--- name: "Loretta Young" canonical: "https://film.one/person/loretta-young" roles: ["Actor"] born: "6 January 1913" died: "12 August 2000" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 72 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T01:34:19.236176+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Loretta Young Actor. Born 6 January 1913 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Died 12 August 2000. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 6 January 1913, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA - **Died:** 12 August 2000 - **Active:** 1934–1947 - **Also known as:** Gretchen Michaela Young, Gretchen Young, Лоретта Янг, Saint Loretta - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 1 nominated) - **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 70 (1), 1940s 74 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Young, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q253384, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949835/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/85848 ## Streaming the US now - **Pluto TV:** [*The Bishop's Wife*](https://film.one/film/the-bishops-wife.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Loretta Young > Loretta Young made a career out of being the well-behaved woman in the good frock, and did it with more control than her early critics credited. It is a small, careful talent; the one film of hers we have written up finds it stranded in a doorway. For eight years of television Loretta Young came through a door. The gown was different every week and the turn was the same, a swirl of skirt before she said a word, and the point was that you had looked at her before you had listened. She knew exactly what the entrance was for. "After the audience has seen me well groomed," she said, "I can wear horrible clothes and ugly makeup or even a false nose, without anyone wondering whether I've aged overnight." That is as clear a statement of a screen method as any actor has given: be beautiful first, and the rest is permitted. The method was formed early. Young was a child extra in 1917, played in silents as a teenager, and was a lead by the late 1920s, opposite Lon Chaney in *Laugh, Clown, Laugh* (1928). The 1930s were steady work at Warner Bros. and Fox, much of it in costume, and the parts were of a kind: refined, virtuous, a little fragile, with a spine somewhere underneath. Critics of the day mostly took her for a pretty blank. The reputation turned in the late 1940s, with *The Farmer's Daughter* (1947), in which she plays a Swedish maid who goes into politics and is convincing in the accent, and *The Bishop's Wife* (1947), a fantasy comedy with Cary Grant and David Niven in which she is the poised wife of the title. *The Stranger* (1946) put her in a thriller directed by Orson Welles; *Come to the Stable* (1949) put her in a nun's habit. She left features in 1953 and went straight to the door and the gowns. Our one film is the early kind. In *The House of Rothschild* (1934) she is Julie, Nathan's daughter, in love with Robert Young's Captain Fitzroy and forbidden him by her father's rules. The writing gives the pair nothing to do but look pained in doorways, and she looks pained in them with great poise, which is the problem. We watched those scenes waiting for her to want something badly enough to spoil the composure, and she never does, and we found we did not much mind whether she got him. George Arliss carries the film; the romance is what you sit through to get back to him. It is a small part and no fair measure of a career, but it shows the habit her sterner critics described: a reluctance to be anything other than sympathetic, which in a thin part leaves nothing at all. The case for Young rests on the late 1940s, which we have not yet written up and will not judge here beyond saying that a maid with a Swedish accent standing for office is the kind of part that asks something of an actress, and she is said to have answered. Start there rather than with the 1930s costume pictures, where she has less to do. And if you can find the television, watch the door. ## Biography Loretta Young was an American actor. Born Gretchen Michaela Young, she began her career as a child extra in films from 1917 and appeared in her first credited role at age 14 in *Naughty but Nice* (1927). She transitioned successfully to sound films and became a leading lady in Hollywood. Young is known for roles including Claire Blake in *Call of the Wild* (1935), Mary Longstreet in *The Stranger* (1946), Julia Brougham in *The Bishop's Wife* (1947) and Katrin Holstrom in *The Farmer's Daughter* (1947), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received a further nomination for *Come to the Stable* (1949). She retired from feature films in 1953. From 1953 to 1961 Young hosted the anthology series *The Loretta Young Show*, appearing in many episodes; the programme won three Emmy Awards. She later worked with Catholic charities. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, britannica.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Bishop's Wife* (1947), Fi1m 74, as Julia Brougham — [page](https://film.one/film/the-bishops-wife.md) - *The House of Rothschild* (1934), Fi1m 70, as Julie Rothschild — [page](https://film.one/film/the-house-of-rothschild.md) ## Complete filmography (110) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood* (2008), as Madeleine Walters West (archive footage) - *Lady in a Corner* (1989), as Grace Guthrie - *Christmas Eve* (1986), as Amanda Kingsley - *The New Loretta Young Show* (1962), series, as Christine Massey - *The Spark* (1961), as Lucy Masters - *Letter to Loretta* (1953), series, as Carol Brown, Barbara Devon, Laura Macklin, Catherine Harding, Ruth Baxter, Mabel MacAfee, Margaret Channing, Kim Collet, Judy Evans, Audrey Curtis, Sister Ann, Penelope Ashley, Miss Ryan, Martha, Gerda Freuling, Muriel Vail, Edie Royal, Janice Hite, Victor Conrad, Queen Nefertiti, Ellie Winters, All - *It Happens Every Thursday* (1953), as Jane MacAvoy - *Because of You* (1952), as Christine Carroll Kimberly - *Paula* (1952), as Paula Rogers - *Half Angel* (1951), as Nora Gilpin - *Cause for Alarm!* (1951), as Ellen Jones - *Key to the City* (1950), as Clarissa Standish - *Come to the Stable* (1949), as Sister Margaret - *Mother Is a Freshman* (1949), as Abigail Fortitude Abbott - *The Accused* (1949), as Dr. Wilma Tuttle - *Rachel and the Stranger* (1948), as Rachel - *The Bishop's Wife* (1947), as Julia Brougham — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-bishops-wife.md) - *The Farmer's Daughter* (1947), as Katrin Holstrom - *The Perfect Marriage* (1947), as Maggie Williams - *The Stranger* (1946), as Mary Longstreet - *Along Came Jones* (1945), as Cherry de Longpre - *And Now Tomorrow* (1944), as Emily Blair - *Ladies Courageous* (1944), as Roberta Harper - *China* (1943), as Carolyn Grant - *A Night to Remember* (1942), as Nancy Troy - *Bedtime Story* (1941), as Jane Drake - *Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2* (1941), Actor - *The Men in Her Life* (1941), as Lina Varasvina / Polly Varley - *The Lady from Cheyenne* (1941), as Annie Morgan - *He Stayed for Breakfast* (1940), as Marianna Duval - *The Doctor Takes a Wife* (1940), as June Cameron - *Eternally Yours* (1939), as Anita - *The Story of Alexander Graham Bell* (1939), as Mrs. Mabel Hubbard Bell - *Wife, Husband and Friend* (1939), as Doris Borland - *Kentucky* (1938), as Sally Goodwin - *Suez* (1938), as Countess Eugenie de Montijo - *Three Blind Mice* (1938), as Pamela Charters - *Four Men and a Prayer* (1938), as Lynn Cherrington - *Second Honeymoon* (1937), as Vicky - *Wife, Doctor and Nurse* (1937), as Ina Heath Lewis - *Love Under Fire* (1937), as Myra Cooper - *Café Metropole* (1937), as Laura Ridgeway - *Love Is News* (1937), as Tony Gateson - *Ladies in Love* (1936), as Susie Schmidt - *Ramona* (1936), as Ramona - *Private Number* (1936), as Ellen Neal - *The Unguarded Hour* (1936), as Lady Helen Dearden - *Hollywood Extra Girl* (1935), as Crusades Actor (uncredited) - *The Crusades* (1935), as Berengaria, Princess of Navarre - *Call of the Wild* (1935), as Claire Blake - *Shanghai* (1935), as Barbara Howard - *Clive of India* (1935), as Margaret Maskelyne - *Caravan* (1934), as Countess Wilma - *The White Parade* (1934), as June Arden - *Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back* (1934), as Lola Field - *Born to Be Bad* (1934), as Letty Strong - *The House of Rothschild* (1934), as Julie Rothschild — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/the-house-of-rothschild.md) - *Man's Castle* (1933), as Trina - *The Devil's in Love* (1933), as Margot Lesesne - *She Had to Say Yes* (1933), as Florence 'Flo' Denny - *Midnight Mary* (1933), as Mary - *Heroes for Sale* (1933), as Ruth Loring - *The Life of Jimmy Dolan* (1933), as Peggy - *Zoo in Budapest* (1933), as Eve - *Grand Slam* (1933), as Marcia Stanislavsky - *Employees' Entrance* (1933), as Madeleine Walters West - *They Call It Sin* (1932), as Marion Cullen - *Life Begins* (1932), as Grace Sutton - *Week-End Marriage* (1932), as Lola Davis Hayes - *Play Girl* (1932), as Buster 'Bus' Green Dennis - *The Hatchet Man* (1932), as Sun Toya San - *Taxi!* (1932), as Sue Riley Nolan - *Platinum Blonde* (1931), as Gallagher - *I Like Your Nerve* (1931), as Diane Forsythe - *The Ruling Voice* (1931), as Gloria Bannister - *How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'* (1931), Actor - *Big Business Girl* (1931), as Claire 'Mac' McIntyre - *Too Young to Marry* (1931), as Elaine Bumpstead - *Three Girls Lost* (1931), as Norene McMann - *The Stolen Jools* (1931), as Loretta Young - *Beau Ideal* (1931), as Isobel Brandon - *The Devil to Pay!* (1930), as Dorothy Hope - *The Right of Way* (1930), as Rosalie Evantural - *War Nurse* (1930), as Nurse (uncredited) - *The Truth About Youth* (1930), as Phyllis Ericson - *Kismet* (1930), as Marsinah - *Road to Paradise* (1930), as Margaret Waring / Mary Brennan - *The Second Floor Mystery* (1930), as Marion Ferguson - *Show Girl in Hollywood* (1930), as Loretta Young - *The Man from Blankley's* (1930), as Margery Seaton - *Loose Ankles* (1930), as Ann - *The Show of Shows* (1929), as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number - *The Forward Pass* (1929), as Patricia Carlyle - *The Careless Age* (1929), as Muriel - *Fast Life* (1929), as Patricia Mason Stratton - *The Girl in the Glass Cage* (1929), as Gladys Cosgrove - *The Squall* (1929), as Irma - *Seven Footprints to Satan* (1929), as One of Satan's Victims - *The Head Man* (1928), as Carol Watts - *The Magnificent Flirt* (1928), as Denise Laverne - *Laugh, Clown, Laugh* (1928), as Simonetta - *The Whip Woman* (1928), as The Girl - *Scarlet Seas* (1928), as Margaret Barbour - *Her Wild Oat* (1927), as Woman by Ping Pong Table (uncredited) - *Naughty But Nice* (1927), as (uncredited) - *The Sheik* (1921), as Arab Child (uncredited) - *White and Unmarried* (1921), as Child (uncredited) - *The Only Way* (1919), as Child on Operating Table - *Sirens of the Sea* (1917), as Child (as Gretchen Young) - *The Primrose Ring* (1917), as Fairy (uncredited) ## Gallery - ![A promotional shot of Loretta Young (1943)](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-d8c168aeb9b8.jpg) A promotional shot of Loretta Young (1943) — Studio Publicity, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/LORETTAYoung.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Loretta Youn publicity still (1940)](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-46f9d3baca3f.jpg) Loretta Youn publicity still (1940) — Unknown / Not disclosed, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Loretta_Young_PS.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Loretta Youn publicity still for Second Honeymoon (1937)](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-53f3e3bbc2fb.jpg) Loretta Youn publicity still for Second Honeymoon (1937) — Unknown / Not disclosed, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Loretta_Young_1937.jpg/1280px-Loretta_Young_1937.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![American actress Loretta Young (1943)](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-1d22af2b22d6.jpg) American actress Loretta Young (1943) — Whitey Schafer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Loretta_Young_by_A._L._Whitey_Schafer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Loretta Young](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-5518cc3959ce.jpg) Loretta Young — Image via TMDB - ![Loretta Young](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-655d4ddbfd8d.jpg) Loretta Young — Image via TMDB - ![Loretta Young](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-0823132ec0b2.jpg) Loretta Young — Image via TMDB - ![Loretta Young sits in a chair in what appears to be an office.](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-52ab10e93dc9.jpg) Loretta Young sits in a chair in what appears to be an office. — Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Loretta_Young_ca._1940-1.jpg/1280px-Loretta_Young_ca._1940-1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Loretta Young sits in a chair in what appears to be an office.](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-1134b65a1664.jpg) Loretta Young sits in a chair in what appears to be an office. — Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Loretta_Young_ca._1940-2.jpg/1280px-Loretta_Young_ca._1940-2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Loretta Young](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-cbe813953736.jpg) Loretta Young — Image via TMDB - ![Loretta Young](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-b8a48fb61a6d.jpg) Loretta Young — Image via TMDB - ![Loretta Young](https://film.one/media/person/1227351/gallery-eca94dc819c8.jpg) Loretta Young — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won, 1 nominated - 1950: Best Actress (nominated), for *Come to the Stable* - 1948: Best Actress (won), for *The Farmer's Daughter* ### Golden Globes — 1 won - 1987: Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film (won) ### Primetime Emmy Awards — 3 won - 1959: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (won), for *Letter to Loretta* - 1957: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (won), for *Letter to Loretta* - 1955: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (won), for *Letter to Loretta* ### Other awards — 2 won - Crystal Award 1988: Crystal Award (won) - Siena Medal 1950: Siena Medal (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/loretta-young