Hollywood Madonna (27 page)

Loretta and Celeste Holm as nuns paying a visit to artist Elsa Lanchester in
Come to the Stable
(1949). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Last Picture Show: Loretta and John Forsythe in
It Happens Every Thursday
(1953). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Tyrone Power and Loretta in
Suez
(1938). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Alan Ladd and Loretta in
China
(1943). Photofest.

Loretta and Gary Cooper in a western satire with serious overtones,
Along Came Jones
(1945). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Loretta on CBS’s
Lux Radio Theatre
. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The living room opening of NBC’s
The Loretta Young Show
. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Loretta authentically costumed in “I Remember the Rani” (
The Loretta Young Show
, 1 May 1955). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Loretta as a terminally ill wife and Joseph Cuby as the hitchhiker who persuades her to visit Lourdes in “The Road” (NBC, 20 September 1959). Photofest.

Trevor Howard (left), Arthur Hill, and Loretta in the Emmy-winning
Christmas Eve
(NBC, 22 December 1986). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Fredric March presenting Loretta with her Oscar, 28 March 1948. Photofest.

The 1956 Emmy-winning Youngs for best continuing performance as actress and actor in a dramatic series: Loretta for
The Loretta Young Show
and Robert for
Father Knows Best
. Photofest.

Loretta and best director Oscar-winner Warren Beatty for
Reds
(1981), 29 March 1982. Photofest.

CHAPTER 16
Thrice Blessed
A Reunion, a Replacement, and an Oscar

Loretta owed Paramount two more pictures, which turned out to be Hal Wallis productions. As production head at Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1944, with credits ranging from
Little Caesar
(1930) and
The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938) to
The Life of Emile Zola
(1937) and the forever fabulous
Casablanca
(1942), Wallis could have remained at the studio indefinitely. Instead, he chose to leave in 1944 after Jack Warner’s hubris brought their once amicable relationship to an end on Oscar night, 2 March 1944. When director Sidney Franklin opened the envelope and announced that the Academy’s choice of best picture was, not surprisingly,
Casablanca
,
Wallis immediately rose from his seat
to accept the award. It was he who monitored the transformation of an unproduced play into a classic film bearing a title that he personally gave it. But Warner, assuming that
Casablanca
was the studio’s film—and, therefore, his—beat him to the stage and accepted an Oscar for a movie to which he had contributed nothing.