Lewis - who was conceived when her parents were filming “Call of the Wild”, only met her famous father once. At the time Lewis’s autobiography - Uncommon Knowledge - was published, Young still denied Gable’s paternity. However, in an authorized biography published after Young’s death in 2000, the actress finally acknowledged that Gable was the father of her daughter.
Uncommon Knowledge is one of my favorite Hollywood bio/autobios. This “secret” would have lasted about 1.5 parsecs today.
Clark Gable never acknowledged her, even privately, and everyone thought it was *such *a tragedy when he died shortly before his “only child” was born. Clark Gable could be a real putz sometimes.
I remember reading that. I know this was a “different time and place”, but you’d think privately…gah.
I remember being impressed with Judy’s book because it wasn’t a “Mommie Dearest” slamfest. I think mother and daughter - despite huge differences in how this all should have been handled - loved one another.
That would be interesting to discover, Sampiro - since Loretta came clean (at least after she died). Sad story all the way around, really. The whole of Hollywood had to have known, yet this elaborate charade was kept up for decades.
I know Loretta visited her daughter and grandchildren in later years–a friend of mine lived near Judy Lewis on the Main Line, and went out to pick up her paper on the lawn. There in her bathrobe picking up *her *paper was Saint Loretta herself! My friend stammered “aren’t you Loretta Young?” and she smiled (graciously, of course) and said yes, she was staying with her family.
A baby outside marriage was a big deal back then. It could have wrecked Loretta Young’s career. Amazing that they put the baby in an orphanage so Loretta could adopt her own child. That’s how things were done then. It is sad that Gable never acknowledged his daughter even in private.
Probably apocryphal, but there’s a story about some famous actor- I can’t remember which- who was on a set where Loretta Young set up her famous “swear jar”- everytime you used a profane word you had to put in a quarter, proceeds to charity. He got frustrated with her and said something like “Damn it!” and she pointed to the jar with a “Now!” look. Per the anecdote, he put in a twenty and said “Damn it, you f*cking bitch!.”
Is anybody familiar with this story and or who the actor was?
I heard it as “Here’s a twenty, Loretta, go fuck yourself,” from either Barbara Stanwyck or Bette Davis, and strongly suspect it was just a “wishful thinking” story that circulated around Hollywood.
My apologies for a bad joke.