Clark Gable: Portrait of a Misfit
In her 10th book about cinema celebrities, Wayne ( Marilyn's Men ) makes judgmental and often unverified statements apparently intended to refute Joan Crawford and other interviewees who praise the actor's professionalism and remember him with devotion. Dubbed "King of Hollywood" 23 years before his death in 1960 at age 59, Gable, who was raised in a small town in Ohio, landed in the movie capital during the 1920s. A big, rough, unhandsome youth who seemed an unlikely prospect for stardom, he had a magnetism that soon made him an unrivalled favorite of both male and female film fans. Whether performing in It Happened One Night , Mutiny on the Bounty , Gone with the Wind or less epic fare, the star drew SRO crowds. To the author, however, Gable was a drunken lecher whose recklessness cost the lives of Americans who served with him in the Air Force during WW II after his wife, Carole Lombard, was killed in a plane crash. This accusation is as unsupported as most of the gossip served up in this biography-by-indictment, which gives small credit to the hardworking actor mourned by many when his life ended almost simultaneously with the completion of The Misfits.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.