Judy Lewis, who passed away at the age of 76 due to lymphoma, lived a life unaware of her connection to Hollywood royalty for over three decades.
She was at the heart of one of the most notable cases of concealing a pregnancy that eventually came to light.
Her parents, Loretta Young and Clark Gable, conceived her during the filming of the popular 1935 adaptation of Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
Young, a devoted Catholic, was reluctant to give up the child or reveal her affair with the already-married Gable.
Consequently, she secluded herself and placed Lewis in an orphanage upon her birth.
Nearly two years later, Young adopted her own daughter without ever disclosing her true lineage to her.
Despite efforts to keep her parentage a secret, speculations about Young's real identity persisted.
It is said that her mother would adorn her with a bonnet to conceal her ears, which bore a resemblance to Gable's prominent features.
It wasn't until Lewis turned 31 that she confronted her mother, leading to a confession from Young.
However, Young only publicly acknowledged the truth posthumously in her authorized biography, Forever Young, published after her demise.
Emerging from the shadows of her controversial beginnings, Lewis carved out a career as an actress, gracing both stage productions and daytime television shows like General Hospital, The Doctors, and The Secret Storm.
She also ventured into production with the spin-off Texas from Another World and contributed as a writer for NBC's Search For Tomorrow.
In her later years, Lewis transitioned into becoming a licensed family and child counselor, practicing psychotherapy in her hometown of Los Angeles before eventually settling in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
In 2009, she briefly returned to acting with a role in the direct-to-DVD movie Sarah's Choice, revisiting her passion for the performing arts.
The revelations about her true parentage, chronicled in her book Uncommon Knowledge in 1994, caused a temporary strain in her relationship with her mother, lasting three years.
However, by
