Hollywood star's baby confession

Loretta Young with fellow star James Stewart

Oscar-winning actress Loretta Young has confessed in a posthumously published book that actor Clark Gable was the father of her 'adopted' daughter.

The revelation comes in an authorised biography of the star, Forever Young: The Life, Loves and Enduring Faith of a Hollywood Legend, written by Joan Wester Anderson.

Clark Gable had an affair with Young in 1935

The books goes on sale on Friday, three months after the actress died of ovarian cancer, aged 87.

Young, a devout Catholic, admitted to her biographer that she secretly gave birth to a daughter fathered out of wedlock by Gable.

As part of an elaborate ruse to keep the affair and baby a secret from the public and movie studios she sent the child to an orphanage and then adopted her a year later.

The confession confirms what Young's daughter Judy Lewis claimed in a biography of her mother in 1994 - that her father was indeed the Hollywood legend.

Although her affair with Gable was the stuff of gossip columns for many years in Hollywood, Young never publicly acknowledged the fling, even after the publication of her daughter's book.

'Bittersweet'

Young agreed to the confession after being persuaded by her biographer and had intended for the book to be published while she lived.

The biography lifts the lid on Young's affair

Judy Lewis, said she had mixed emotions about the new biography.

"It makes it rather bittersweet to know that mom has acknowledged me and my story," she said.

She added: "Unfortunately, she's not here for us to enjoy it together, and that's very sad."

Young is best known for her Academy Award-winning role in the 1947 film comedy The Farmer's Daughter.

She also had an extremely popular American TV series, The Loretta Young Show, which earned her three Emmy awards.

According to the book, her tryst with Gable occurred on a train ride after the two had finished shooting the 1935 film Call of the Wild.

Young was single while Gable was married to his second wife .

The actress fled to Europe while pregnant before returning to California to give birth.

The child was placed in a San Francisco orphanage when six months old, and then presented to the world as Young's adopted daughter 13 months later.

No legal adoption papers were ever filed, the book says.