1950s Scandal

The Judy Lewis Scandal

          Judy Lewis was born Judith Young. She is the secret biological daughter of actor Clark Gable and actress Loretta Young.

          She was the only biological child that Gable had while he was still alive but he had no relationship with her. Loretta Young conceived during their filming of  The Call of the Wild in 1935. She concealed her pregnancy to protect their film careers and to avoid scandal. Young went to Europe for several months and then returned to a small house in Venice, California with her mother. A Hollywood gossip columnist interviewed Young because she was claiming to be ill for weeks and needed rest. She gave the interview from her bed, covered in blankets to conceal her pregnancy.

          Young gave birth, and weeks later, the baby was put in an orphanage. Lewis would spend the next 19 months in various "hideaways and orphanages" until Young's mother retrieved the toddler. Later Young told Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons that she had "adopted" two children and several weeks later, told Parsons that she had to give one of the children back to its biological mother. She did this as a smokescreen to cover up the birth and to make her adoption story more believable.

          When Lewis was four years old, her mother married businessman Tom Lewis, and Judy went by his last name. Young went on to have two sons, Christopher Lewis and Peter Lewis, with Tom Lewis.

          Lewis looked strikingly like Gable as she grew older, including having ears that stuck out like his.  As Lewis grew up, several people in Hollywood, as well as the public, began to believe that Clark Gable was her biological father. When Judy was fifteen, 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 Judy ever spoke to Gable. Lewis had no idea he was her father. When Lewis met her future husband at the age of twenty-three, it was he who told her that Gable was her biological father and that "everyone" knew, which stunned Lewis. Lewis, at age 31, finally confronted her mother when Gable had been dead for five years. Loretta Young confirmed the truth. Lewis wrote a book about her life titled Uncommon Knowledge, because it seemed that she was the only one who did not know about her true parentage. Loretta Young's autobiography confirmed that Gable was indeed Lewis's father.  The family stayed silent about the claim until after both Loretta Young and her daughter, Judy Lewis had died.

          Judy Lewis appeared and produced several TV series. In 1985, she shared a Writers Guild of America award for several episodes of CBS's Search For Tomorrow. She obtained a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology and became a practicing Psychotherapist in Los Angeles.

Lewis was divorced with one daughter and two grandsons.

Clark Gable died of a stroke on November 16, 1960 at age 59

Loretta Young died of cancer on August 12, 2000 at age 87
Judy Lewis died of cancer on November 25, 2011 at age 76.