Before I really get started on this post, I'd just like to say a HUGE thank you from Think Classic for your support and views as readers during our A Very Vintage Christmas campaign.It was another very successful holiday season, and we already can't wait for next year!
However, now it's time to get back to business. The new year has come and a new month has started, which means that there is a new Star of the Month for Turner Classic Movies!
STAR OF THE MONTH
Loretta Young
Born January 6, 1913
Died August 12, 2000
Michaela Gretchen Young was born in 1913 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Even after her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was three, she was brought up in a religious background. She officially began to act along with her two sisters (Polly Ann and Sally Blane) the next year, at the age of four, and she would remain active in her career for the rest of her life. Her very first moving picture was the silent film The Primrose Ring (1917). It was not long after when she was given a contract by John McCormick, who investigated the young girl at his wife Colleen Moore's urging. She had roles in 6 more films, including The Sheik (1921), and she was billed Gretchen Young for all of them. It was not until the year 1928 that she was given the name Loretta by Colleen Moore, who later revealed that she came up with the name because it was the name she had given to her favorite, most beautiful doll at one time.
Loretta continued to act throughout the late twenties and early thirties, but she would often be given roles that flew under the radar and which were not credited. It was not until her film Three Girls Lost (1931) was released that she gained some good notoriety and began to build a firm and stable career. She starred in films of many different genres including the drama Life Begins (1932), the romance Second Honeymoon (1937), the mystery A Night to Remember (1942), and the holiday favorite The Bishop's Wife (1947). She also had prominent roles in such pictures as The Hatchet Man (1932) and She Had to Say Yes (1932), which were films released before the Production Code took effect. Because of this they contained many things that were banned from the big screen beginning two years later in 1934--things such as drug use, depiction of violence/murder, and sexual content. While she was quite successful in all genres, Young excelled in comedies such as I Like Your Nerve (1931), Ladies in Love (1936), Bedtime Story (1941), Mother Is a Freshman (1949), and many others.
Since she had been acting since the age of three and had already built quite a career for herself, Young retired from film in 1953. She then opened the door to the realm of television. She hosted her own show, The Loretta Young Show beginning in 1953. It lasted for 9 years and, at the time, was the longest running prime-time network television show hosted by a woman.
Young had a troublesome personal life, which she went to great lengths to keep private, although her attempts sometimes failed. She was first married by elopement at the age of 17, though the marriage only lasted for one year after which time it was annulled. In 1935, Young was working on the film adaptation of The Call of the Wild when she met fellow actor Clark Gable. The two had an affair, which they tried to keep secret due to moral standards that were set for workers in the film industry at the time. Things got very tricky when Young discovered she was pregnant. If the details of her pregnancy were uncovered it could have destroyed both her and Gable's careers. Young tried to be discreet, claiming a lasting illness she had contracted as a child, disappearing for several months to travel Europe. Her daughter Judy was born in secret and then placed in an orphanage for a very short period of time until Young's mother picked her up and brought her home. From that time Young publicly claimed that she had adopted Judy, and she raised her with her second husband Peter Lewis, whom she married in 1940. Unfortunately, as Judy grew older, many hereditary features from her father became more prominent--especially her "Gable ears." Young had her daughters ears pinned back via cosmetic surgery when her daughter was 7 years old, but rumors continued to fly. Young vehemently stuck to her story of adoption until her own daughter asked her about it when she was an adult, and then she finally admitted the truth. In her later years, Young devoted her time to charity work with lifelong friends and fellow actresses, Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, and Jane Wyman.
Loretta Young starred in over 100 films over the course of her career. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1947, and was nominated for another in 1949; she also was awarded 3 Emmy Awards for The Loretta Young Show, and was awarded a Golden Globe in 1986. She died of ovarian cancer in 2000 at the age of 87.
"Giving credit where credit is due is a very rewarding habit to form. Its rewards are inestimable."
-Loretta Young
"Nearly everyone I met, worked with, or read about was my teacher, one way or another."
-Loretta Young
"I'm grateful to God for His bountiful gifts..He gave me courage and faith in myself."
-Loretta Young
As January's Star of the Month, you can watch some of Loretta Young's movies every Wednesday night this month, beginning at 8pm ET on Turner Classic Movies.
For this month's schedule, click on the link:
