While it is no big deal for today’s starlets to give birth out of wedlock, Hollywood in the ‘30s was not quite as forgiving. Take for example the case of Loretta Young, Clark Gable, and their lovechild, Judy Lewis.

Loretta Young was fresh off an affair with Man’s Castle co-star Spencer Tracy when she signed on to film The Call of the Wild with Clark Gable. Maybe it was the wilderness setting of Mount Baker, Washington or maybe it was just Gable’s intrigue with Tracy, but Gable and Young’s immediate connection soon turned into a full fledge affair. Clark was still married to Rhea Langham, but continued to date Young even after the filming was over.
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The Barrymore Family seems to be blessed with a knack for acting and yet cursed with addictive personalities. Diana Barrymore was the daughter of famed Shakespearean actor John Barrymore and the poet Blanche Oelrichs Thomas, who went by the pseudonym of Michael Strange.

By the time she was a teenager, Diana was playing Ann in the touring company of Outward Bound. John called her “the best thing I’ve ever produced” yet the two weren’t very close, despite their shared interests in acting and Brandy Alexanders.
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It only seems fitting to start my blog with one of the saddest Hollywood stories of which you have probably never heard. I just happened upon Lou’s story when visiting Hollywood . My husband bought me a book (“This is Hollywood ” by Ken Schessler) which listed Lou’s tragic story on page 10.

Lou was born in Holland in 1881, where he started his career on the stages of Amsterdam . By 1909, he had become the toast of Paris . He and Sarah Bernhardt, reported to be his lover even though she was 37 years his senior, toured North America in 1910.

Part of Lou’s success was his handsome looks. That helped him star in 26 silent movies during the Twenties. But, fame can be fleeting and the Talkies ruined many a silent career. By the Thirties, Lou’s career was all but over.
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