, but that did not work. By that time Loretta was a grandmother. Judy had gotten married about three years before and had a baby girl in 1959. Loretta and Tom Lewis divorced in the early 1960's. Loretta enjoyed retirement. Sleeping late, visiting her son Chris and daughter-in-law Linda. She had traveled a lot. She and her friend Josie Wayne, John's first ex-wife, traveled to India and saw the Taj Mahal. In 1990 she became a great-grandmother when her granddaughter (Judy's daughter) had a boy. Loretta died in 2000 of ovarian cancer.
with Tyrone Power
Quotes:
"Wearing the correct dress for any occasion is a matter of good manners."
"I believe that if we have lived our lives fully and well, and have accomplished, at least in part, the things we were put here to do, we will be prepared - mentally, physically and spiritually - for our separation from this world."
"Our human connections are guided by God, and ultimately all of us are linked through His love. Thus, we have all already met, not as actress and fan but as His children, and we can never be lost to each other."
"What you don't know intrigues you more than what you do know. I believed all those love stories - the hero was the hero - because that's what I grew up with. I loved the romance and the roses, but when it came to a more realistic life, I would back away."
"The easiest way to crush your laurels is to lean on them."
"A charming woman... doesn't follow the crowd. She is herself."
"A face is like the outside of a house, and most faces, like most houses, give us an idea of what we can expect to find inside."
"A face that is really lovely in repose can fall apart if, when its owner starts to talk, she distorts every feature."
"A pleasant voice, which has to include clear enunciation, is not only attractive to those who hear it... its appeal is permanent."
with Robert Young
with Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
at the Academy Awards
Filmography
Lady in the Corner (1989)
Christmas Eve (1986)
It Happens Every Thursday (1953)
Because of You (1952)
Paula (1952)
Half Angel (1951)
Cause for Alarm! (1951)
Key to the City (1950)
Come to the Stable (1949)
Mother Is a Freshman (1949)
The Accused (1949)
Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
The Perfect Marriage (1947)
The Stranger (1946)
Along Came Jones (1945)
And Now Tomorrow (1944)
Ladies Courageous (1944)
China (1943)
A Night to Remember (1943)
Bedtime Story (1941)
The Men in Her Life (1941)
The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
He Stayed for Breakfast (1940)
The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)
Eternally Yours (1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
Kentucky (1938)
Suez (1938)
Three Blind Mice (1938)
Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
Second Honeymoon (1937)
Wife, Doctor and Nurse (1937)
Love Under Fire (1937)
Café Metropole (1937)
Love Is News (1937)
Ladies in Love (1936)
Ramona (1936)
Private Number (1936)
The Unguarded Hour (1936)
The Crusades (1935)
The Call of the Wild (1935)
Shanghai (1935)
Clive of India (1935)
The White Parade (1934)
Caravan (1934)
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
Born to Be Bad (1934)
The House of Rothschild (1934)
Man's Castle (1933)
The Devil's in Love (1933)
She Had to Say Yes (1933)
Midnight Mary (1933)
Heroes for Sale (1933)
The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933)
Zoo in Budapest (1933)
Grand Slam (1933)
Employees' Entrance (1933)
They Call It Sin (1932)
Life Begins (1932)
Week-end Marriage (1932)
Play-Girl (1932)
The Hatchet Man (1932)
Taxi! (1932)
The Ruling Voice (1931)
Platinum Blonde (1931)
I Like Your Nerve (1931)
Big Business Girl (1931)
Too Young to Marry (1931)
Three Girls Lost (1931)
The Right of Way (1931)
Beau Ideal (1931)
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie' (1931)
The Devil to Pay! (1930)
The Truth About Youth (1930)
Kismet (1930)
War Nurse (1930)
Road to Paradise (1930)
The Second Floor Mystery (1930)
The Man from Blankley's (1930)
Loose Ankles (1930)
The Show of Shows (1929)
The Forward Pass (1929)
The Careless Age (1929)
Fast Life (1929)
The Girl in the Glass Cage (1929)
The Squall (1929)
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
Scarlet Seas (1928)
The Head Man (1928)
The Magnificent Flirt (1928)
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
The Whip Woman (1928)
Her Wild Oat (1927)
Naughty But Nice (1927)
The Sheik (1921)
White and Unmarried (1921)
The Only Way (1919)
Sirens of the Sea (1917)
The Primrose Ring (1917) (uncredited)
