LORETTA YOUNG
Name: Loretta Young
Birth name: Gretchen Young
Born: 6 January 1913 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Died: 12 August 2000 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Loretta Young (January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an Academy Award-winning
American actress.
She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah as Gretchen Young (she took the name
Michaela at confirmation) she moved with her family to Hollywood when she was
three years old. Loretta and her sisters Polly Ann Young and Elizabeth Jane
Young (screen name Sally Blane) worked as child actresses, of whom Loretta was
the most successful. Young's first role was at age 3 in the silent film The
Primrose Ring. The movie's star Mae Murray so fell in love with little Gretchen
that she wanted to adopt her. Although her mother declined, Gretchen was allowed
to live with Murray for two years. Her half-sister Georgiana (daughter of her
mother and stepfather George Belzer) eventually married actor Ricardo Montalban.
During her high school years, she was educated at Ramona Convent Secondary
School.
She was billed as "Gretchen Young" in the 1917 film, Sirens of the Sea. It wasn't
until 1928 that she was first billed as "Loretta Young", in The Whip Woman. That
same year she co-starred with Lon Chaney in the MGM film Laugh, Clown, Laugh.The
next year, she was anointed one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars.
In 1930, Young, then 17, eloped with 26-year-old actor Grant Withers and married
him in Yuma, Arizona. The marriage was annulled the next year, just as their
second movie together (ironically titled Too Young to Marry) was released.
Young made as many as seven or eight movies a year and won an Oscar in 1947 for
her performance in The Farmer's Daughter. The same year she co-starred with Cary
Grant and David Niven in The Bishop's Wife, a perennial favorite that still airs
on television during the Christmas season and was later remade as The Preacher's
Wife with Whitney Houston. In 1949, Young received another Academy Award
nomination (for Come to the Stable) and in 1953 appeared in her last film, It
Happens Every Thursday.
Moving to television, she hosted and starred in the well-received half hour
anthology series The Loretta Young Show. Her "sweeping" trademark appearance at
the beginning of each show was to appear dramatically in various high fashion
evening gowns. She returned at the program's conclusion to restate to the viewer
the moral of the story just seen. (Young's introductions and conclusions to her
television shows, which were widely satirized at the time, are not rerun on
television because she had it legally stipulated that they not be; the ever
image-conscious Young didn't want to be seen in "outdated" wardrobe and
hairstyles.) Her program ran in prime time on NBC for eight years, the longest-running
prime time network program ever hosted by a woman up to that time.
The program, which earned her three Emmys, began with the premise that each
drama was an answer to a question asked in her fan mail; the program's original
title was Letter to Loretta. The title was changed to The Loretta Young Show
during the first season, and the "letter" concept was dropped altogether at the
end of the second season. At this time, Young's health required that there be a
number of guest hosts and guest stars; her first appearance in the 1955-56
season was for the Christmas show. From this point on, Young appeared in only
about half of each season's shows as an actress and merely functioned as the
program host for the remainder. This program, minus Young's introductions and
summarized conclusions, was rerun in daytime by NBC from 1960 to 1964 and also
appeared, again without the introductions and conclusions, in syndication.
Name: Loretta Young
Birth name: Gretchen Young
Born: 6 January 1913 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Died: 12 August 2000 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Loretta Young (January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an Academy Award-winning
American actress.
She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah as Gretchen Young (she took the name
Michaela at confirmation) she moved with her family to Hollywood when she was
three years old. Loretta and her sisters Polly Ann Young and Elizabeth Jane
Young (screen name Sally Blane) worked as child actresses, of whom Loretta was
the most successful. Young's first role was at age 3 in the silent film The
Primrose Ring. The movie's star Mae Murray so fell in love with little Gretchen
that she wanted to adopt her. Although her mother declined, Gretchen was allowed
to live with Murray for two years. Her half-sister Georgiana (daughter of her
mother and stepfather George Belzer) eventually married actor Ricardo Montalban.
During her high school years, she was educated at Ramona Convent Secondary
School.
She was billed as "Gretchen Young" in the 1917 film, Sirens of the Sea. It wasn't
until 1928 that she was first billed as "Loretta Young", in The Whip Woman. That
same year she co-starred with Lon Chaney in the MGM film Laugh, Clown, Laugh.The
next year, she was anointed one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars.
In 1930, Young, then 17, eloped with 26-year-old actor Grant Withers and married
him in Yuma, Arizona. The marriage was annulled the next year, just as their
second movie together (ironically titled Too Young to Marry) was released.
Young made as many as seven or eight movies a year and won an Oscar in 1947 for
her performance in The Farmer's Daughter. The same year she co-starred with Cary
Grant and David Niven in The Bishop's Wife, a perennial favorite that still airs
on television during the Christmas season and was later remade as The Preacher's
Wife with Whitney Houston. In 1949, Young received another Academy Award
nomination (for Come to the Stable) and in 1953 appeared in her last film, It
Happens Every Thursday.
Moving to television, she hosted and starred in the well-received half hour
anthology series The Loretta Young Show. Her "sweeping" trademark appearance at
the beginning of each show was to appear dramatically in various high fashion
evening gowns. She returned at the program's conclusion to restate to the viewer
the moral of the story just seen. (Young's introductions and conclusions to her
television shows, which were widely satirized at the time, are not rerun on
television because she had it legally stipulated that they not be; the ever
image-conscious Young didn't want to be seen in "outdated" wardrobe and
hairstyles.) Her program ran in prime time on NBC for eight years, the longest-running
prime time network program ever hosted by a woman up to that time.
The program, which earned her three Emmys, began with the premise that each
drama was an answer to a question asked in her fan mail; the program's original
title was Letter to Loretta. The title was changed to The Loretta Young Show
during the first season, and the "letter" concept was dropped altogether at the
end of the second season. At this time, Young's health required that there be a
number of guest hosts and guest stars; her first appearance in the 1955-56
season was for the Christmas show. From this point on, Young appeared in only
about half of each season's shows as an actress and merely functioned as the
program host for the remainder. This program, minus Young's introductions and
summarized conclusions, was rerun in daytime by NBC from 1960 to 1964 and also
appeared, again without the introductions and conclusions, in syndication.