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Judy Lewis
Judy Lewis
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Judy Lewis (born Judith Young; November 6, 1935 – November 25, 2011) was an American actress, writer, producer, and therapist. She was the secret biological daughter of actors Loretta Young and Clark Gable.

Key Information

Early life

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Lewis was born on November 6, 1935, in Venice, California.[1] She was conceived while her birth parents, Loretta Young and Clark Gable,[1][2] were working on the film Call of the Wild. Gable was married at the time of Lewis's conception, and Young concealed her pregnancy to avoid scandal.[3] Young was aware that if Twentieth Century Pictures became aware of her pregnancy, the company might pressure her to have an abortion; a devout Catholic, Young considered abortion a mortal sin.[4] Weeks after her birth, Lewis was placed in an orphanage.[3] Lewis would spend the next 19 months in various "hideaways and orphanages" before being reunited with her mother.[3] Young then claimed that she had adopted Lewis.[5] When Lewis was four years old, Young married radio producer Tom Lewis, and Judy took his last name. Young and Lewis went on to have two sons, Christopher Lewis and Peter Lewis.[3]

Lewis bore a striking resemblance to Gable; like Gable, she had ears that stuck out.[3] When Lewis was seven years old, Young had her undergo a painful operation to pin her ears back in another attempt to hide her real parentage. In 1950, when Lewis was fifteen, her mother made another film with Gable, Key to the City. During this time, Gable came to her mother's house to visit her briefly. Gable asked Lewis about her life and then, upon leaving, kissed her on her forehead. It was the only time that Lewis ever spoke to Gable, and at the time, she had no idea that he was her father.[6] As an adult, Lewis spoke of the confusion, isolation and alienation she felt within her own family while growing up.[3]

Career

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Lewis' acting credits include appearances on TV serials such as General Hospital, Kitty Foyle, and The Doctors.[citation needed] Lewis played the role of Susan Ames on The Secret Storm for several seasons.[3] She also produced the short-lived Another World spin-off, Texas, and was a script writer for NBC Daytime's Search for Tomorrow.[citation needed]

In 1958, Lewis guest-starred in "Attack", an episode of Mackenzie's Raiders. In 1960, she appeared in two episodes of the California National Productions ("California Studios")[7] syndicated series The Blue Angels entitled "Tiger Blood", as a girlfriend of a U.S. Navy officer,[8] and "Angel on Trial".[9] In the 1961–1962 television season, she appeared as Connie Masters in Outlaws. In 1975, she guest-starred on Three for the Road.[citation needed]

Lewis (second in the center) with Warner Jones, Don Gordon and Dennis Cross, 1961

In 1985, Lewis shared a Writers Guild of America award for several episodes of CBS's Search For Tomorrow.[citation needed]

Lewis obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in clinical psychology from Antioch University in Los Angeles, became a licensed family and child counselor in 1992, and worked as a psychotherapist with a specialty in foster care and marriage therapy.[3]

Personal life, death, and aftermath

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Lewis was the niece of actresses Polly Ann Young, Sally Blane, and Georgiana Young. She was also the paternal half-sister of John Clark Gable (Clark Gable's son with his fifth wife, Kay Williams) and the maternal half-sister of Christopher Lewis and Peter Lewis (Loretta's biological sons). Musician David Lindley was her maternal cousin.[10]

After Lewis became engaged to Joseph Tinney at age twenty-three, he told her it was common knowledge that Gable was her biological father. Lewis was stunned.[3] Lewis married Tinney in 1958. She and Tinney had one child together: a daughter named Maria. The couple divorced in 1972.[1]

After Gable's death, Lewis, at age 31, confronted her mother about the mystery behind her parentage.[3] Her mother said, "YES, you are my sin." Young became nauseated, but acknowledged that she and Gable were Lewis's biological parents.[3] In 1994, Lewis published a book about her life entitled Uncommon Knowledge in which she stated that Gable was her father; Young refused to speak with her for three years after the book was published. Loretta Young died on August 12, 2000, at age 87; her autobiography, published posthumously, confirmed that Gable was indeed Lewis's father.[3]

Lewis died of cancer at age 76 on November 25, 2011, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania[1] and is interred at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Philadelphia.[11]

In 2015, Linda Lewis, the wife of Loretta Young's son Christopher, publicly stated that Young had said at age 85 that Judy was conceived in an act of date rape:[4]

"Young loved to watch Larry King Live, which is most likely what prompted her to first ask her friend, frequent houseguest, and would-be biographer, Edward Funk, and then her daughter-in-law, Linda Lewis, to explain the term “date rape.” As Lewis recalled from her Jensen Beach, Florida, home this April, sitting next to her husband, Chris — Young's second born — and flanked by Young's Oscar and Golden Globe, it took tact to explain, in language that an 85-year-old could understand, what “date rape” meant. “I did the best I could to make her understand,” Lewis said. “You have to remember, this was a very proper lady.”

"When Lewis was finished describing the act, Young's response was a revelation: 'That's what happened between me and Clark.' "

The family remained silent about Young's claim until Young and Lewis were both deceased. According to Edward Funk, before learning of the concept of date rape, Young had believed it was a woman's job to fend off men's amorous advances. Thus, she had perceived her inability to thwart Gable's attack as a moral failing on her part.[4]

References

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Further reading

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from Grokipedia
Judy Lewis (born Judith Young; November 6, 1935 – November 25, 2011) was an American actress, writer, and clinical psychotherapist, best known as the out-of-wedlock daughter of actors and . Born during the filming of , in which her parents co-starred, Lewis's parentage was concealed by Young, who publicly presented her as an adopted child to avoid scandal amid her devout Catholic beliefs and Hollywood's moral codes of the era. Lewis did not learn the full truth until confronting her mother at age 31, though she had briefly met once at age 15 without disclosure of their relation; Gable, married at the time of her conception, never publicly acknowledged her and died in 1960 without providing support. Lewis pursued a career in during the 1960s and 1970s, appearing in television series such as The Blue Angels and working as a and , including contributions to Search for Tomorrow. Later, she transitioned to , earning degrees in and specializing in counseling troubled adolescents, a field she entered in the 1980s after leaving . In 1994, she published her Uncommon Knowledge, detailing her upbringing in Hollywood's glamour amid familial secrecy, which contributed to public revelation of her origins following Young's death in 2000. Lewis died of in , at age 76.

Origins and Concealment

Birth and Parental Affair

Judy Lewis was born on November 6, 1935, in , , as the biological daughter of actress and actor . Her conception resulted from a brief sexual encounter between Young, then 22 and unmarried, and Gable, 34 and married to Ria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham, during or shortly after the filming of the 1935 film . The encounter occurred amid the production's location shooting in Washington state, with some accounts specifying a private moment on a train returning from the set. Young, a devout Catholic concerned about her public image, concealed her through loose and limited public appearances, avoiding any formal acknowledgment of 's paternity. , known for extramarital affairs, did not publicly recognize Lewis as his daughter during his lifetime and died in 1960 without confirming the relationship. Accounts of the encounter's nature vary: early reports and Lewis's 1994 Uncommon Knowledge describe a consensual , while later revelations from Young's private writings, published in a 2014 , frame it as a non-consensual involving alcohol, akin to , to align with Young's moral stance against . Lewis herself disputed the rape narrative posthumously attributed to her mother, viewing it as a retroactive justification to preserve Young's reputation rather than historical fact. No DNA evidence has publicly confirmed paternity, but family admissions and physical resemblances—such as Lewis's prominent ears matching Gable's—supported the claim among contemporaries.

Initial Cover-Up and Adoption Narrative

Following the conception of Judy Lewis during the 1935 filming of , Loretta Young, a devout Catholic actress bound by Hollywood's strict moral codes and Gable's existing marriage, concealed her pregnancy to avert career-ending scandal. She reduced public appearances, placed her career on temporary hold, and gave birth secretly on November 6, 1935, in , . Immediately after birth, the infant was sequestered with a private nurse for several months to maintain secrecy. At approximately six to eight months old, Judy was transferred to a Roman Catholic orphanage in , where she remained for nearly a year, allowing Young to distance herself publicly from the child's origins. This arrangement obscured any direct maternal link, as Young avoided visits that might draw attention. In mid-1937, when Judy was about 19 months old, Young retrieved her from the and publicly announced the "" via gossip columnist , framing it as a benevolent act by the childless star. Newspapers reported the around June 11, 1937, portraying Judy as an orphaned infant rescued by Young, with no mention of biological ties. This narrative persisted officially, reinforced by Young's insistence on adoption papers that were legally invalid for her own child, shielding both parents from illegitimacy accusations amid era-specific taboos.

Upbringing

Childhood Under Secrecy

Judy Lewis was born on November 6, 1935, in a rented house in Venice, California, as the illegitimate daughter of actress and actor , conceived during the filming of . To avoid scandal that could derail Young's career amid the era's strict moral codes enforced by the Hays Office, her birth was concealed; Young, then unmarried and a devout Catholic, placed the infant in hideaways and orphanages, including St. Elizabeth’s Infants Hospital in , for the first 19 months of her life while traveling in to evade gossip. At approximately 19 months old, Young publicly announced the "adoption" of Judy through columnist , integrating her into the family as an adopted daughter while maintaining the fiction to shield the true parentage. Raised primarily in amid luxury provided by Young's Hollywood success, Lewis experienced enforced isolation as part of the secrecy; she was kept unaware of her biological father and subjected to measures like the surgical alteration of her prominent ears at age 7, prompted by childhood teasing that highlighted resemblances to —though the connection was not disclosed to her. Young, who married producer Tom Lewis in , ensured Judy bore his surname, further embedding the adoption narrative within the household. The secrecy extended to limited external interactions; Lewis encountered Gable once at age 15 during a visit arranged by Young, but was not informed of their relation, preserving the veil over her origins. This controlled environment, dictated by Young's fear of reputational damage and religious convictions against or open acknowledgment of the , fostered a childhood marked by unspoken tensions and the family's Catholic-influenced discretion, though Lewis later described no overt bitterness in her upbringing despite the deceptions.

Formative Influences and Education

Lewis was raised in Los Angeles by her mother, , who portrayed her publicly as an adopted child to obscure the circumstances of her birth from an extramarital affair with . This deliberate secrecy created a formative atmosphere of isolation and guarded family dynamics, with Young sequestering the infant Lewis for her first 19 months in various hideaways and orphanages before integrating her into the household around 1937. Young's strict adherence to Catholic doctrine further molded Lewis's early worldview, instilling values of piety, discipline, and moral rectitude amid the contrasting glamour of Hollywood's social circles, though direct paternal influence remained absent due to Gable's non-involvement. Her education began within this sheltered context, attending , a Catholic institution for girls in , where she navigated adolescence under the weight of unspoken family truths. By 1950, while still a student there, Lewis encountered briefly at home, an event that hinted at underlying tensions without resolving her identity questions. She graduated from Marymount in 1953, after which she pursued acting opportunities in New York, reflecting an initial draw toward her mother's profession despite the psychological strains of her concealed origins. These experiences, combining religious rigor with performative family pretense, later informed her career pivot to , though her undergraduate and graduate studies in at occurred in the 1980s, postdating her formative period.

Professional Pursuits

Acting Endeavors

Judy Lewis entered the acting profession in her early twenties after moving to New York City from Los Angeles, following her completion of high school and initial college studies. Her early efforts focused on television, where she secured guest roles in daytime serials, reflecting the competitive landscape for aspiring performers during the 1950s and 1960s. Among her television appearances, Lewis featured in episodes of General Hospital, a long-running soap opera, as well as Kitty Foyle and The Doctors. She also appeared in the Western anthology series The Outlaws across its 1960–1962 run. In film, she had a supporting role in the 1963 World War II comedy Operation Bikini, starring Tab Hunter and Frankie Avalon, and portrayed Lily Arnold in the 1964 drama Thunder in Dixie. Additional credits included a role as Lt. Ruth Grayson in an episode of Police Woman and parts in made-for-television movies such as A Circle of Children (1977) and Widow (1976). Lewis's acting work remained limited to supporting and episodic parts, primarily in genres like soap operas, Westerns, and low-budget features, amid an era when family connections—though hers were concealed—often influenced casting opportunities in Hollywood. By the late 1970s, her on-screen presence diminished as she transitioned toward other professional paths.

Shift to Writing, Production, and Therapy

Following her acting career, which included roles in soap operas such as from 1964 to 1971, Judy Lewis transitioned to behind-the-camera work in production and writing during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She served as a producer for the NBC soap opera , a short-lived spin-off of Another World that aired from August 4, 1980, to December 31, 1982, overseeing 617 episodes. Lewis also produced segments of other soaps, including and , contributing to the operational aspects of these programs amid the competitive landscape of network daytime drama. In parallel with production, Lewis engaged in scriptwriting for television, notably for the soap , where her contributions earned her a Writers Guild of America award in 1985. This phase marked a deliberate move away from performing toward creative and managerial roles in the industry she knew intimately from her upbringing. Concurrently, in her mid-40s, Lewis pursued formal education in , earning a followed by a master's degree in from in during the 1980s. She became a licensed family and child counselor in in 1992, establishing a practice as a psychotherapist focused on marriage and . Her therapeutic work emphasized support for foster children and pregnant teenagers, areas informed by her own experiences of concealed origins and familial secrecy, and she maintained this career for over 30 years until her health declined. Lewis's writing culminated in the 1994 memoir Uncommon Knowledge, published by , in which she recounted her life, the Hollywood cover-up of her parentage, and reflections on her mother's career and personal contradictions. The book drew on personal correspondence and family insights but avoided , prioritizing her psychological perspective on resilience amid .

Revelations and Conflicts

Personal Discovery of Paternity

Judy Lewis harbored suspicions about her parentage throughout her childhood and adolescence, prompted by physical resemblances to —particularly her prominent ears, which mirrored his—and persistent rumors among Hollywood insiders that she was his biological daughter rather than Loretta Young's adopted child. These whispers intensified after Lewis met Gable in 1950 at age 15, during a visit arranged by Young, where Gable displayed affection but never acknowledged paternity, Lewis later described as warm yet evasive. Despite confronting friends and family members about the rumors as early as her early 20s, Young consistently denied them, maintaining the narrative and attributing any similarities to coincidence. The pivotal moment came in 1966, when Lewis, then 31 years old, directly confronted her mother about Gable's paternity following Gable's death in 1960, which had removed any immediate risk of involving him. Young initially reacted with distress, reportedly vomiting and labeling Lewis a "walking ," but ultimately admitted the truth: Lewis was conceived from an affair between Young and Gable during the 1935 filming of , with Young concealing the pregnancy to protect their careers amid Hollywood's moral codes and her devout Catholic beliefs. This confession resolved Lewis's long-held doubts but came with Young's stipulation that the revelation remain private to avoid tarnishing reputations, a condition Lewis honored until after Young's death in 2000. In her 1994 memoir Uncommon Knowledge, Lewis detailed this confrontation and the emotional toll of the secrecy, noting how earlier indirect confirmations—such as her prospective husband Tom Lewis's 1958 questioning of Young—had fueled her resolve without providing full closure. The discovery marked a turning point, shifting Lewis's self-understanding from an adopted outsider to the unacknowledged offspring of two icons, though Gable's prior denials to intermediaries like Tom Lewis underscored his reluctance to claim her publicly. This personal revelation, occurring over three decades after her birth on November 6, 1935, highlighted the extent of the familial orchestrated to preserve Young's as a virtuous star.

Public Disclosures and Familial Disputes

In 1966, at the age of 31, Judy Lewis confronted her mother, , about persistent rumors regarding her parentage, prompting Young to admit that was her biological father while extracting a promise of lifelong secrecy to protect the family's public image. This admission, however, did not resolve underlying tensions, as Young continued to enforce the narrative publicly and privately discouraged Lewis from pursuing the truth further. Lewis maintained silence for nearly three decades, but in 1994, she published her memoir Uncommon Knowledge, which for the first time publicly detailed her biological origins from the 1935 affair between Young and during the filming of . The book also recounted Young's later private claims to family members that the conception resulted from Gable's coercive advances, described by some as , though Lewis emphasized her own lack of bitterness toward either parent. Gable, who died in 1960, had never acknowledged Lewis or provided support, consistent with his married status and Hollywood career priorities at the time. The memoir's release exacerbated familial rifts, leading to a permanent estrangement from Young, who refused public reconciliation or confirmation and accused Lewis of betrayal in private communications. Earlier attempts at mending ties, such as Lewis's outreach on 1986, failed amid Young's unfounded suspicions that Lewis was already planning a tell-all exposé. Young upheld the adoption story until her death on August 12, 2000, at age 87, leaving the dispute unresolved and highlighting the prioritization of personal reputation over familial candor. Lewis later reflected that the secrecy and rejection inflicted lasting emotional harm, though she focused her narrative on resilience rather than recrimination.

Later Years

Marriage, Family, and Private Life

Judy Lewis married advertising executive Joe Tinney on June 21, 1958. The couple had one daughter, Maria Tinney (later Maria Tinney Dagit), born during their marriage. They divorced on September 7, 1972. Following her divorce, Lewis entered a long-term partnership with actor and producer Steve Rowland, who survived her. She maintained close ties with her daughter and two grandsons. Lewis also had two half-brothers from her mother's marriage to producer Tom Lewis: Peter Lewis, a with the band , and Christopher Lewis, a . Lewis led a discreet private life, residing primarily in and later focusing on family amid her professional transitions, while avoiding public scrutiny tied to her parentage.

Illness, Death, and Immediate Aftermath

In the years leading up to her death, Judy Lewis battled , a form of cancer that ultimately proved fatal. She passed away on November 25, 2011, at the age of 76, while residing at Waverly Heights in , a of . Her daughter, Maria Tinney Dagit, confirmed the details of her death to major news outlets, highlighting Lewis's resilience amid her illness. Lewis was survived by Dagit, two grandsons, and three half-brothers, including John Clark Gable, son of from a later marriage. The announcement of her passing drew coverage in national media, often framing it in the context of her parentage and the long-concealed circumstances of her birth to and .

Enduring Legacy

Memoir's Role and Broader Impact

Uncommon Knowledge, Judy Lewis's 1994 autobiography, served as her primary vehicle for documenting and disseminating the long-concealed truth of her parentage as the biological child of and , conceived during their collaboration on the 1935 film . In the memoir, Lewis recounted learning of her origins at age 23 from her mother, who framed the pregnancy as resulting from Gable's to rationalize the subsequent cover-up, including Lewis's birth in secret and public presentation as an adopted child to preserve Young's image as a devout Catholic actress. The book detailed Lewis's ensuing psychological struggles, limited contact with Gable (a single meeting at age 15), and the facade of glamour masking familial dysfunction in mid-20th-century Hollywood. Publication amplified existing tensions, drawing vehement denials and estrangement from Young's inner circle, who viewed the disclosures as a betrayal of privacy and legacy, though Lewis positioned the work as therapeutic after decades of imposed silence. As a , it garnered praise for its raw insight into —contrasting Young's on-screen virtue with off-screen evasions—but faced criticism for perceived sensationalism amid unresolvable he-said-she-said elements of the affair's nature. Beyond personal vindication, the catalyzed broader scrutiny of Hollywood's moral double standards, spotlighting how studios and stars concealed scandals to uphold public personas, a pattern echoed in later exposés of era-specific indiscretions. It influenced subsequent media, including biographies and a 2017 documentary affirming the parentage via family admissions post-Young's 2000 death, thus reshaping historical narratives around Gable's philandering and Young's . Lewis's account underscored resilience amid elite deception, informing discussions on illegitimacy's stigma and the long-term costs of image management in entertainment.

Assessments of Hollywood Hypocrisy and Personal Resilience

Lewis's 1994 memoir Uncommon Knowledge illuminated the hypocrisy embedded in Hollywood's moral ecosystem of , where stars concealed personal indiscretions to sustain public images of propriety, often at great emotional cost to their offspring. Born in 1935 from an affair between and during the filming of , Lewis was publicly presented as an adopted child "found" on a European train, a fabrication orchestrated to shield Young's career as a symbol of Catholic and Gable's reputation amid his marriage. Young and Gable's refusal to acknowledge her parentage, Lewis argued, stemmed from industry pressures that would have derailed their stardom if revealed contemporaneously. This secrecy exemplified broader Hollywood double standards, punishing private truths while rewarding curated facades, with Young enforcing cosmetic changes on Lewis to obscure physical resemblances to Gable, such as prominent ears. The memoir's disclosures strained family ties—Young ceased communication with Lewis for three years—but underscored the causal disconnect between Hollywood's professed values and its pragmatic indulgences, as Gable faced negligible fallout compared to the lifelong evasion imposed on Young and, by extension, her daughter. Lewis portrayed her mother's actions not merely as protective but as rooted in denial, noting the alienation she felt as a child: "It was very difficult for me as a little girl not to be accepted or acknowledged by my mother." Such accounts, corroborated in posthumous biographies like Young's Forever Young (2000), revealed how institutional biases toward image preservation perpetuated familial deceptions, with media figures like columnist complicit in propagating the adoption narrative. Lewis exhibited notable resilience in navigating the precipitated by decades of obfuscation, which she only unraveled at age 31 through personal investigation and confrontation with Young in 1966. Transitioning from roles in the and television production, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in from in the , becoming a licensed counselor by 1992 and establishing a practice in focused on troubled teenagers, many from systems akin to her concealed origins. Her therapeutic work with adolescents grappling with abandonment mirrored her own trajectory, channeling inherited trauma into empathetic expertise without evident rancor, as evidenced by her memoir's measured tone and her maintenance of a stable marriage to Joe Tinney, with whom she raised a . This pivot from victimhood to vocation, culminating in her public reckoning despite familial repercussions, positioned Lewis as a counterpoint to the very hypocrisies she critiqued, transforming adversity into a foundation for healing others.

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