SHORT TAKES : Loretta Young Had a Hard Climb

NEW YORK — Loretta Young starred in dozens of films and won an Oscar for “The Farmer’s Daughter” in 1947. But success did not come easily, she recalled in a recent interview.

Her father abandoned her at the age of 3, but she was acting as an extra by age 4 and had her first starring role at 13.

She did not attend school past the age of 12, she told Parade magazine for its issue to be distributed Sunday.

“I hated school. One of the reasons was a learning disability, dyslexia, which no one understood at the time,” said Young, 76. “I still can’t spell because I see some of the letters backward.

“They had a tutor at the studio for me. Didn’t teach me anything, but I learned to be on time and to know my dialogue and to do what the director told me.”