William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901, inCadiz, Ohio, to William Henry "Will" Gable (1870–1948), an oil-well driller,[4][5] and his wife Adeline (née Hershelman). His father was a Protestant and his mother a Catholic. Gable was named William after his father, but he was almost always called Clark, and referred to as "the kid" by his father.[6]: 1 Gable was six months old when he was baptized at a Roman Catholic church inDennison, Ohio. When he was ten months old, his mother died.[4] His father refused to raise him in the Catholic faith, which provoked criticism from the Hershelman family. Gable and his father were active in theMethodist church where his father was a Sunday School teacher.[7] The dispute was resolved when his father agreed to allow him to spend time with his maternal uncle Charles Hershelman and his wife on their farm inVernon Township, Pennsylvania.[8] In April 1903, Gable's father married Jennie Dunlap (1874–1920).[9][10]
Gable's stepmother raised the tall, shy child with a loud voice to be well-dressed and well-groomed. She played the piano and gave him lessons at home.[11] He later took up brass musical instruments, becoming the only boy in the Hopedale Men's town band at age 13.[12] Gable was mechanically inclined and loved to repair cars with his father, who insisted that he engage in masculine activities such as hunting and hard physical work. Gable also loved literature; he would reciteShakespeare among trusted company, particularly thesonnets.[12]
His father had financial difficulties in 1917 and decided to try his hand at farming, and moved the family toPalmyra Township, nearAkron, Ohio. He insisted that Gable work the farm, but he soon left to work in Akron for theFirestone Tire and Rubber Company.[13]
Gable was inspired to become an actor after seeing the playThe Bird of Paradise at age 17, but he was unable to make a start in acting until he turned 21 and received his $300 inheritance (equivalent to $5,636 in 2024[14]) from a Hershelman trust.[15][10] After his stepmother died in 1920, his father moved toTulsa, Oklahoma, going back into the oil business. He worked with his father for some timewildcatting and sludge removing in the oil fields of Oklahoma before traveling to the Pacific Northwest.[6]: 15–16
Gable toured in second-class stock companies, finding work withtraveling tent shows, lumber mills, and other odd jobs. He made his way across the Midwest toPortland, Oregon, where he worked as a necktie salesman in theMeier & Frank department store.[16] Also working there was local stage actorEarle Larimore (the nephew ofLaura Hope Crews, who portrayed Aunt Pittypat alongside Gable inGone with the Wind), who encouraged Gable to return to acting.[15] Though Larimore didn't invite him to join his theater group The Red Lantern Players, he did introduce Gable to one of its members, Franz Dorfler, and they started dating.[6]: 18 After the couple's audition for The Astoria Players, Gable's lack of training was evident, but the theater group accepted him after cajoling from Larimore. Gable and Dorfler moved toAstoria, Oregon, touring with the group until its bankruptcy, and then moved back to Portland where Gable obtained a day job with Pacific Telephone and started receiving dramatic lessons in the evening.[6]: 19–21 [4]: 31–40
Gable's acting coach,Josephine Dillon, was a theater manager in Portland. She paid to have his teeth fixed and his hair styled. She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body, and taught him better body control and posture. He slowly managed to lower his naturally high-pitched voice, his speech habits improved, and his facial expressions became more natural and convincing. After a long period of her training, Dillon considered Gable ready to attempt a film career.[6]: 24
In 1928'sMachinal withZita Johann, Gable was lauded as "young, vigorous, and brutally masculine" by one critic.
Gable and Dillon traveled toHollywood in 1924. Dillon became his manager and also his wife; she was 17 years his senior.[17] He changed his stage name from W. C. Gable to Clark Gable[6]: 29 and appeared as anextra in such silent films asErich von Stroheim'sThe Merry Widow (1925),The Plastic Age (1925) starringClara Bow, andForbidden Paradise (1924) starringPola Negri. He appeared in a series of two-reel comedies calledThe Pacemakers and in Fox'sThe Johnstown Flood (1926). He also appeared as a bit player in a series of shorts.[18] However, he was not offered any major film roles, so he returned to the stage inWhat Price Glory? (1925).[19]
He became lifelong friends withLionel Barrymore, who initially scolded Gable for what he deemed amateurish acting but nevertheless urged him to pursue a stage career.[6]: 36 [20] During the 1927–28 theater season, he acted with the Laskin Brothers Stock Company inHouston, Texas; while there, he played many roles, gained considerable experience, and became a local matinee idol.[21] He then moved to New York City, where Dillon sought work for him on Broadway. He received good reviews inMachinal (1928), with one critic describing him as "young, vigorous, and brutally masculine".[6]: 49
Gable and Dillon separated, filing for divorce in March 1929, while he began working on the playHawk Island in New York, which ran for 24 performances.[4]: 56–57 In April 1930, Gable's divorce became final, and a few days later he married Texassocialite Maria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham, nicknamed "Ria". After moving to California, they were married again in 1931, possibly due to differences in state legal requirements.
In 1930, after his impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the Los Angeles stage production ofThe Last Mile, Gable was offered a contract withPathé Pictures. His only film for them and first role in asound picture was as the unshavenvillain in their low-budgetWilliam Boydwestern,The Painted Desert (1931). The studio experienced financial problems after the film's delayed release, so Gable left for work atWarner Bros.[4]: 58–66
The same year inNight Nurse, Gable played a villainous chauffeur who knockedBarbara Stanwyck's character unconscious for trying to save two children whom he was methodically starving to death. The supporting role was originally slated forJames Cagney until the release ofThe Public Enemy catapulted him to star status. "His ears are too big and he looks like an ape", said Warner Bros. executiveDarryl F. Zanuck about Gable, after testing him for the second male lead in the studio's gangster dramaLittle Caesar (1931).[22] After his failed screen test for Zanuck, Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM'sIrving Thalberg for $650 per week (equivalent to approximately $13,439 in 2024[14]).[4]: 64 He hired the well-connected Minna Wallis, a sister of producerHal Wallis, as his agent, whose clients included actressesClaudette Colbert, Myrna Loy andNorma Shearer.[23]
Gable's 1932 supporting role inHell Divers was almost as important asWallace Beery's, and he received second billing above the title for the aviation film'slobby card.
Gable's arrival in Hollywood occurred when MGM was looking to expand its stable of male stars, and he fit the bill. He made two pictures in 1931 withWallace Beery. In the first, he had a seventh-billed support role inThe Secret Six, although his role was much larger than the billing would indicate. Then he achieved second billing in a part almost as large as the film's star Beery in the naval aviation filmHell Divers. MGM's publicity managerHoward Strickling started developing Gable's studio image withScreenland magazine playing up his "lumberjack-in-evening-clothes" persona.[24]
To increasing popularity, MGM frequently paired him with well-established female stars.Joan Crawford asked for him to appear with her inDance, Fools, Dance (1931). The electricity of the pair was recognized by studio executiveLouis B. Mayer, who would not only put them in seven more films but also began reshootingComplete Surrender, replacingJohn Mack Brown as Crawford's leading man and retitling the filmLaughing Sinners (1931).[25] His fame and public visibility afterA Free Soul (1931), in which he played a gangster who shoved the character played by Norma Shearer, ensured that Gable never played a supporting role again. He received extensivefan mail as a result of his performance; the studio took notice.[26]The Hollywood Reporter wrote "A star in the making has been made, one that, to our reckoning, will outdraw every other star ... Never have we seen audiences work themselves into such enthusiasm as when Clark Gable walks on the screen."[6]: 80
Gable co-starred inSusan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) withGreta Garbo, and inPossessed (1931), a film about an illicit romantic affair, with Joan Crawford (who was then married toDouglas Fairbanks Jr.).Adela Rogers St. Johns later dubbed Gable and Crawford's real-life relationship as "the affair that nearly burned Hollywood down".[6]: 82 Louis B. Mayer threatened to terminate both their contracts, and for a while, they kept apart when Gable shifted his attentions toMarion Davies as he costarred with her inPolly of the Circus (1932).[27] Gable was considered for the role ofTarzan inTarzan the Ape Man, but lost out toJohnny Weissmuller's more imposing physique and superior swimming prowess.[28] Gable then starred as the romantic lead inStrange Interlude (1932), again teaming with Shearer, the second of three films they would make together for MGM.
Gable with Jean Harlow inRed Dust (left) andHold Your Man (right)
Next, Gable starred withJean Harlow in the romantic comedy-dramaRed Dust (1932) set on a rubber plantation inIndochina. Gable portrayed a plantation manager involved with Harlow's wisecracking prostitute; however, upon her arrival, Gable's character started to pursue Mary Astor's prim, classy newlywed.[29]: 134 While some critics thought Harlow stole the show,[30][31] many agreed that Gable was a natural screen partner.[31]
Gable's "unshaven love-making" withbraless Jean Harlow inRed Dust made him MGM's most important romantic leading man.[32] With Gable established as a star, MGM positioned him in the same manner as Harlow for Myrna Loy, a previously lesser billed actor inNight Flight, moving Loy to a costar role inMen in White, a movie filmed in 1933, though delayed in release due topre-CodeLegion of Decency cuts until 1934.[33] The relationship of a doctor (Gable) and nurse (Elizabeth Allan) implied intimacy with a resulting complication of pregnancy, a sensitive issue and new image for Gable.
Gable and Harlow were then teamed inHold Your Man (1933),China Seas (1935), in which the pair were billed above Wallace Beery, andWife vs. Secretary (1936) with Myrna Loy costarring and supported by newcomerJames Stewart. A popular combination on-screen and off, Gable and Harlow made six films together in five years. Their final film together wasSaratoga (1937), a bigger hit than their previous collaborations. Harlow died during its production. The film was ninety percent completed, and the remaining scenes were filmed with long shots or the use of doubles likeMary Dees; Gable said he felt as if he were "in the arms of a ghost".[6]: 179
WhenMGM headLouis B. Mayer decided that Gable was getting difficult and ungrateful, he loaned Gable out to the lower-rankColumbia studio, for one filmIt Happened One Night, to teach Gable a lesson, but Columbia wanted him and had paid handsomely for it.[34] The result was that Gable won theAcademy Award for Best Actor for his 1934 performance in the film. "Critics praised the fast-paced farce that would enter in a whole new romantic genre: the screwball comedy."[35] Gable's career was revitalized by his whimsical, good-natured performance[29]: 223 and to the directorFrank Capra, Gable's character in the film closely resembled his real personality. Gable returned to MGM a bigger star than ever.[36][37] From 1934 until 1942, when World War II interrupted his movie career, he was near the top of the box office money-makers lists.[29]: 223
Gable's first movie role back at MGM was to portray reluctant leader of mutineersFletcher Christian, an "Englishman in knickers and a three-cornered hat", one he had to be talked into by friend and producerIrving Thalberg, and of which Gable said "I stink in it" after filming.[38]Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) was a critical and commercial success, receiving eightAcademy Award nominations. There were threeBest Actor nominations for stars Gable,Charles Laughton andFranchot Tone,[39] and the film wonBest Picture, the second of three films in which Gable played a leading role to do so. The film cost $2 million and grossed $4.5 million, making it one of the top moneymakers that decade.[40] It used life-size replicas of theBounty andPandora, and was partly filmed inCatalina andFrench Polynesia.[41]
1936–1939: Tracy collaborations andGone with the Wind
Gable made three pictures withSpencer Tracy, which boosted Tracy's career and permanently cemented them in the public mind as a team.San Francisco (1936), withJeanette MacDonald, featured Tracy for only 17 minutes in anOscar-nominated portrayal of a Catholic priest who knocks Gable down in a boxing ring.[42][43] The film was a box office hit and remains the third-highest-grossing film of Gable's career. Their next film together was the Academy Award–nominated box office successTest Pilot (1938), with Myrna Loy, who made seven pictures with Gable. He plays Jim Lane, the test pilot of the title; Tracy is hissidekick mechanic, Gunner Morse.[44]
For their final film, 1940'sBoom Town, Tracy would play a larger role, with billing directly under Gable and above Claudette Colbert andHedy Lamarr. The picture, a lavish epic about two oil wildcatters who become partners then rivals, was a box office success, earning $5 million.[45] Gable and Tracy were off-screen friends; Tracy was one of the few Hollywood industry luminaries who attended Lombard's private funeral.[46] AfterBoom Town no more Gable-Tracy partnerships were possible; Tracy's success led to a new contract and both stars had conflicting stipulations requiring top billing in MGM movie credits and on promotional posters.[29]: 224
Despite his reluctance to play the role, Gable is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in the Academy Award-winning best pictureGone with the Wind (1939).Carole Lombard may have been the first to suggest that he playRhett Butler (and she playScarlett) when she bought him a copy of the best-seller, which he refused to read.[6]: 164 His total salary was $117,917 for the film ($2,665,545 in 2024[14]).[47]
Butler's last line inGone with the Wind, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", is one of the most famous lines in movie history.[48] Gable was an almost immediate favorite for the role of Rhett with both the public and producerDavid O. Selznick. Since Selznick had no male stars under long-term contract, he needed to negotiate with another studio to borrow an actor.Gary Cooper was Selznick's first choice.[49] When Cooper turned down the role of Butler, he was quoted as saying, "Gone With the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his nose, not me."[50] By then, Selznick had become determined to hire Gable, and set about finding a way to borrow him from MGM. Gable was wary of potentially disappointing an audience that had decided that no one else could play the part. He later conceded, "I think I know now how a fly must react after being caught in a spider's web."[6]: 189
Gable as Rhett Butler
According to Lennie Bluett, an extra in the film, Gable almost walked off the set when he discovered the studio facilities were segregated and signage posted "White" and "Colored".[51] Gable phoned the film's directorVictor Fleming and told him, "If you don't get those signs down, you won't get your Rhett Butler." The signs were then taken down.[52] Gable tried to boycott theGone with the Wind premiere in segregatedAtlanta, because African American actorsHattie McDaniel andButterfly McQueen were not permitted to attend. He reportedly only went after McDaniel pleaded with him to go.[53] They appeared in several more films, remaining life-long friends and he always attended her Hollywood parties.[54]
Gable did not want to shed tears for the scene after Rhett inadvertently causes Scarlett to miscarry their second child.[55]Olivia de Havilland made him cry, later commenting, "Oh, he would not do it. He would not! Victor (Fleming) tried everything with him. He tried to attack him on a professional level. We had done it without him weeping several times and then we had one last try. I said, 'You can do it, I know you can do it, and you will be wonderful...' Well, by heaven, just before the cameras rolled, you could see the tears come up at his eyes and he played the scene unforgettably well. He put his whole heart into it."[56] The role was one of Gable's most layered performances and partially based on the personality of director and friend Fleming.[57] Years later, Gable said that whenever his career would start to fade, a re-release ofGone with the Wind would soon revive his popularity, and he continued as a top leading actor for the rest of his life. One reissue publicized "Clark Gable never tires of holding Vivien Leigh".[58]
Between his marriage to Lombard and her death, Gable again costarred with Norma Shearer in the World War II romantic intrigue film,Idiot's Delight (1939). He plays a nightclub singer that doesn't recognize former love (Shearer) while Nazis are closing in on guests at a hotel on the brink of war. The film is memorable for Gable's song and dance routine, "Puttin' on the Ritz" and an alternative ending.[59]
Gable also starred inStrange Cargo (1940), a romantic drama withJoan Crawford, costarringPeter Lorre andIan Hunter.[29]: 134 [60] The film's focus is on Gable andFrench Devil's Islands convicts in an escape from the penal colony, who on the way pick up a local entertainer (Crawford) whom Gable had met earlier in the movie.[61] In their eighth and last film together, Gable and Crawford "again demonstrated their on-screen magic" and the film was among the top ten grossing films for the year.[61]
Gable then made his first film with 20-year old Lana Turner, a newcomer whom MGM saw as a successor for both Crawford and the now-deceased Jean Harlow.[29]: 545 Honky Tonk (1941) is a western where Gable's con-man/gambler character romances Turner, a prim, young judge's daughter.[62],[29]: 545 Gable had been reluctant to act opposite the younger Turner in the required romantic scenes. But their chemistry served them well in this and three later films, withHonky Tonk finishing third at the box office that year.[63]
Since the couple had been popular with the public, Gable and Turner were quickly paired again inSomewhere I'll Find You (1941) as war correspondents who travel to the Pacific theatre and get caught up in a Japanese attack.[29]: 224 The movie was another hit finishing No. 8 at the box office for 1942.[64] Film historian David Thomson wrote the quality of his movies afterGone With the Wind "hardly befitted a national idol" and began a career decline for Gable.[65][66]
On August 12, 1942, following Lombard's death and his completion of the filmSomewhere I'll Find You, Gable joined theUnited States Army, under theArmy Air Forces.[67] Lombard had suggested that Gable enlist as part of the war effort, but MGM was reluctant to let him go. Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air ForcesHenry H. "Hap" Arnold offered Gable a "special assignment" with theFirst Motion Picture Unit following basic training.[68]The Washington Star reported that Gable took a physical examination atBolling Field on June 19, preliminary to joining the service.
"Mr. Gable, it was learned from a source outside the war department, conferred with Lieutenant General H. H. Arnold, head of the air forces yesterday."The Star continued, "It was understood that Mr. Gable, if he is commissioned, will make movies for the air forces. LieutenantJimmy Stewart, another actor in uniform, has been doing this."[69]
Gable had expressed an earlier interest inofficer candidate school, with the intention of becoming an aerial gunner upon enlisting inbomber training school. MGM arranged for his studio friend, thecinematographer Andrew McIntyre, to enlist with him and accompany him through training.[70]
On August 17, 1942, shortly after his enlistment, he and McIntyre were sent toMiami Beach, Florida, where they entered USAAF OCS Class 42-E. Both completed training on October 28, 1942, and were commissioned assecond lieutenants. His class of about 2,600 students (of which he ranked about 700th) selected Gable as its graduation speaker. General Arnold presented the cadets with their commissions. Arnold then informed Gable of his special assignment: to make a recruiting film in combat with theEighth Air Force to recruit aerial gunners. Gable and McIntyre were immediately sent to Flexible Gunnery School atTyndall Field, Florida,[71] followed by a photography course atFort George Wright,Washington State and promoted tofirst lieutenants upon its completion.[70]
On January 27, 1943, Gable reported toBiggs Army Airfield, Texas to train with and accompany the351st Bomb Group to England as head of a six-man motion picture unit. In addition to McIntyre, he recruited the screenwriterJohn Lee Mahin, camera operators Sgts. Mario Toti and Robert Boles, and the sound man Lt. Howard Voss, to complete his crew. Gable was promoted tocaptain while he was with the 351st Bomb Group atPueblo Army Air Base, Colorado, a rank commensurate with his position as a unit commander. (Prior to this, he and McIntyre were both first lieutenants.)[70]
Gable spent most of 1943 in England atRAF Polebrook with the 351st Bomb Group. Gable flew five combat missions, including one to Germany, as an observer-gunner inB-17 Flying Fortresses between May 4 and September 23, 1943, earning theAir Medal and theDistinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.[72] During one of the missions, Gable's aircraft was damaged by flak and attacked by fighters, which knocked out one of the engines and shot up the stabilizer. In the raid on Germany, one crewman was killed and two others were wounded, and flak went through Gable's boot and narrowly missed his head. When word of this reached MGM, studio executives began to badger the Army Air Forces to reassign its most valuable screen actor to noncombat duty. Many of the men he served with, such as former Tech. Sgt. Ralph Cowley, said Gable actually unofficially joined other missions and the above five were only a fraction of the total.[73]Adolf Hitler favored Gable above all other actors. During World War II, Hitler offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and bring Gable to him unscathed.[6]: 268
In November 1943, Gable returned to the United States to edit his film, on an oldWarner's lot donated to the war effort, assigned to the18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit) atCulver City, California, where other stars contributed with any film equipment they had as well.[74] In June 1944, Gable was promoted tomajor. While he hoped for another combat assignment, he had been placed on inactive duty and on June 12, 1944, his discharge papers were signed byCaptain (later U.S. president)Ronald Reagan.[75] Gable completed editing of the filmCombat America in September 1944, giving the narration himself and making use of numerous interviews with enlisted gunners as focus of the film.[70]
Immediately after his discharge from the service, Gable returned to his ranch and rested. Personally, he resumed a pre-war relationship withVirginia Grey,[77] a co-star fromTest Pilot andIdiot's Delight, that newspapers reported might be the next Mrs. Gable.[78] Professionally, Gable's first movie after World War II wasAdventure (1946), withGreer Garson, by then the leading female star at MGM. Given the famous teaser tagline "Gable's back, and Garson's got him", the film was a commercial hit, earning over $6 million, but a critical failure.[79]
Turner and Gable inHomecoming (1948)
Gable was acclaimed for his performance inThe Hucksters (1947), a satire of post-war Madison Avenue corruption and immorality, which co-starredDeborah Kerr andAva Gardner. The film was popular with audiences, placing 11th at the box office,[80] but bothVariety andThe New York Times reviewed it as a sanitized version of the novel with script issues, that was heavy on Gable screentime, who struggled in the role.[81][82] Gable followed this up withHomecoming (1948), where he played a married doctor enlisting in World War II and meeting Lana Turner's army surgical nurse character with a romance unfolding in flashbacks.[83] After that he made the war filmCommand Decision (1948), a psychological drama withWalter Pidgeon,Van Johnson,Brian Donlevy, andJohn Hodiak. It was a hit with audiences, but it lost MGM money due to the high cost of the all-star cast.[79][83]Variety said, "[Gable's] is a believable delivery, interpreting the brigadier-general who must send his men out to almost certain death with an understanding that bespeaks his sympathy with the soldier... ".[84]
Mogambo (1953), directed byJohn Ford, was a somewhat sanitized and more action-oriented remake of Gable's hitpre-Code filmRed Dust, with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor. Ava Gardner, in her third and final pairing with Gable, was well received in Harlow's leading lady role, as was Kelly in Astor's role, with both receiving Academy Award nominations, Gardner for Lead Actress and Kelly for Supporting Actress.[90] While on location in Africa, reports of an affair between Gable and Kelly began to surface (the result of private dinners the stars were having), but their relationship was an intense friendship according to costar Gardner,[91] with Kelly herself later commenting on the lack of any sexual aspect, "maybe because of the age difference".[92][93] The publicity only helped ticket sales as the film finished No. 7 at the box office, grossing 8.2 million for the year, easily his most popular hit since he returned to MGM after the war.[94][95]
Despite the positive critical and public response toMogambo, Gable became increasingly unhappy with what he considered mediocre roles offered by MGM, while the studio regarded his salary as excessive. Studio headLouis B. Mayer was fired in 1951, amid slumping revenue and increased Hollywood production costs, due in large part to the rising popularity of television.[96] The new studio head, former production chiefDore Schary, struggled to maintain profits for the studio. Many long-time MGM stars were fired, or their contracts were not renewed, including Greer Garson andJudy Garland.[97][98] Gable refused to renew his contract.[99] His last film at MGM wasBetrayed (1954), an espionage wartime drama with Turner andVictor Mature. Critic Paul Mavis wrote, "Gable and Turner just don't click the way they should here...poor plots and lines never stopped these two pros from turning in good performances in other films."[100] In March 1954, Gable left MGM.[101]
His next two films were made for20th Century Fox:Soldier of Fortune, an adventure story in Hong Kong withSusan Hayward, andThe Tall Men (1955), a Western withJane Russell andRobert Ryan. Both were profitable, although only modest successes, earning Gable his first profit sharing royalties.[102] In 1955, Gable would be 10th at the box office – the last time he was in the top ten.[103] That same year, Gable married fifth wifeKay Spreckels (née Kathleen Williams). A former fashionmodel and actress, she had previously been married three times: first to Charles Capps (1937–39), then to Argentinian cattle tycoonMartín de Alzaga (1942–43), and tosugar-refining heir Adolph B. Spreckels Jr. (1945–52). Gable became stepfather to her sonBunker Spreckels, who went on to live a notorious celebrity lifestyle in the late 1960s and early 1970ssurfing scene, ultimately leading to his early death in 1977.[104]
Gable also formed Russ-Field-Gabco in 1955, a production company with Jane Russell and her husbandBob Waterfield, and they producedThe King and Four Queens (1956), a film Gable thought would also star Russell to capitalize onThe Tall Men's moderate success. That role instead went toJo Van Fleet.[105] It was Gable's only time as producer.[106] He found producing and acting to be too much work and thisRaoul Walsh western was the only film made.[102] After turning down the lead role in Universal-International'sAway All Boats,[107] his next project was theWarner Bros. productionBand of Angels (1957), co-starringYvonne De Carlo and featuring relative newcomerSidney Poitier; it was not well received, despite Gable's role's similarities to Rhett Butler.Newsweek said, "Here is a movie so bad that it must be seen to be disbelieved."[6]: 351
Next, he paired withDoris Day inTeacher's Pet (1958), shot in black and white at Paramount. He didRun Silent, Run Deep (also 1958), with co-star and producerBurt Lancaster, which featured his first on-screen death since 1937, and which garnered good reviews. Gable started to receive television offers, but rejected them outright. At 57, Gable finally acknowledged, "Now it's time I acted my age".[6]: 361 His contracts began including a clause that his filming and work days ended at 5 p.m.[108]
His next two films were light comedies for Paramount:But Not for Me (1959) withCarroll Baker, andIt Started in Naples (1960) withSophia Loren.Naples was written and directed byMelville Shavelson and it mainly showed the beauty of Loren and the Italian islandCapri.[109] It was a box-office success and was nominated for an Academy Award for art direction[110] and two Golden Globes, one for picture and Loren for actress in a leading role.[111] Filmed mostly on location in Italy, it was Gable's last film released in color. While there Gable's weight had increased to 230 pounds (100 kg), something he credited to pasta, and he started on a crash diet to achieve a goal weight of 195, along with briefly quitting drinking and smoking, to pass a required physical for his next movie.[112]
Marilyn Monroe and Gable with Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift (in the background) inThe Misfits (1961)
Gable's last film wasThe Misfits (1961), with a script byArthur Miller and directed byJohn Huston. Co-starring with Gable wereMarilyn Monroe,Montgomery Clift,Eli Wallach,Thelma Ritter andRex Bell. Many critics regard Gable's performance to be his finest, and Gable, after seeing the rough cuts, agreed,[115] although the film did not receive any Oscar nominations. Miller wrote the screenplay for his wife Monroe; it was about two aging cowboys and a pilot that go mustanging in Reno, Nevada, who all fall for a blonde. In 1961, it was a somewhat disconnected film with its antihero western themes, but it has since become a classic.[116]
PortraitistAl Hirschfeld created a drawing, and then a lithograph, portraying the film's stars Clift, Monroe, and Gable with screenwriter Miller, in what is suggested as a typical "on-the-set" scene during the troubled production.[117] In a 2002 documentary Eli Wallach recalled the mustang wrangling scenes Gable insisted on performing himself, "You have to pass a physical to film that" and "He was a professional going home at 5 p.m. to a pregnant wife".[118]The New York Times found "Mr. Gable's performance as a leathery old cowboy with a realistic slant on most plain things" ironically vital, with his death before the film's release.[119]
Film criticPauline Kael wrote of Gable: his was a "bold open challenge to women" and his unspoken question was "Well sister, what do you say?" with the idea that "if she said no, she was failing what might almost be nature's test. She'd become overcivilized, afraid of her instincts, afraid of being a woman." Kael goes on to describe Gable's sex scenes as "violent and primal."[120]
Gable is known to have appeared as an "extra" in 13 films between 1924 and 1930. He then appeared in a total of 67 theatrically released motion pictures, as himself in 17 "short subject" films, and he narrated and appeared in a 1945 World War IIpropaganda film entitledCombat America, produced by the United States Army Air Forces.[121]
Gable was one of the most consistent box-office performers in the history of Hollywood, appearing on Quigley Publishing's annualTop Ten Money Making Stars Poll sixteen times. He appeared opposite many of the most popular actresses of their time.Joan Crawford was a favorite actress of his to work with,[4] and he partnered with her in eight films.Myrna Loy worked with him seven times, and he was paired withJean Harlow in six productions. He also starred withLana Turner in four features, and in three each withNorma Shearer andAva Gardner. Gable died of a heart attack at the age of 59; his final on-screen appearance was as an aging cowboy inThe Misfits, released posthumously in 1961.
1957 Confidential Magazine with article about Gable's first wife Josephine Dillon
Gable married five times and was linked romantically to many other women. His first engagement was to actress Franz Dorfler when he was about 21. Dorfler introduced Gable to Josephine Dillon, who would become his acting coach, manager, and then his wife. When Gable and Dillon married on December 13, 1924, in California, Gable was 23 and Dillon was 40; the couple divorced in 1930.[122][123] His second wife was Texassocialite Maria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham Gable (nicknamed "Ria"). The couple married on June 19, 1931, in California and divorced on March 7, 1939.[122] Thirteen days after his divorce from Maria, Gable married actressCarole Lombard during a production break onGone with the Wind.[6]: 200–201
Gable's relationship with and marriage in 1939 to his third wife, actressCarole Lombard (1908–1942), was one of the happiest periods of his personal life.[4]: 189–201 They met while filming 1932'sNo Man of Her Own, when Lombard was still married to actorWilliam Powell. A Gable and Lombard romance did not take off until 1936,[124] after becoming reacquainted at a party. They were soon inseparable, with fan magazines and tabloids citing them as an official couple.
Gable thrived being around Lombard's youthful, charming, and frank personality, once stating:
You can trust that little screwball with your life or your hopes or your weaknesses, and she wouldn't even know how to think about letting you down.[6]: 182
Gable with Lombard after their 1939 honeymoon (left) and at their Encino, California ranch (right)
Gable was still legally married, having prolonged an expensive divorce from his second wife, Ria Langham, until his salary fromGone with the Wind enabled him to reach a divorce settlement with her on March 7, 1939. On March 29, during a production break onGone with the Wind, Gable and Lombard were married inKingman, Arizona,[6]: 200–201 and honeymooned in room 1201 of theArizona Biltmore Hotel.[125] They purchased aranch previously owned by directorRaoul Walsh inEncino, California, for $50,000, making it their home.[126] The couple, who lovingly referred to each other as "Ma and Pa",[127] owned a menagerie of animals and raised chickens and horses there. With the bombing ofPearl Harbor many Hollywood stars joined the war effort, some such asJames Stewart signing up for active duty. Carole Lombard sent atelegram toPresident Roosevelt on behalf of Gable expressing his interest in doing so, but F.D.R. thought the 41-year-old actor could best serve by increased patriotic roles in movies and bond drives, which Lombard tirelessly began.[128]
On January 16, 1942, Lombard was a passenger onTranscontinental and Western Air Flight 3 with her mother and press agent Otto Winkler. She had just finished her 57th movie,To Be or Not to Be, and was on her way home from a successfulwar bond selling tour when the flight'sDouglas DC-3 airliner crashed intoPotosi Mountain nearLas Vegas, Nevada, killing all 22 passengers aboard, including 15 servicemen en route to training in California. Gable flew to the crash site to claim the bodies of his wife, mother-in-law, and Winkler, who had been the best man at Gable and Lombard's wedding. Lombard was declared to be the first war-related American female casualty of World War II, and Gable received a personal note of condolence from President Roosevelt. TheCivil Aeronautics Board investigation into the crash concluded thatpilot error was its cause.[6]: 250–251
Gable returned to their Encino ranch and carried out her funeral wishes as she had requested in her will. A month later, he returned to the studio to work withLana Turner in their second movie together,Somewhere I'll Find You. Having lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg) since the tragedy, Gable evidently was emotionally and physically devastated, but Turner stated that Gable remained a "consummate professional" for the duration of filming.[129] He acted in 27 more films, and remarried twice more. "But he was never the same", according toEsther Williams. "He had been devastated by Carole's death."[130]
In 1955, Gable marriedKay Spreckels (née Kathleen Williams),[122] a thrice-married former fashionmodel and actress who had previously been married tosugar-refining heir Adolph B. Spreckels Jr.
Four months after his 1960 death, Kay Gable gave birth to his only biological son, John Clark Gable.[131] John Clark raced cars and trucks, most notably in the Baja 500 and 1000,[132] turning down Hollywood offers to act untilBad Jim (1990), a straight-to-video film. By 1999, his work with the Clark Gable Foundation helped restore the house in which his father was born in Cadiz, Ohio, and open it as a museum.[6]: 380–383 John Clark had two children: Kayley Gable (born 1986) andClark James Gable (1988–2019). Kayley is an actress, while Clark James was the host of two seasons of the nationally syndicated reality showCheaters.[133] Clark James died of a drug overdose at age 30 on February 22, 2019.[134]
During the filming ofThe Call of the Wild in early 1935, the film's lead actress,Loretta Young, became pregnant with Gable's child. Clark Gable allegedly slept with Young while on an overnight train from a studio location to Hollywood.[135] Their daughter,Judy Lewis, was born on November 6, 1935, inVenice, California.[136][137] Young hid her pregnancy in an elaborate scheme. Nineteen months after the birth, she claimed to have adopted the baby.[136] Most in Hollywood (and some in the general public) believed Gable was Lewis' father because of their strong resemblance and the timing of her birth.[138] In 1950, Gable came to her mother's house to visit her briefly. Gable asked Lewis about her life and then, upon leaving, kissed her on her forehead. It was the only time that Lewis ever spoke to Gable and, at the time, she had no idea that he was her father.
As an adult, Lewis spoke of the confusion, isolation, and alienation she felt within her own family while growing up.[139] Five years after Gable's death, when confronted by Judy Lewis, Loretta Young said that she was Lewis' biological mother and that Gable was her father by an affair.[140] Young died on August 12, 2000;[141] her autobiography, published posthumously, confirmed that Gable was indeed Lewis' father.[136] Judy Lewis died of cancer at age 76 on November 25, 2011.[142] In 2015, Young's daughter-in-law alleged that Young had said in 1998 that Judy Lewis was conceived by date rape.[143] Young had previously admitted to an affair with Gable, which was a known secret in Hollywood at the time. Young's family had chosen to remain silent about the information until both Young and Lewis were deceased; they went public with the information four years after Lewis' death.[144]
Gable'scrypt in the Sanctuary of Trust of the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn, Glendale
On November 6, 1960, Gable was sent toHollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, where doctors found that he had suffered aheart attack. Newspaper reports the following day listed his condition as satisfactory.[151] By the morning of November 16, he seemed to be improving,[152] but he died that evening at the age of 59 from a second heart attack caused by an infection. Medical staff did not performcardiopulmonary resuscitation for fear that the procedure would rupture Gable's heart, and adefibrillator was not available.[153]
In a photo essay of Hollywood film stars,Life magazine called Gable, "All man ... and then some."[155]
Doris Day summed up Gable's unique personality: "He was as masculine as any man I've ever known, and as much a little boy as a grown man could be—it was this combination that had such a devastating effect on women."[6]: 352
Joan Crawford—Gable's eight-time co-star, longtime friend, and on-again, off-again girlfriend—stated onDavid Frost's TV show in January 1970 that Gable "was a king wherever he went. He earned the title. He walked like one, he behaved like one, and he was the most masculine man that I have ever met in my life. Gable had balls".[156]
Gable in 1938
Robert Taylor said Gable "was a great, great guy, and certainly one of the great stars of all times, if not the greatest. I think that I sincerely doubt that there will ever be another like Clark Gable; he was one of a kind."[157]
In his memoirBring on the Empty Horses,[158]David Niven states that Gable, a close friend, was extremely supportive after the sudden, accidental death of Niven's first wife, Primula (Primmie), in 1946. Primmie had supported Gable emotionally afterCarole Lombard's death four years earlier: Niven recounts Gable kneeling at Primmie's feet and sobbing while she held and consoled him. Niven also states that Arthur Miller, the author ofThe Misfits, had described Gable as "the man who did not know how to hate."[158]
Gable has been criticized for altering aspects of a script he felt were in conflict with his image. ScreenwriterLarry Gelbart, as quoted inJames Garner's biography stated that Gable, "... refused to go down with the submarine, because Gable doesn't sink." (In reference to Gable's filmRun Silent, Run Deep).[159] The novel's author, Capt. Beach, noted changes should be made among the crew to get a Hollywood audience and where a subsequent battle sequence was altered when he should have had script approval, feeling his book was bought by United Artists for its title.[160]
Eli Wallach recalls in his 2006 autobiographyThe Good, The Bad and Me, that what he felt was one of his best dramatic scenes inThe Misfits was cut from the script.[161] Wallach's character is emotionally crushed when he visits Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe), and instead runs into Gable's character and realizes any hope with Roslyn is dashed. Gable asked (within his contractual rights) that the scene be removed, and when Wallach spoke to him, Gable explained he felt that "his character would never steal a woman from a friend."[161]
Bugs Bunny's nonchalant carrot-chewing standing position, as explained byChuck Jones,Friz Freleng, andBob Clampett, originated in a scene in the filmIt Happened One Night (1934), in which Clark Gable's character leans against a fence, eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full toClaudette Colbert's character. This scene was well known while the film was popular, and viewers at the time likely recognized Bugs Bunny's behavior as parody.[165]
In the 1937 filmBroadway Melody of 1938, Judy Garland (aged 15) sings "You Made Me Love You" while looking at a composite picture of Gable.[167] The opening lines are: "Dear Mr Gable, I am writing this to you, and I hope that you will read it so you'll know, my heart beats like a hammer, and I stutter and I stammer, every time I see you at the picture show, I guess I'm just another fan of yours, and I thought I'd write and tell you so. You made me love you, I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it..."[168]
The 1948 Cole Porter tune "Always True to You in My Fashion" contains the lyrics "Mister Gable, I mean Clark / Wants me on his boat to park".
The 1975 filmMonty Python and the Holy Grail contained a reference to impersonating Gable in the song performed by the Knights of the Round Table.[169]
The 2003 music albumGive Up byThe Postal Service has a song titled "Clark Gable".[170] The singer wants to "find a love that looks and sounds like a movie", and includes the lyric, "I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired, I thought it classic".
^Although legend persists that theHays Office fined Selznick $5,000 for using the word "damn". In fact, theMotion Picture Association board passed an amendment to theProduction Code on November 1, 1939, that forbade use of the words "hell" or "damn", except when their use "shall be essential and required for portrayal, in proper historical context, of any scene or dialogue based upon historical fact or folklore ... or a quotation from a literary work, provided that no such use shall be permitted which is intrinsically objectionable or offends good taste". With that amendment, the Production Code Administration had no further objection to Rhett's closing line. Leonard J. Leff and Jerold L. Simmons,The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code, pp. 107–108.ISBN978-0813190112
^Quigley Publishing Co.; Quigley Publishing Co. (1955).Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1955). Media History Digital Library. New York, Quigley Publishing Co.
^Matzen, Robert (2014).Fireball:Carole Lombard and The Mystery of Flight 3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: GoodNight Books. pp. 145–146.ISBN978-0-9885025-1-2.
^"List of famous freemasons".Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.Archived from the original on October 4, 2001. RetrievedSeptember 30, 2018.East Nashville No. 560, TN [19]
Samuels, Charles (1962).The King: A Biography of Clark Gable. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.ISBN978-1-258-80672-9.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
