27-02-2025
Meet Utah's lone Oscar winner: Loretta Young
Ahead of Sunday's 97th Academy Awards, we dived into the Oscars' database to find out where past Best Actress and Best Actor winners were born.
Zoom in: Utah had one — Loretta Young, who won in 1948 for "The Farmer's Daughter."
What's inside: The movie is a political rom-com about a woman (Young) who leaves the family farm to attend nursing school in Washington, D.C.
A thief steals her money during the journey, forcing her to arrive penniless and in need of work — which she finds as a maid in the home of a congressman and his mother.
She becomes entangled in political intrigue, ends up running for office herself and falls in love.
Zoom out: Young went on to win three Primetime Emmys in the 1950s for her role in "The Loretta Young Show."
She also won a Golden Globe in 1987 for her role in "Christmas Eve," a made-for-TV movie.
Reality check: Young was born in Salt Lake City, but her mom moved her to Hollywood when she was a young child.
The intrigue: Young had a baby when she was in her early 20s; the father was Clark Gable.
Young later described the child's conception as date rape.
The big picture: Although Hollywood is the center of the film industry, just six of the 86 men who have won Best Actor and five of the 87 women who earned Best Actress were born in the Los Angeles area.
Go deeper: Where to watch 2025 Oscar-nominated movies
