If you are a fan of Old Hollywood blind items and the great stories that only seemed to have happened back in the day, then you should do yourself a favor and read a little bit about Judy Lewis. The New York Times ran a great piece about her yesterday which I think you will find fascinating. Judy was the daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable. Clark was married and filming a movie with Loretta. Both were huge stars and if the news got out it would ruin both their careers. Loretta moved to Europe and had Judy. Then for the next 19 months Judy basically was shuttled between hospitals and orphanages until Loretta "adopted" her. Loretta told the gossip columns that Judy was adopted. She also told Judy she was adopted. It was not until she was 31 years old that Judy found out her mom was her biological mother. She found out about her dad on her wedding day from her about to be husband. He told her he had no idea who Judy's mom was but that everyone in town knew she was Clark Gable's daughter. When Judy was 7 she had big Clark Gable ears and Loretta had them surgically altered so they would not stick out or draw attention to Judy's features and give the game away. In her biography, Judy told the world who her mom was. Her mom did not speak to her for three years and only admitted her parentage in her autobiography which was released after her death in 2000.
She looks just like him!
ReplyDeleteYes, she inherited both of their good looks. Very attractive lady. RIP.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I was reading a bunch of articles on her Monday - I don't know how I got started on it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, it was implied she was Gable's daughter, but no one came out and wrote it. I'm sad to hear she's passed. She seemed like a really nice lady.
wow, she looked like them both. Pretty lady.
ReplyDeleteshe seemed like a nice lady i saw an interview with her. She didin't fall into any hollywood traps and just lived her life.
ReplyDeleteThough it's sad Loretta didn't speak to her for 3 years. Lorretta was part of the strict Hollywood machine where zero scandal was the name of the game, everything was covered up.
She was no Mommy Dearest,just a victim of the machine herself.
What everyone else says - she looks so much like both of them. Loretta Young was so beautiful but super duper skinny. I loved her in the Bishop's Wife with that eternal hottie, Cary Grant. Sorry to hear of her passing.
ReplyDelete^ I dunno, not publicly admitting the daughter is yours until the authorized biography is published posthumously (per the article on msnbc.com, probably the best of the lot), that's pretty cruel. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteMs Cool isn't the Bishop's Wife the best Christmas movie?? David Niven AND Cary Grant -- I almost exploded when they 'remade' that movie. How dare they.
ReplyDeleteI was sorry to read of her passing, though I didn't know about her all. She seemed like a well rounded woman for what she had to go through.
Sad that her mother didn't speak to her for three years. Everyone should have the right to know who their biological parents are. She was a beautiful woman & I can see Clark Gable in her.
ReplyDeleteShe was so pretty. Hollywood is so messed up. Dang.
ReplyDeletei can't imagine being more concerned w/ everyones opinion of you BUT your daughter. suppose just too much shame involved in that era. she looks SO much like her dad. interesting that the husband, and apparently everyone else knew about her dad.
ReplyDeleteI read her book when it first came out - wish I could find another copy. It was a fascinating story - and like the others, I loved "The Bishop's Wife" with Niven et al. I refused to watch the remake.
ReplyDeleteSusan B....try Abebooks.com, they always have all these old out-of-print books
ReplyDeleteI realize things were different back then, but damn. Loretta sounds like a bitch. That's just cruel to disavow your parentage.
ReplyDeleteI love these old Hollywood blind reveals :)
ReplyDeleteUgh, maybe it's just me but I find that story so tragic. To deny your own child the knowledge of their parents... I don't know, that just made me cry a little.
ReplyDeleteThe most ironic part of all this is what an ardent Catholic Loretta Young was her whole life, even playing a nun on her television show.
ReplyDeleteomg, how devastating...to deny your child, then not speak to her for 3 yrs...idc how things were done back then. your love needs to be greater than your career. what a horrible woman. poor judy must have known some serious pain and abandonment. may she rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteSurgically altering your young child's ears so your secret is not revealed is fucking whacked !!!
ReplyDeleteI HATE when people make allowances for shit because of the era. Oh it's okay if people were racist, sexist or treated their own kids like dogs by pinning their ears back- as long as it's back in the day!
Cruelty and callousness eclipses the space of time. Good for Judy for rising above this and fuck Loretta AND Clark for not owning up to their mistakes!
I wonder if she ever met Clark's son ,John or John's daughter. She looked a lot like her brother when they were kids.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, one account I read suggested that Gable did take an interest in her and came around several times, but Loretta shooed him away for fear of people putting 2 + 2 together. I understand the need to keep things quiet publicly in that day & age (it truly would have ruined both their careers and lives), but Loretta really should have told Judy the truth by the time she hit her teens & was old enough to understand the need for secrecy.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, most adopted children are understandably curious about their bio parents, but in the old days adoptive parents usually didn't know very much about the child's background, so it would have been easy enough for Loretta to say something like "I don't know who they were, but you're my daughter now and I love you very much"...but obviously Judy was picking up on the fact that something wasn't quite right. Perhaps on some level she represented a shameful episode to her mother, who couldn't completely get over that enough to just love her child? Very sad...although it does seem as if Judy had a decent life after all.
What kills me about this story is Loretta Young having her in orphanages for nineteen months! My God, that is just horrid.
ReplyDeleteAs Marlene Dietrich put it: "Every time Loretta 'sins,' she builds a church. That's why there are so many Catholic churches in Hollywood!"
ReplyDelete