Loretta Young (January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000). Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, as Gretchen Young. At confirmation, she took the name Michaela. She and her family moved to Hollywood when she was three years old.
She was signed to a contract by John McCormick (1893-1961), husband and manager of actress Colleen Moore, who saw the young girl's potential. The name "Loretta" was given to her by Colleen, who named her after her favorite doll.
Young was billed as Gretchen Young in the silent film, Sirens of the Sea (1917). 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. (pictured above)
In 1930, Young, then 17, eloped with 26-year-old actor Grant Withers(pictured above) and married him in Yuma, Arizona. The marriage was annulled the next year, just as their second movie together (appropriately titled Too Young to Marry) was released.
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteGoing to pretend this post was for me since I just commented on Loretta's beauty. ha ha
Great photos!
Have a great weekend.
Page
Loretta (or, as she was known then, Gretchen) has an uncredited bit part in Colleen Moore's 1927 comedy "Her Wild Oat." She's second from left in this photo, and one would never guess she had yet to reach her 15th birthday:
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Page, I'm glad that you like the Loretta photos.. I agree.. she is beautiful..
ReplyDeleteSo far.. I'm having a great weekend..
VP81955, Thank you for sharing such an awesome picture of Loretta. I recognized her right away.. maybe, it is because I have been looking at so many pictures of a very young, Loretta the past couple of days. :)
ReplyDeleteSince Loretta is the star of the month at my blog, I am currently reading her authorized biography "Forever Young." It is a beautiful, delightful read. I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gentle, graceful beauty she was!
Patti, I can not wait to read your Loretta posts.
ReplyDeleteShe was so lovely! It's interesting to see her racier silent and pre-code films when she was so virtuous in films later on.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I'm learning so much about Loretta this month, that I never knew about her before..
ReplyDeleteDawn, very interesting post since I was unfamiliar with the silent film portion of Loretta's career.
ReplyDeleteRick29, It is so good to see that you stopped by..
ReplyDeleteI know... me too.. I was very surprised to learn that Loretta, was in silent films.