Clark Gable’s Secret Daughter Dies

Judy Lewis, the secret daughter of Clark Gable and Loretta Young, has died. Lewis died Friday in the Philadelphia suburb of Gladwyne. She was 76. Lewis was conceived while Young was unwed and Gable was married to his second wife, Maria Langham. The two were filming “The Call of the Wild.” Their affair resulted in a secret pregnancy and a hush-hush birth. The actress left her love child at an orphanage for 19 months, returning only then to adopt her. Young kept her daughter in the dark about her family history. Judy was eventually raised by her mother and Young’s husband, Tom Lewis, whose last name she took. Lewis never did have a relationship with her biological father, although when she was 15 Gable visited her without telling her why. It took 31 years for her to learn the truth, which her mother told her privately but would not admit to publicly. Young eventually did admit that Lewis was her daughter with Gable in her authorized biography, “Forever Young,” published after her death in 2000. Lewis first followed an acting career, with roles in “General Hospital,” but left the theatrical world to become a therapist.