Judy Lewis, the secret daughter of screen stars Clark Gable and Loretta Young, has passed away at 76. Her fascinating story endures.
Conceived while Young was unwed and Gable was married to his second wife, Maria Langham, their affair took place during the filming of “The Call of the Wild.” This led to a secret pregnancy and a discreet birth. Young left her daughter at an orphanage for 19 months before returning to adopt her. This occurred long before the advent of the Internet, DNA testing, or modern paternity revelations.
Young kept her daughter unaware of her true parentage. Born on November 6, 1935, Judy was raised by her mother and Young’s husband, Tom Lewis, whose last name she took. Judy never had a relationship with her biological father. At 15, Gable visited her without revealing his identity. It wasn’t until 31 years later that she learned the truth from her mother, who privately admitted it but never publicly acknowledged it.
In 1994, Judy shared her story with the Philadelphia Inquirer while promoting her memoir about her parents’ romance and the cover-up. She expressed the pain of not being accepted by her mother, saying, “It was very difficult for me as a little girl not to be accepted… by my mother, who to this day will not publicly acknowledge that I am her biological child.”
Young eventually admitted that Lewis was her daughter with Gable in her authorized biography, “Forever Young,” published posthumously in 2000.
Judy Lewis bore a strong resemblance to her father, and, according to the New York Times, she was teased in school because her ears “stuck out like Dumbo’s. Or, as Hollywood rumors had it, they stuck out like Clark Gable’s.” To address this, her mother often hid her ears under hats and had her undergo plastic surgery at age 7 to make them less Gable-like.
Initially following in her parents’ footsteps, Judy pursued an acting career, appearing in roles such as on “General Hospital.” However, she eventually left the entertainment industry to become a therapist. By the time she reached adulthood, it was an open secret that Clark Gable was her father. Even her husband, Joe Tinney, mentioned it was “common knowledge” before they married, but she didn’t believe him at the time.
In her 1994 memoir, “Uncommon Knowledge,” Lewis reflected on how her mother’s career would have been jeopardized had she admitted to the out-of-wedlock birth. Young, a devout Catholic, told her, “Wouldn’t you [be unhappy] if you were a movie star and the father of your child was a movie star and you couldn’t have an abortion because it was a mortal sin?”
Judy Lewis is survived by her daughter, two grandsons, and two half-brothers, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in Hollywood history.
