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Judy Lewis

Uncommon Knowledge Hardcover – January 1, 1994

by Judy Lewis (Author)

4.6 178 ratings

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The daughter of Clark Gable and Loretta Young tells of growing up amid the wealth and glamour of Hollywood in its heyday, after being born illegitimate, sent to an orphanage, and reunited to her mother under the guise of adoption. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

Print length

430 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pocket Books
Publication date

January 1, 1994
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0671700197
ISBN-13

978-0671700195
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Born in 1935, Lewis was a mother herself when she learned what her friends and acquaintances already knew--that she was the offspring of a single mother and a married father. Her parents were Loretta Young and Clark Gable. Young, fearing that her daughter's birth would ruin two movie careers, staged an adoption to cover up what she regarded as her most grievous mortal sin. In this absorbing memoir Lewis writes without self-pity of her unfulfilled relationship with both parents; she met Gable only once, when she was 15; her account of that event is the book's most poignant scene, because she was unaware that he was her father. She is frank about her mother's "imperfections and sometimes difficult personality," a gentle way of characterizing Young, whom she shows to be humorless and narcissistic and whose career was second only to her Catholic faith in importance. When Lewis launched her own acting career on Broadway in the '50s soaps, her mother disapproved. Their increasingly strained relationship ruptured in 1966 when Young refused to attend her granddaughter's wedding. "It all came pouring out--all the years of hurt and abandonment, all the feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider in my own family." Mother and daughter remain estranged. This tell-all memoir is an affecting account of family failure and only incidentally about celebrities and Hollywood. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

For 23 years Judy Lewis lived as the adopted daughter of Loretta Young. Now in her mid-50s, she reveals that she is the natural child of Young and Clark Gable. Young and Gable became lovers in 1935 while costarring in Call of the Wild. Gable was married and Young divorced, though still in her early twenties. When Young and her mother told Gable that she was pregnant, he offered little help. To understand the bizarre nature of what ensued, one must know that Loretta Young's family had a history of drinking fathers who abandoned their families. The actress and her mother saw men as no good. Loretta, a childhood convert to Catholicism, viewed God himself as her absent father. Pregnant, she would have to live with her ``mortal sin''--abortion was no option. While filming The Crusades for Cecil B. De Mille, Young kept her fetus hidden under secret straps. Judy Lewis was born at home, just as the milkman arrived, and Loretta covered her mouth to silence her, apparently at her first breath, so that he wouldn't hear. Lewis, a therapist and family counselor, makes much of her early traumas with Loretta. Loretta wore a mask of virtue, would never play an immoral person on screen, and to this day will not publicly admit the truth about Gable. Highlights include Judy's long meeting with Gable when she was 15, not knowing he was her father; her fianc's telling her of her parentage, which all Hollywood seemed to know; Judy's big showdown in her mid-30s with a still evasive Loretta; and her confrontation with her own daughter about Gable. Loretta's posture of morality is placed in the context of her own abandonment as a child, her dread of censure by the Catholic Legion of Decency, and her fear of being blacklisted under the film industry's Hayes Code. Gripping throughout. (Photos not seen.) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pocket Books; First Ediition edition (January 1, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 430 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671700197
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671700195
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #337,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #33,827 in Biographies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 178 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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Carol

Celebrity cry

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2023

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Im a fan of the old movies and would rather just watch the movies than know about their personal lives. But on occassion I will read a biography or especially when they have been out awhile and are cheap on Amazon.

I have never figured out why these celebrities and their children think that what they have been thru is worthy of a book. True ppl buy them. I did! But I dont think they've a clue that most of us don't run to a therapist, have maids, house keepers or half the other drama they have nor the $$. At times we make our own misery.

At the very end Judy makes reference to how the Hollywood of today would have been accepting of an illegitimate child. Yes mayb so. But one theme that ran through this book is Loretta's career. It was about what Hollywood would have done to her career. How sad and pathetic lives were destroyed because she cared what ppl THOUGHT. Their selfish desires for attention and fame rules their lives and ultimately leads to personal destruction. The vainity of Hollywood still exsist today sad to say.

I was ok with the book til about 3/4 in. Then It was just whining.

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C. Chandler

LIFE IN THE HOME OF THE STEEL BUTTERFLY

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2009

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.....I bought this book because I wanted a greater insight into the lives of two of my favorite Hollywood Stars of the forties ...I got that and a lot more ...

.....When Judy finally confronts her mother and asks, "if you didn't want me and if you only saw me as a living reminder of your "mortal sin", then why didn't you allow me to be adopted by parents who would have wanted me and loved me so that I could have been raised in a normal home with both a father and a mother?" ...

.....I don't know if Freud could have answered that question but I'll take a shot ...Loretta's first husband called her a "steel butterfly", beautiful and delicate on the outside but hard as steel on the inside. Part of her inner strength was caused by the abandonment by her father when she was four and the abject poverty she and her siblings had to endure as a result. When she was six she was sent to live with Silent Screen Star Mae Clark for about a year. Loretta saw the opulence and wealth that came with being a Hollywood star and vowed that she would become one, not just an actress, but a "Star".

.....Her career was the central point in her life. She was not going to do anything that might jeopardize her position. When her affair with Clark Gable led to the unexpected and unwanted pregnancy she panicked and turned to her mother. A meeting with Gable was set up to formulate a plan of action. Being a devout Catholic abortion was not an option and Loretta, still in love with Gable, probably would have liked to work out a plan where they could eventually marry.

.....Gable however, had no desire to get married, his affair with co-star Joan Crawford also resulted in a pregnancy but Joan immediately had an abortion and Gable probably would have preferred that Loretta do the same. When he saw that was not going to happen he settled for secrecy and an adoption. He must have been surprised when Loretta decided to "adopt" their child herself but he was OK with it as long as it never came out that he was the father.

.....I'm sure that Loretta was disappointed that Clark would not marry her and when she set up an account for him to secretely contribute to Judy's support he ignored it, even though he was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, he made it clear that Loretta was on her own. Having been hardened by both the rejection of her father and her lover and saddled with the sole support of her child Loretta probably reasoned that by keeping Judy close to her she could guarantee that her secret would never come out even if she had to deny Judy an identity of her own to do it.

.....Ms Lewis had to contend with her mothers seeming indifference and coldness over the span of thirty years and so when she struck back, her mother got the brunt of her anger. She seemed more willing to give Gable a pass, more than he deserved in my opinion. Except for $400 dollars he gave to Loretta to, "buy the kid a decent bed" he made no effort to contribute to her support. When he came to visit her when she was 15, for reasons known only to himself, he cupped her face in his hands and said, "Good-bye Judy". Apparently he meant that literally because he never made any attempt to ever see her again.

.....When she graduated from High School, he did not acknowledge it. When she got married he did not attend her wedding, though invited, and did not even send a gift nor did he acknowledge the birth of his grand daughter. And the final rejection came when he died and Judy was left out of his will. All in all I would have to say that Mr. Gable acted like a cad. I can't blame Loretta for being bitter, it is too bad that she never experienced true happiness. I only hope that she and Judy had a reconcilliation before she died. Judy turned out to be quite a remarkable person under the circumstance. This is a good book and I highly recommend it.

30 people found this helpful

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M. Lockwood

A good read

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2013

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Loretta Young was not one of my favorite actors, but Clark Gable was. I am fascinated by the Golden Age of Hollywood and read as much about it as I can and watch as many movies from the earliest films to the early 60's as I can.

This true story about two huge stars was too much for me to resist.

I've seen Ms. Lewis' interview with Larry King and she seems to have been a very sincere and lovely woman. She also looks exactly like both her parents.

Honestly, it was a good read. I read it in two sittings during a snowy weekend and it kept my interest. I didn't give it 5 stars though, because it seems she was overly psycho analytic about her life and it became annoying at times. For example, she did endure a difficult relationship with a career woman mother, but most of us have issues with our parents. Although Hollywood types might push the rearing of their children to nannies and end up spending little time with their kids, parents who are struggling with finances are also often away from their children trying to make ends meet. Also, Ms Lewis thinks nothing of admitting that she left her daughter in the care of a nanny when she and her husband took a much needed vacation, but when her mother left her in the care of others it was traumatic. Examples like those became annoying since after all, very few of us escape our childhood unscathed. She begrudges that her mother discouraged her from marrying at 18. Frankly, if my daughter came home at 18 saying she was getting married I'd have a total fit and send her to a nunnery too. (Well, just kidding about the nunnery part, that was a bit extreme.)

Some of Ms Lewis' problems with her mother are common mother-daughter tensions. Ms Young faced public humiliation and ruin if her secret was discovered. I cannot blame Ms Young for hiding her pregnancy. It would have been very easy for her to abort her love-child since abortion was extremely common among stars and starlets of the time. So credit must be given to Ms Young for not only refusing to abort her child but figuring out a way to keep her. There were whispers and rumors about the circumstances surrounding her daughter's birth and adoption, and she kept on keeping on. So you have to give credit to the woman for that.

Not every parent is over joyed upon learning about a pregnancy even if they are married, so I think her parents can both be forgiven for initially not being overjoyed about the pregnancy.

It does become clear though, toward the end of the book, just how unsatisfying the relationship between mother and daughter was. Ms Young just refused to break down the walls she had built, even at the expense of finally having a real mother daughter relationship. That was heartbreaking to read. Ms Young seemed to have gotten odd as she got older. She seemed to be a victim of provincial thinking that held her back from ever having real joy. Gotta love religion and Catholic guilt, shame, and pretense.

The points Ms Lewis made about Ms Young's indifference about things, particularly her granddaughter's wedding and her reaction upon hearing of Clark Gable's death were telling, as was the hospital story with Irene Dunne. The point was very well made that this inner circle of successful Hollywood types had no real connection to humanity. They loved their fans and had a sense of duty to their fans, but had no real meaningful connections with the people in their lives that really mattered.

Ms Lewis makes her point crystal clear and you can't help but feel her regret, especially in being denied a relationship with her father. She seems to think that he did not care, but that was all she was allowed to feel, wasn't it? Gable didn't donate money into a bank account for her which made her feel abandoned, but why would he since Ms Young was so adamant that all ties between them be severed? For all we know he may always have given cash at Christmas or other times to buy nice gifts. It is known that he did want to see his daughter and did when he was allowed to. I finished the book believing that he was cut off from his daughter and sadly accepted her mother's decision to do it her way. It could not have been easy on him either.

A good read, and terrific photos. A personal and fascinating peek into the lives of some very significant stars of the Golden Age.

15 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Wingate

Not Joan Crawford,but not far off it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2019

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Its curious when people inflict mental and physical cruelty to another member of their family and put it down to religion.Young keeps on using the phrase "mortal sin" when surely what she perpertrated on her daughter was far worse.She comes out of this as a thoroughly detestable person and Clark Gable not much better off.The Catholic church clearly has to shoulder a lot of the blame for the way thye taught people to behave.Far less benign than shown in Hollywood movies.

rosemary

Uncommon knowledge.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

I have now finished reading this informative life of Judy Lewis. she certainly had a very difficult time growing up which lacked emotional support and unconditional love. Loretta young does not come across as a very caring or supportive parent indeed denying until almost the end of her life that Judy was really her daughter. It certainly left a deep emotional scar upon her daughter for the rest of her life.

2 people found this helpful

Margaret Marshall

A good read at a good price.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2019

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A good read at a good price.

Janet N.

It was worth reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2022

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