Clark Gable William Clark Gable ( February 1 , 1901 – November 16 , 1960 ) was an American film actor . Though arguably best known for his role as Rhett Butler in the epic " Gone with the Wind " ( 1939 ) , for which he received his third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor , he was also nominated for " Mutiny on the Bounty " ( 1935 ) , and he won for " It Happened One Night " ( 1934 ) . His other films include " Manhattan Melodrama " ( 1934 ) and " The Misfits " ( 1961 ) . Starting as a stage actor , Gable appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926 , and progressed to supporting roles with a few films for MGM in 1931 . The next year he landed his first leading Hollywood role and became a leading man in more than 60 motion pictures over the next three decades . Gable appeared opposite some of the most popular actresses of the time . Joan Crawford , who was his favorite actress to work with , was partnered with Gable in eight films ; Myrna Loy worked with him seven times , and he was paired with Jean Harlow in six productions . He also starred with Lana Turner in four features , and with Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner in three each . Gable ' s final film , " The Misfits " ( 1961 ) , united him with Marilyn Monroe ( also in her last screen appearance ) . He was named the seventh greatest male actor of all time by the American Film Institute . Life and career . Early life . Clark Gable was born in Cadiz , Ohio , to William Henry " Will " Gable ( 1870 – 1948 ) , an oil - well driller , and his wife , Adeline ( née Hershelman ; 1869 – 1901 ) . He was named William after his father , but even in childhood he was almost always called Clark . He was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate . Gable ' s ancestry included Pennsylvania Dutch Rhinelanders and Bavarians . When he was six months old , his mother had him baptized as a Catholic . She died when he was ten months old , possibly from a brain tumor . Gable ' s father refused to raise him as a Catholic , provoking enmity with his mother ' s side of the family . The dispute was resolved when his father ' s family agreed to allow Gable to spend time with his uncle , Charles Hershelman , and his wife on their farm in Vernon Township , Pennsylvania . In April 1903 , Gable ' s father married Jennie Dunlap ( 1874 – 1924 ) , whose family came from the small neighboring town of Hopedale . Will ' s marriage to Jennie produced no half brothers or sisters for Clark . Gable was a tall , shy child with a loud voice . After his father purchased some land and built a house , the new family settled in . Jennie played the piano and gave her stepson lessons at home ; later he took up brass instruments . She raised Gable to be well - dressed and well - groomed ; he stood out from the other kids . Gable was very mechanically inclined and loved to strip down and repair cars with his father . At thirteen , he was the only boy in the men ' s town band . Even though his father insisted on Gable doing " manly " things , like hunting and hard physical work , Gable loved language . Among trusted company , he would recite Shakespeare , particularly the sonnets . Will Gable did agree to buy a seventy - two volume set of " The World ' s Greatest Literature " to improve his son ' s education , but claimed he never saw his son use it . In 1917 , when Gable was in high school , his father had financial difficulties . Will decided to settle his debts and try his hand at farming and the family moved to Ravenna , just outside Akron . Gable had trouble settling down in the area . Despite his father ' s insistence that he work the farm , Gable soon left to work in Akron ' s B . F . Goodrich tire factory . At seventeen , Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play " The Bird of Paradise " , but he was not able to make a real start until he turned 21 and inherited some money . By then , his stepmother Jennie had died and his father moved to Tulsa to go back to the oil business . He toured in stock companies as well as working the oil fields and as a horse manager . Gable found work with several second - class theater companies and thus made his way across the Midwest to Portland , Oregon , where he then took work as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store . While there , he met Laura Hope Crews , a stage and film actress , who encouraged him to return to the stage and into another theater company . Many years later , Crews would play Aunt Pittypat in " Gone With the Wind " ( 1939 ) . His acting coach was a theater manager in Portland named Josephine Dillon , who was 17 years his senior . She paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled . She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body , and taught him better body control and posture . She spent considerable time training his naturally high - pitched voice , which Gable slowly managed to lower , and to gain better resonance and tone . As his speech habits improved , Gable ' s facial expressions became more natural and convincing . After the long period of rigorous training , Dillon eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career . Stage and silent films . In 1924 , with Dillon ' s financial aid , the two went to Hollywood , where she became his manager — and first wife . He changed his stage name from W . C . Gable to Clark Gable . He found work as an extra in such silent films as Erich von Stroheim ' s " The Merry Widow " ( 1925 ) , " The Plastic Age " ( 1925 ) , which starred Clara Bow , " Forbidden Paradise " ( 1924 ) starring Pola Negri , plus a series of two - reel comedies called " The Pacemakers " . By coincidence he appeared as an extra in Fox ' s " The Johnstown Flood " ( 1926 ) and also appearing as an extra in the film was 17 year old Carole Lombard , but they were not in the same scene . Gable also appeared as a bit player in a series of shorts . However , he was not offered any major roles in Hollywood and so he returned to the stage . He became lifelong friends with Lionel Barrymore , who in spite of his bawling Gable out for amateurish acting initially , urged Gable to pursue a career on stage . During the 1927 – 28 theater season , Gable acted with the Laskin Brothers Stock Company in Houston , where he played many roles , gained considerable experience and became a local matinee idol . Gable then moved to New York and Dillon sought work for him on Broadway . He received good reviews in " Machinal " ; " He ' s young , vigorous and brutally masculine " , wrote the critic at the " Morning Telegraph " . The start of the Great Depression and the beginning of talking pictures caused a cancellation of many plays in the 1929 – 30 season and acting work became harder to gain . Early successes . In 1930 , after his impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the Los Angeles stage production of " The Last Mile " , Gable was offered a contract with MGM . His first role in a sound picture was as the unshaven villain in a low - budget William Boyd western called " The Painted Desert " ( 1931 ) . He received a lot of fan mail as a result of his powerful voice and appearance ; the studio took notice . In 1930 , Gable and Josephine Dillon were divorced . A few days later , he married Texas socialite 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 . " His ears are too big and he looks like an ape " , said executive Darryl F . Zanuck , then at Warner Bros . , about Clark Gable after testing him for the lead in the studio ' s gangster drama " Little Caesar " ( 1931 ) . The same year , in " Night Nurse " , Gable played a villainous chauffeur who was gradually starving two adorable little girls to death , then knocked Barbara Stanwyck ' s character unconscious with his fist , a supporting role originally slated for James Cagney until the release of " The Public Enemy " abruptly made Cagney a leading man . After several failed screen tests for Barrymore and Zanuck , Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM ' s Irving Thalberg . He became a client of well - connected agent Minna Wallis , sister of producer Hal Wallis and a very close friend of Norma Shearer . Gable ' s timing in arriving in Hollywood was excellent , as MGM was looking to expand its stable of male stars and he fitted the bill . Gable first worked mainly in supporting roles , often as the villain . He made two pictures in 1931 with Wallace Beery , a minor role in " The Secret Six " , then with his part increasing in size to almost match Beery ' s in the naval aviation film " Hell Divers " . MGM ' s publicity manager Howard Strickling developed Gable ' s studio image , playing up his he - man experiences and his ' lumberjack in evening clothes ' persona . To bolster his increasing popularity , MGM frequently paired him with well - established female stars . Joan Crawford asked for him as her co - star in " Dance , Fools , Dance " ( 1931 ) . He built his fame and public visibility in such movies as " A Free Soul " ( 1931 ) , in which he played a gangster who shoved the character played by Norma Shearer ( Gable never played a supporting role again ) . " 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 " . He followed that with " Susan Lenox ( Her Fall and Rise ) " ( 1931 ) with Greta Garbo , and " Possessed " ( 1931 ) , in which he and Crawford ( then married to Douglas Fairbanks , Jr . ) steamed up the screen . Adela Rogers St . Johns later dubbed Gable and Crawford ' s real - life relationship as " the affair that nearly burned Hollywood down " . Louis B . Mayer threatened to terminate both their contracts , and for a while they kept apart . Gable shifted his attentions to Marion Davies . On the other hand , Gable and Garbo disliked each other . She thought he was a wooden actor while he considered her a snob . Rising star . Gable was considered for the role of " Tarzan the Ape Man " but lost out to Johnny Weissmuller ' s more imposing physique and superior swimming prowess . However Gable ' s unshaven lovemaking with braless Jean Harlow in " Red Dust " ( 1932 ) soon made him MGM ' s most important male star . After the hit " Hold Your Man " ( 1933 ) , MGM recognized the goldmine of the Gable - Harlow pairing , putting them in two more films , " China Seas " ( 1935 ; with Gable and Harlow billed above Wallace Beery ) and " Wife vs . Secretary " ( 1936 ) . An enormously popular combination , on - screen and off - screen , Gable and Jean Harlow made six films together , the most notable being " Red Dust " ( 1932 ) and " Saratoga " ( 1937 ) . Harlow died during production of " Saratoga " . Ninety percent completed , the remaining scenes were filmed with long shots or the use of doubles like Mary Dees ; Gable would say that he felt as if he was " in the arms of a ghost " . According to legend , Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures , then considered a second - rate operation , as punishment for refusing roles ; however , this has been refuted by more recent biographies . MGM did not have a project ready for Gable and was paying him $ 2 , 000 per week , under his contract , to do nothing . Studio head Louis B . Mayer lent him to Columbia for $ 2 , 500 per week , making a $ 500 per week profit . Gable was not the first choice to play the lead role of Peter Warne in " It Happened One Night " ( 1934 ) . Robert Montgomery was originally offered the role , but he felt that the script was poor . Filming began in a tense atmosphere , but both Gable and Frank Capra enjoyed making the movie , although Colbert reportedly did not . Gable and Colbert won the Academy Award for Best Actor and $ 3 for their performances in the film , and the movie itself won the Academy Award for Best Picture . He returned to MGM a bigger star than ever . Gable received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Fletcher Christian in " Mutiny on the Bounty " ( 1935 ) . " Gone with the Wind " . Despite his reluctance to play the role , Gable is best known for his performance in " Gone with the Wind " ( 1939 ) , for which he gained a Best Actor Oscar nomination . Carole Lombard may have been the first to suggest that he play Rhett Butler ( and she play Scarlett ) when she bought him a copy of the bestseller , which he refused to read . Gable was an almost immediate favorite for the role of Rhett with both the public and producer David O . Selznick . But since Selznick had no male stars under long - term contract , he needed to go through the process of negotiating to borrow an actor from another studio . Gary Cooper was Selznick ' s first choice . 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 . " By then , Selznick had become determined to hire Gable , and set about finding a way to borrow him from Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer . 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 . " By all accounts , Gable got along well with his co - stars during filming . Gable was great friends with actress Hattie McDaniel , and he even slipped her a real alcoholic drink during the scene in which they were supposed to be celebrating the birth of Scarlett and Rhett ' s daughter . Gable tried to boycott the premier of " Gone with the Wind " in Atlanta , Georgia , because the African - American McDaniel was not permitted to attend . He reportedly only went after she pleaded with him to go . Gable remained friends with McDaniel , and he always attended her Hollywood parties , especially when she was raising funds during World War II . Gable did not want to shed tears for the scene after he inadvertently causes Scarlett to miscarry their second child . 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 . " Decades later , Gable said that whenever his career would start to fade , a re - release of " Gone with the Wind " would soon revive his popularity , and he continued as a top leading actor for the rest of his life . Marriage to Carole Lombard . Gable ' s marriage in 1939 to his third wife , actress Carole Lombard ( 1908 – 1942 ) , was the happiest period of his personal life . They met while filming 1932 ' s " No Man of Her Own " , when Lombard was still married to actor William Powell , but their romance did not take off until 1936 . They became reacquainted at a party and soon were inseparable , cited in fan magazines and tabloids 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 . " Lombard , for her part , seemed to gain personal stability and a contented home life that she had previously lacked . She taught herself how to hunt and fish and accompanied Gable on trips with his hunting buddies . But Gable , who was still legally married , prolonged a lengthy and expensive divorce from his second wife Ria Langham . His salary from " Gone with the Wind " enabled him to reach a divorce settlement with Langham , however , on March 7 , 1939 . On March 29 , during a production break on " Gone with the Wind " , Gable and Lombard were married in Kingman , Arizona . They purchased a ranch previously owned by director Raoul Walsh in Encino , California and made it their home . They raised chickens , horses , and had a menagerie of cats and dogs . On January 16 , 1942 , Lombard was a passenger on Trans - World Airlines 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 successful war bond selling tour when the flight ' s DC - 3 airliner crashed into a mountain near Las 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 condolence note from President Roosevelt . The Civil Aeronautics Board investigation into the crash concluded that " pilot error " was its cause . Gable returned to his and Lombard ' s 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 with Lana Turner in the movie " Somewhere I ' ll Find You " . Having lost twenty pounds since the tragedy , it was evident that Gable was emotionally and physically devastated by it . But Turner stated that Gable remained a professional for the duration of filming . He would act in 27 more films and remarried twice more . " But he was never the same , " said Esther Williams . " His heart sank a bit . " World War II . In 1942 , following Lombard ' s death , Gable joined the U . S . Army Air Forces . Lombard had suggested that Gable enlist as part of the war effort , but MGM was reluctant to let him go , and he resisted the suggestion . Gable made a public statement after Lombard ' s death that prompted the Commanding General of the U . S . Army Air Forces Henry H . " Hap " Arnold to offer Gable a " special assignment " in aerial gunnery . Gable had earlier expressed an interest in officer candidate school ( OCS ) , but he enlisted on August 12 , 1942 , with the intention of becoming an enlisted aerial gunner on a bomber . MGM arranged for his studio friend , the cinematographer Andrew McIntyre , to enlist with him and accompany him through training . However , shortly after his enlistment , he and McIntyre were sent to Miami Beach , Florida , where they entered USAAF OCS Class 42 - E on August 17 , 1942 . Both completed training on October 28 , 1942 , commissioned as second lieutenant , with Gable spending time as an assistant potato peeler . His class of about 2 , 600 fellow students ( of which he ranked about 700th in class standing ) selected Gable as its graduation speaker , at which General Arnold presented the cadets with their commissions . Arnold then informed Gable of his special assignment : to make a recruiting film in combat with the Eighth Air Force to recruit aerial gunners . Gable and McIntyre were immediately sent to Flexible Gunnery School at Tyndall Field , Florida , followed by a photography course at Fort George Wright , $ 3 and promoted to first lieutenant s upon his completion . Gable reported to Biggs Army Air Base on January 27 , 1943 , to train with and accompany the 351st Bomb Group to England as head of a six - man motion picture unit . In addition to McIntyre , he recruited the screenwriter John Lee Mahin ; camera operators Sgts . Mario Toti and Robert Boles ; and the sound man Lt . Howard Voss to complete his crew . Gable was promoted to captain while he was with the 351st Bomb Group at Pueblo Army Air Base , Colorado , hold a rank commensurate with his position as a unit commander . ( As first lieutenants , he and McIntyre had equal seniority . ) Gable spent most of 1943 in England at RAF Polebrook with the 351st Bomb Group . Gable flew five combat missions , including one to Germany , as an observer - gunner in B - 17 Flying Fortress es between May 4 and September 23 , 1943 , earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts . 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 . In November 1943 , Gable returned to the United States to edit his film , only to find that the personnel shortage of aerial gunners had already been rectified . He was allowed to complete the film anyway , joining the First Motion Picture Unit in Hollywood , California . In May 1944 , Gable was promoted to major . He hoped for another combat assignment but , when the invasion of Normandy came and went in June without any further orders , Gable was relieved from active duty as a major on June 12 , 1944 at his request , since he was over - age for combat . His discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan , the eventual President . Gable completed editing of the film " Combat America " in September 1944 , giving the narration himself and making use of numerous interviews with enlisted gunners as focus of the film . Because his motion picture production schedule made it impossible for him to fulfill Reserve officer duties , he resigned his commission on September 26 , 1947 , a week after the Air Force became an independent service branch . 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 . After World War II . Immediately after his discharge from the service , Gable returned to his ranch and rested . He resumed a pre - war relationship with Virginia Grey and dated other starlets . He introduced his golf caddie Robert Wagner to MGM casting . Gable ' s first movie after World War II was " Adventure " ( 1945 ) , with his ill - matched co - star Greer Garson . It was a critical and commercial failure despite the famous teaser tagline " Gable ' s back and Garson ' s got him " . After Joan Crawford ' s third divorce , she and Gable resumed their affair and lived together for a brief time . Gable was acclaimed for his performance in " The Hucksters " ( 1947 ) , a satire of post - war Madison Avenue corruption and immorality . A very public and brief romance with Paulette Goddard occurred after that . In 1949 , Gable married Sylvia Ashley , a British divorcée and the widow of Douglas Fairbanks . The relationship was profoundly unsuccessful ; they divorced in 1952 . Soon followed " Never Let Me Go " ( 1953 ) , opposite Gene Tierney . Tierney was a favorite of Gable and he was very disappointed when she was replaced in " Mogambo " ( because of her mental health problems ) by Grace Kelly . " Mogambo " ( 1953 ) , directed by John Ford , was a somewhat sanitized remake of his earlier Pre - Code film " Red Dust " ( 1932 ) , with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor , which had been a greater success . Gable ' s on - location affair with Grace Kelly ( 1929 – 1982 ) , who was young enough to be his daughter , gradually ended after filming was completed . Gable became increasingly unhappy with what he considered mediocre roles offered him by MGM , while the studio regarded his salary as excessive . Studio head Louis B . Mayer was fired in 1951 amid slumping Hollywood production and revenue , due primarily to the rising popularity of television . Studio chiefs struggled to cut costs . Many MGM stars were fired or their contracts were not renewed , including Greer Garson and Judy Garland . In 1953 , Gable refused to renew his contract , and began to work independently . His first two films in this new situation were " Soldier of Fortune " and " The Tall Men " ( both 1955 ) , which were profitable , although only modest successes . In 1955 , Gable married his fifth wife , Kay Spreckels ( née Kathleen Williams ) , a thrice - married former fashion model and actress who had previously been married to sugar - refining heir Adolph B . Spreckels Jr . In 1955 , Gable formed a production company with Jane Russell and her husband Bob Waterfield , and they produced " The King and Four Queens " ( 1956 ) , Gable ' s only production . He found producing and acting to be too taxing on his health , and he was beginning to manifest a noticeable tremor , particularly in long takes . His next project was " Band of Angels " ( 1957 ) , with relative newcomer Sidney Poitier and Yvonne De Carlo ; it was a total disaster . " Newsweek " said , " Here is a movie so bad that it must be seen to be disbelieved . " Next he paired with Doris Day in " Teacher ' s Pet " ( 1958 ) , shot in black and white to better hide his aging face and overweight body . The film was good enough to bring Gable more movie offers , including " Run Silent , Run Deep " ( also 1958 ) , with co - star and producer Burt 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 " . His next two films were light comedies for Paramount : " But Not for Me " ( 1959 ) with Carroll Baker and " It Started in Naples " ( 1960 ) with Sophia Loren . The last one , despite an icy critical reception , was a good box office success and was nominated for an Academy award and two Golden Globes . Gable ' s last film was " The Misfits " ( 1961 ) , with a script by Arthur Miller and directed by John Huston . Co - starring with Gable were Marilyn Monroe , her last completed film ; Montgomery Clift ; Eli Wallach ; and Thelma Ritter . Many critics regard Gable ' s performance to be his finest , and Gable , after seeing the rough cuts , agreed . Portraitist Al 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 . Throughout his life , Gable was fond of the work of artist Reinhold Palenske , and they were close friends . Politics . Gable was politically conservative , though he never publicly spoke about politics . His third wife , Carole Lombard , was an activist liberal Democrat , and she cajoled him into supporting Democratic President Franklin D . Roosevelt and the New Deal . In 1944 , he became an early member of the conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals , alongside Ronald Reagan , John Wayne , Gary Cooper , and other conservative actors and filmmakers . In February 1952 , he attended a televised rally in New York where he enthusiastically urged General Dwight D . Eisenhower to run for President . This was when Eisenhower was still being sought by both parties as their candidate . Despite having suffered a severe coronary thrombosis , Gable still managed to vote by mail in the 1960 presidential election . Two children and other family members . Clark Gable had a daughter , Judy , the result of his affair with the actress Loretta Young that began on the set of " The Call of the Wild " ( 1935 ) in 1934 . In an elaborate scheme , Young took an extended vacation and went to Europe to hide the fact that she was pregnant . After several months , she came back to the United States , and she gave birth to their daughter in Venice , California . Someone sent Gable , who had spent much of the pregnancy out of the country , but was in New York City , an unsigned telegram that said , " The baby was born , she is beautiful , and has blonde hair " . Young and her mother both denied sending the telegram , but Loretta believed that Carter Hermann ( her sister Polly ' s husband who was also Judy ' s godfather ) sent it . Nineteen months after the birth , Young claimed to have adopted Judy . The girl grew up resembling Gable very much , including having large ears that stuck out . She went by the name Judy Lewis after Ms . Young married Tom Lewis when Judy was four years old . According to Lewis , Gable visited her home once , when she was fifteen , asked about her life , and kissed her on her forehead upon leaving . He did not tell her that he was her biological father . Neither Gable nor Young would ever publicly acknowledge their daughter ' s real parentage , but many people in Hollywood and in the general public believed that Gable was her father because of the very strong resemblance and timing of her birth . Lewis finally confronted her mother about her true parentage when she was thirty - one years old and Gable had been dead for five years . Loretta promptly threw up and confirmed that she was her biological mother and Gable was her father . Young never publicly acknowledged the fact while she was alive , which she said would be admitting to a " venial sin " . However , she finally gave her biographer permission to include it , on the condition that the book not be published until after her death . She died on August 12 , 2000 , at the age of 87 of ovarian cancer . Judy Lewis , Gable ' s only child born while he was alive , died on November 25 , 2011 , of cancer . In September 2012 , Clark James Gable ( Gable ' s grandson and the son of John Clark Gable ) became the host of the nationally syndicated reality show " Cheaters " . Death . Gable died at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital on November 16 , 1960 , from a coronary thrombosis , ten days after suffering a severe heart attack at age 59 . There was speculation that Gable ' s physically demanding role in " The Misfits " contributed to his sudden death soon after filming was completed . In an interview with Louella Parsons , published soon after Gable ' s death , Kay Gable said , " It wasn ' t the physical exertion that killed him . It was the horrible tension , the eternal waiting , waiting , waiting . He waited around forever , for everybody . He ' d get so angry that he ' d just go ahead and do anything to keep occupied . " Monroe said that she and Kay had become close during the filming and would refer to Clark as " Our Man " , while Arthur Miller , observing Gable on location , noted that " no hint of affront ever showed on his face " . Others have blamed Gable ' s crash diet before filming began . The 6 ' 1 " ( 185 cm ) Gable weighed about at the time of " Gone with the Wind " , but by his late 50s , he weighed . To get in shape for " The Misfits " , he dropped to 195 lbs ( 88 kg ) . On March 20 , 1961 , Kay Williams ( Gable ) gave birth to Gable ' s only son , John Clark Gable , at the same hospital in which Gable had died four months earlier . Marilyn Monroe attended his son ' s Christening . Gable is interred in The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale , California beside his third wife , Carole Lombard . Quotes about Gable . In a photo essay of Hollywood film stars , " Life magazine " magazine called Gable , " All man . . . and then some . " 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 . " Longtime friend , eight time co - star and on - again , off - again romance Joan Crawford concurred , stating on David Frost ' s TV show in 1970 that " he was a king wherever he went . He walked like one , he behaved like one , and he was the most masculine man that I have ever met in my life . " 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 . " In his memoir " Bring on the Empty Horses " 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 after Carole 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 of " The Misfits " , had described Gable as " the man who did not know how to hate " . Gable has been criticized for altering critical aspects of a script when he felt that the script would not fit in with his image . Screenwriter Larry Gelbart , as quoted by James Garner once stated that Gable , " . . . would not go down with the submarine , ( referring to " Run Silent , Run Deep " , where the movie ended differently from the book on which it was based ) because Gable doesn ' t sink " . Eli Wallach , in his autobiography , also states that Wallach ' s most dramatic scene in " The Misfits " was cut from the movie after it had been filmed over several takes . This scene depicts Wallach ' s character ( who secretly loves the character played by Marilyn Monroe ) , being emotionally crushed when he visits her , hoping to propose to her , and instead sees her with Gable ' s character . Both Gable and Monroe are offscreen , and Wallach ' s heartbreak is indicated by his dropping the rose bouquet he had brought for her . Gable ordered the scene removed because he felt that his character would never steal a woman from another man . Wallach , however , refrains from criticizing Gable , noting that he was professional and considerate in his behavior . Filmography . 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 World War II propaganda film entitled " Combat America " , produced by the United States Army Air Forces . In popular culture . Warner Bros . cartoons sometimes caricatured Gable . Examples include " Have You Got Any Castles ? " ( in which his face appears seven times from inside the novel " The House of the Seven Gables " ) , " The Coo - Coo Nut Grove " ( in which his ears flap on their own ) , " Hollywood Steps Out " ( in which he follows an enigmatic woman ) , and " Cats Don ' t Dance " in which he appears on a billboard promotion for " Gone With The Wind " . In the film " Broadway Melody of 1938 " , Judy Garland ( aged 15 ) sings " You Made Me Love You " while looking at a composite picture of Gable . 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 . . . " Bugs Bunny ' s nonchalant carrot - chewing standing position , as explained by Chuck Jones , Friz Freleng , and Bob Clampett , originated in a scene in the film " It Happened One Night " , in which Clark Gable ' s character leans against a fence , eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full to Claudette 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 satire . Gable was mentioned along with Cary Grant and Tyrone Power by Etta Candy in a 1977 Hollywood - themed episode of " Wonder Woman " . In the song " Prince of Darkness " , Big Daddy Kane uses the lyric " You ' ll be Gone With the Wind for messin ' with Dark Gable . "