Birthday Girl

How about some beauty and film nostalgia for a change of pace? As some classic film fans know (or as Turner Classic Movies will tell you), today is the 100th anniversary of Hollywood Golden Age film star Loretta Young's birth. An Academy Award and three-time Emmy Award winner, Young co-starred with the major actors of her day: Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Ronald Colman, Tyrone Power, Frederic March, and Orson Welles to name some. Watching her in her early films from the 1931-1936 time period, it's hard to believe that she was in her late teens and early 20s, holding her own with the stars mentioned above. Some would argue that Elizabeth Taylor had the most lovely eyes in Hollywood history, and if that's true, then Young's were a very close second. She also had an interesting personal story, with her romances with Tracy and Gable, the latter of which resulted in an out-of-wedlock daughter. Nonetheless, with talent, roles, and striking beauty, Young had the right combination.

(photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer)