Happy Birthday: Loretta Young!

Loretta Young (January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) . Starting as a child actress, she had a long career in film from 1917 to 1953. Young was billed as "Gretchen Young" in the 1917 film, Sirens of the Sea. It was not 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 film, Laugh, Clown, Laugh. During the Second World War, Young made, Ladies Courageous (1944 reissued as Fury in the Sky), the fictionalized story of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. It depicted a unit of female pilots during WWII who flew bomber planes from the factories to their final destinations.

Young made as many as seven or eight movies a year. In 1947, she won an Oscar 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.

In 1949, Young received another Academy Award nomination for, Come to the Stable. In 1953, she appeared in her last theatrical film, It Happens Every Thursday, a comedy about a New York couple who move to California to take over a struggling weekly newspaper.

TCM is celebrating Loretta Youngs birthday with the list of films featured below:

Unguarded Hour, The (1936). A blackmailer tries to stop a woman from revealing evidence that could save a condemned man. Cast: Franchot Tone, Loretta Young, Roland Young.

Doctor Takes a Wife, The (1940). A man-hating author and a woman-hating doctor have to pretend they're married. Cast: Loretta Young, Ray Milland, Reginald Gardiner. Dir: Alexander Hall.

Men in Her Life (1941)A circus performer marries a man who promises to turn her into a ballerina. Cast: Loretta Young, Conrad Veidt, Dean Jagger. Dir: Gregory Ratoff.

Night to Remember, A (1942) A mystery writer and his wife stumble on a murder in their new apartment. Cast: Loretta Young, Brian Aherne, Jeff Donnell. Dir: Richard Wallace.

Along Came Jones (1945) A mild-mannered cowboy is mistaken for a notorious outlaw. Cast: Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest. The video below features movie clips of the best cowboy of Hollywood! Gary Cooper.
Plainsman, 1936
Westerner, 1940
North West Mounted Police, 1940
For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1943
Along Came Jones, 1945
Saratoga Trunk , 1945
Dallas, 1950
Distant Drums, 1951

Bishop's Wife, The (1947). An angel helps set an ambitious bishop on the right track. Cast: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven. Dir: Henry Koster.

Cause For Alarm (1951)A woman fights to intercept a letter in which her husband tries to prove her guilty of murder. Cast: Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling. Dir: Tay Garnett.

Paula (1952). A woman harbors a deadly secret when her husband brings home a child she injured in a hit-and-run accident. Cast: Loretta Young, Kent Smith, Tommy Rettig. Dir: Rudolph Mate.