During this time, Loretta's youngest sister Georgie had decided to give the movies another try. She tested for a part at MGM with Mickey Rooney, and got it. Then the studio postponed the movie.
Meantime, the young Mexican actor who had fallen in love with Georgie's face up on the screen several years earlier had been dividing his time between the New York stage and making movies in Mexico.
Sister Sally's husband, director Norman Foster, went to Mexico in search of someone to play the part of a bullfighter in one of his films, and hired the young latin actor, whose name was Ricardo Montalban.
Sally was charmed by him, and thought Georgie might be too. When she suggested they meet, "My heart leaped," Ricardo recalls. "For me, this was it." After all, he'd carried that picture of his dream girl in his mind for so long.
Twenty-year-old Georgie evidently felt the same way, and two weeks later the couple eloped to Tijuana. After marrying at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Westwood some time later, the Montalbans would go on to have four children, and a rich, loving life together.
Despite the busyness of her life, Loretta had still not come to terms with being fired. "I'd heard of other stars losing their contracts because they wouldn't have abortions, and I wondered if it might be the end of me too." But God apparently had other plans.
Soon, Loretta signed to do The Stranger with Orson Welles and Edward G. Robinson. It was one of her best roles, and landed her on the cover of Life magazine. Obviously, her popularity had not waned.
Tom left the Armed Forces Radio Service, returned to New York and resumed his job with Young and Rubicam. Then, moved back to the west coast to be with the rest of the family.
Next: The Farmer's Daughter
Excerpts © copyright 2000 Joan Wester Anderson. All rights reserved.
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