Sweet, sweeter, sweetest. No combination of terms better describes the screen persona of lovely Loretta Young.

When Gretchen Young was three years old her mother moved with her and her sisters to Hollywood, where she established a boarding house. Gretchen was appearing on screen as a child extra by the time she was four, joining her elder sisters, Polly Ann Young and Elizabeth Jane Young (later better known as Sally Blane), as child players. Gretchen later absented herself from the screen to attend convent school, but returned at age 14 with a bit appearance in the Colleen Moore vehicle Naughty But Nice. Gretchen Young became known as Loretta Young and let her blond hair revert to its natural brown. With her blue eyes, satin complexion and exquisite face, she succeeded in short order and graduated from bit player to ingénue, then to leading lady. However, she made headlines in 1930 when Grant Withers, who was previously married and nine years her senior, eloped to Yuma, Arizona, with the 17-year-old Loretta (they had both appeared in Warner Bros.' The Second Floor Mystery). The marriage was annulled in 1931, the same year in which the pair would again co-star on screen, in a film called, ironically enough, Too Young to Marry. Loretta has always shown an elegant sort of beauty in her films, many of which were rather pedestrian fare. Yet she could act if called upon, as witness her performance in The Farmer's Daughter or in Come to the Stable. She retired from films in 1953 and began a second, equally successful career as hostess of The Loretta Young Show, a half-hour drama anthology series which ran on NBC from September 1953 to September 1961, and which in its first season was called "A Letter to Loretta". In addition to hosting the series, she frequently starred in episodes. Although she is most remembered for her stunning gowns and swirling entrances, over the broadcast's eight-year run she also showed again that she could act. She won Emmy awards (for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series) in 1954, 1956 and 1958.
Clive of India (1935): $2,000/week

Mother of director Christopher Lewis. Miss Young's return to the screen following convent school came about rather fortuitously. A casting call was sent out by the producers of "Naughty But Nice" for Polly Ann Young. Answering the telephone, the young Gretchen replied that her sister was unavailable and wondered if she herself might substitute. And so she did. It was merely a bit part, but it led to a movie contract and eventual stardom for Loretta Young. Cast members in the 1939 film "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" included not only Loretta Young but, portraying her character's sisters, her real-life, actress sisters as well: Polly Ann Young and Sally Blane. Further, portraying the fourth on-screen sister was a fourth real-life sister, Georgiana Young, although the latter was not a professional actress. (Years later, Georgiana, whom Loretta dubbed "Georgie," would appear occasionally on Loretta's TV show.) In 1972, Miss Young sued NBC for violating her contract in allowing reruns of "The Loretta Young Show" to be shown, wherein audiences might have ridiculed her gowns and hairstyles, which were by then 10 or even 20 years out of date. The court awarded her more than a half-million dollars. Had an illegitimate daughter by Clark Gable. For years this was covered up in Hollywood, and was presented as an adoption. The daughter's resemblance to both parents is uncanny. Loretta Young's third husband was Academy Award winning clothing and costume designer, Jean Louis. He was well known for designing for the stars at Columbia Studios, Universal and in his own salon in Beverly Hills. His most famous creations included the strapless gown for Rita Hayworth in the film, "Gilda," as well as Marilyn Monroe's white sequined gown she wore to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy. Jean Louis married Loretta after the death of his first wife, Maggy, who was a personal friend of Loretta for over 50 years. Loretta Young died at the home of her sister Georgiana Montalban and Georgiana's husband, actor Ricardo Montalban, early morning Saturday 12 August. In her posthumously published autobiography, she admitted that her "adopted" daughter, Judy Lewis, was her biological daughter by Clark Gable. Sister of Polly Ann Young and Sally Blane, half-sister of Georgiana Young, sister-in-law of Norman Foster, half-sister-in-law of Ricardo Montalban, mother of Judy Lewis. Country singer Loretta Lynn was named after her. In 1976 there was talk of a comeback role for Loretta, as Mother Cabrini in a biography of the first American to attain sainthood to be directed by Martin Scorsese. The project unfortunately never materialised. Caused a buzz in 1999 when she appeared on the cover of 'Vanity Fair' looking a lot younger than her 86 years, "todays air brushing techniques can do wonders" was her explanation. She is the mother of singer/songwriter Peter Lewis, a former member of the infamous 1960s rock band Moby Grape. She chose her own middle name, "Michaela" at the time of her confirmation as a teen. She was raised as a Catholic, and some Catholics back then were able to choose the name or names of a saint or saints whom they most admired and add it onto their own. She simply liked the name Michaela. Apparently, her mother never actually gave her one at birth. Godmother of producer Michael Wayne