Clark Gable - Biography - IMDb Clark Gable Biography Showing all 184 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (5) | Trade Mark (4) | Trivia (107) | Personal Quotes (42) | Salary (19) Overview (5) 6' 1" (1.85 m) Mini Bio (2) William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, where he stayed until he was two. His father then returned to take him back to Cadiz. At 16, he quit high school, went to work in an Akron, Ohio, tire factory, and decided to become an actor after seeing the play "The Bird of Paradise". He toured in stock companies, worked oil fields and sold ties.

On December 13, 1924, he married Josephine Dillon , his acting coach and 15 years his senior. Around that time, they moved to Hollywood, so that Clark could concentrate on his acting career. In April 1930, they divorced and a year later, he married Maria Langham (a.k.a. Maria Franklin Gable ), also about 17 years older than him. While Gable acted on stage, he became a lifelong friend of Lionel Barrymore . After several failed screen tests (for Barrymore and Darryl F. Zanuck ), Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg . He had a small part in The Painted Desert (1931) in 1931. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (1931) the same year. His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) made him MGM's most important star. His acting career then flourished.

At one point, he refused an assignment, and the studio punished him by loaning him out to (at the time) low-rent Columbia Pictures, which put him in Frank Capra 's It Happened One Night (1934), which won him an Academy Award for his performance. The next year saw a starring role in Call of the Wild (1935) with Loretta Young , with whom he had an affair (resulting in the birth of a daughter, Judy Lewis ). He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939). After divorcing Maria Langham, in March 1939 Clark married Carole Lombard , but tragedy struck in January 1942 when the plane in which Carole and her mother were flying crashed into Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, killing them both. A grief-stricken Gable joined the US Army Air Force and was off the screen for three years, flying combat missions in Europe. When he returned the studio regarded his salary as excessive and did not renew his contract.

He freelanced, but his films didn't do well at the box office. He married Silvia Ashley, the widow of Douglas Fairbanks , in 1949. Unfortunately this marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1952. In July 1955 he married a former sweetheart, Kathleen Williams Spreckles (a.k.a. Kay Williams ) and became stepfather to her two children, Joan and Adolph ("Bunker") Spreckels III. On November 16, 1959, Gable became a grandfather when Judy Lewis , his daughter with Loretta Young , gave birth to a daughter, Maria. In 1960, Gable's wife Kay discovered that she was expecting their first child. In early November 1960, he had just completed filming The Misfits (1961), when he suffered a heart attack, and died later that month, on November 16, 1960. Gable was buried shortly afterwards in the shrine that he had built for Carole Lombard and her mother when they died, at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

In March 1961, Kay Gable gave birth to a boy, whom she named John Clark Gable after his father. Trade Mark (4) Pencil thin mustache that hugged his upper lip Often played a virile, lovable rogue whose gruff facade only thinly masked a natural charm and goodness. Distinctive, powerful voice Oversized ears Trivia (107) Adolf Hitler esteemed the film star above all other actors, and during the war offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and return Gable, who had enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was flying combat missions over Germany, unscathed to him. A few months after his death, his wife gave birth to John Clark Gable . John is into racing and has appeared in at least one film. Actress Judy Lewis is Clark's out-of-wedlock daughter by actress Loretta Young . The two had a romance during the filming of Call of the Wild (1935). 1970s: His Encino, CA, estate was subdivided and turned into a very upscale tract development called "Clark Gable Estates.".

Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Trust, on the left hand side, next to Carole Lombard . 1995: Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#36). It was at Gable's 36th birthday that Judy Garland sang "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You." Gable's first two wives - Josephine Dillon and Maria Franklin Gable (aka Ria Langham) - were 14 and 17 years older than he was, respectively. 1942: He enlisted in the army in honor of his late wife, Carole Lombard . She had been killed in a plane crash while on tour selling war bonds. When he was first cast in It Happened One Night (1934) opposite Claudette Colbert , he told director Frank Capra that he would give the role a shot, but if things weren't going well after a few days, he would leave the production.

So durable, he could play the same role in both an original ( Red Dust (1932)) with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor , and its remake ( Mogambo (1953)) with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly . When he was born he was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. He disliked Greta Garbo , a feeling that was mutual. She thought his acting was wooden while he considered her a snob. Playing a cowboy in his last film, The Misfits (1961), which was also the final film for co-star Marilyn Monroe , the aging Gable diligently performed his own stunts, taking its toll on his already guarded health. He died from a heart attack before the film was released. Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued on 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp features Gable and Vivien Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind (1939). The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939), Stagecoach (1939) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Grandfather of Clark Gable III , who's the first child of his son John Clark Gable and his ex-wife Tracy Yarro. Clark James was born on September 10, 1988 at a hefty 10 lbs. Gable was dyslexic, a fact which didn't emerge until several years after his death. Cousin-in-law of William B. Hawks . Joined the Army Air Corps during the Second World War, and was commissioned an officer with service number 565390. Rose to the rank of captain and served primarily in Public Affairs, making training films and performing public relations visits to soldiers and airmen in Europe. Inducted into the Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 2004. He was seriously considered to play Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), but he was deemed an unknown and Johnny Weissmuller was chosen instead. He was voted the 8th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Was Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 's inspiration for half of Superman's alter ego name Clark Kent ("Kent" came from Kent Taylor ).

He worked as a lumberman in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the early 1920s. After a couple of months of doing that, he quit, saying that "the work was too hard" and he would rather act instead. He then left to go to Hollywood, where he began his acting career. 1952: His widow, Kay Williams , divorced her previous husband, Adolph Spreckels Jr., heir to the Spreckels Sugar fortune. In the divorce papers she alleged that he beat her with one of her slippers. His wife Sylvia Ashley was born Edith Louise Sylvia Hawkes in 1904. She was the widow of Douglas Fairbanks . Her first husband was Lord Anthony Ashley (they divorced November 28, 1934), her third was Lord Stanley of Alderney, and her fifth was Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (whom she married in 1954 and stayed married to until her death). She died June 29, 1977.

Her grave stone refers to her as "Princess Sylvia Djordjadze." His widow, Kay Williams , was born August 7, 1917, and died in May of 1983. He was voted the 21st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Named the #7 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by the American Film Institute In some radio interviews at the end of his life, his voice has a haunting similarity to Walt Disney 's. Served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II making training films. Also trained as an aerial gunner, he flew 5 combat missions with the 8th Air Force's 351st Bombardment Group (Heavy) while making his films and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. Is the subject of the song "Clark Gable" by The Postal Service.

Is portrayed by James Brolin in Gable and Lombard (1976), Bruce Hughes and Shayne Greenman in Blonde (2001), Charles Unwin in Lucy (2003), Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980), Edward Winter in The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980), Boyd Holister in Grace Kelly (1983) and Gary Wayne in Malice in Wonderland (1985). Military records on celebrities released by the Pentagon in 2005 reveal that Gable, upon enlistment, was described as a "motion picture specialist" and his weekly wage was listed as $7,500. A movie cameraman, Andrew J. McIntyre , enlisted along with Gable and trained with him, the documents showed. "In order to have something definite to describe and some tangible evidence of his experiences, it is proposed that there be enlisted his cameraman to be trained as an aerial gunner also who may make pictures of Gable in various theaters of operations," one Army memo said. Prior to making The Misfits (1961), he crash-dieted from a bloated 230 lbs.

to 195 lbs. Twice in the previous decade he had suffered seizures that might have been heart attacks; once, ten years earlier, while driving along a freeway he had chest pains so severe that he had to pull off the road and lie down on the ground until he felt well enough to continue on. His father was of German, some Swiss-German, and distant Irish, ancestry. His mother was of half German and half Irish descent. Gave his Oscar for It Happened One Night (1934) to a child who admired it, telling him it was the winning of the statue that had mattered, not owning it. The child returned the Oscar to the Gable family after Clark's death. Had to have almost all of his teeth extracted in 1933 due to pyorrhea. The infection would have killed him had he not been rushed to a private hospital for treatment. 1933: Underwent cosmetic surgery on his ears and teeth. Gable's first screen test was made by director Mervyn LeRoy for Warner Bros. When studio head Jack L. Warner and production chief Darryl F.

Zanuck saw the test they were furious at LeRoy for wasting their money on that big "ape" with those "huge floppy taxi-cab ears". Years later when Gable made it big, LeRoy used to tease Warner and say, "How would you like to have him and those huge floppy ears now?". He served as a pallbearer and usher at Jean Harlow 's funeral in 1937. 1938: In a poll of entertainment readers, he was overwhelmingly selected "King of Hollywood" and was officially crowned by columnist Ed Sullivan . When MGM remade Red Dust (1932) in 1953 as Mogambo (1953), Ava Gardner played the Jean Harlow part, Grace Kelly had the Mary Astor role, and Gable played his old part. Only Gable could fill Gable's shoes, even 21 years later. At the time of his death, his gun collection was valued at half a million dollars. He had a special gun room in his house filled with gold-inlaid revolvers, shotguns and rifles.

11/6/60: Gable was devastated to learn of the unexpected death of his close friend Ward Bond from a heart attack. Shortly afterwards Gable himself suffered a massive heart attack, and died ten days later in the hospital. Although it is often claimed that Gable died as a result of Marilyn Monroe 's behavior and performing his own stunts in The Misfits (1961), he was already in terrible health when filming began from years of excessive drinking and smoking more than three packs of cigarettes a day. He is the second cousin of film producer Thomas R. Bond II , President of American Mutoscope & Biograph, a motion picture and entertainment company. 1939: Part of Gable and Carole Lombard 's honeymoon was spent at the Willows Inn in Palm Springs, CA. Today the Inn continues to operate and anyone can stay in the same room, which is largely unaltered since that time. Some sources say he turned down the role of Colonel William Travis in The Alamo (1960) because he didn't want to be directed by John Wayne .

However this seems unlikely, since Travis was 26 at the time of the battle, and Gable would have been 58 when the movie was filmed. Although he was never crowned #1 at the Box Office in the Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual survey of movie exhibitors, he made the list a then-record 15 times from 1932 to 1949, and a 16th time in 1955. Gable, "The King", was ranked in the top four of Box Office stars every year from 1934 to 1939 (the "Golden Age" of Hollywood), ranking #2 in 1934 and 1936 through 1938, inclusive, when he was topped by Shirley Temple . After ranking #3 at the Box Office in 1940, he slumped to #10 in 1941, a position he also held in 1942 and 1943.

After returning from the war, he took the #7 spot in the Box Office poll in 1947 and 1948, before again slumping to #10 in 1949. He made his last appearance in the Top 10 in 1955, when he again placed #10. Despite his dyslexia, Gable became an avid reader. He would never allow himself to be photographed reading on film sets, fearing it would undermine his macho screen image. Discouraged by his failure to progress in films, Gable tried the stage and became an employable actor, first in stock and eventually on Broadway, without acquiring real fame. When he returned to Hollywood in 1930 for another try at movie acting, his rugged good looks, powerful voice and charisma made him an overnight sensation as the villainous Rance Brett in his first sound picture, The Painted Desert (1931). Gable exploded onto the screen in a dozen 1931 releases, in small parts at first, but he was an established star by the end of the year. Soon his success threatened to eclipse every other star, including his rival Gary Cooper .

He was an early member of the right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Attempted suicide using a high-powered motorbike following his wife Carole Lombard 's death. During his time on Broadway Gable worked as a stage gigolo, performing stud services for such actresses as Pauline Frederick and Laura Hope Crews , who were considerably older than he. His much older first wife served as his first acting coach and paid for his false teeth. Later he married a woman seventeen years his senior, Texan heiress Maria Franklin Gable , who had underwritten his successful assault on Hollywood. Gable became increasingly unhappy with the mediocre roles offered him by MGM as a mature actor. He refused to renew his contract with them in 1953 and proceeded to work independently. He was a conservative Republican, although his third wife Carole Lombard , a liberal Democrat, encouraged him to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal reforms. In February 1952 Gable addressed a televised rally at Madison Square Gardens in New York in support of the Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower , and a few days before his death he voted by post for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election.

6/11/33: He was hospitalized for an infection of the gums the day before he was to begin shooting Dancing Lady (1933). He was hospitalized for several days, after which most of his teeth were extracted. Afterwards, he went on a vacation to Alaska and Canada with his wife, as it would take a couple of weeks for his gums to heal enough so he could be fitted for dentures. MGM shot around Gable until he returned and was fitted with a dental plate, but on July 30, after one day's shooting, the infection felled him again. In the days before antibiotics, the infection was so serious Gable's gall bladder was removed. Out another month, the film had to be shut down and went $150,000 over budget. MGM boss Louis B. Mayer docked Gable two weeks pay, which caused bad feelings between the studio and its top star. In order to teach him a lesson, Mayer lent him to Columbia Pictures, then a poverty-row studio, to make a comedy.

The movie, Frank Capra 's masterpiece It Happened One Night (1934), swept the Academy Awards the next year and brought Gable his only Oscar. 3/15/46: Was injured in a car crash at the traffic circle at Sunset Blvd. and Bristol Ave. in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. According to a press release from MGM, Gable was driving east on Sunset Blvd. and had entered the south half of the traffic circle when he was struck by another car, whose driver apparently had become confused by the "round-about" and was driving in a westerly direction on the same arc of the circle. Gable drove his car over a curb to avoid hitting the the other car, and it struck a tree, throwing him against the steering wheel. He was treated at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for a bruised chest and a cut on his right leg that required stitches. The driver of the other car drove away from the site without checking on Gable or reporting the accident. The hit-and-run accident gave rise to the urban legend that Gable had struck and killed a pedestrian while driving drunk, an incident that allegedly was covered up by MGM.

Though reported in several biographies, there is no basis in fact for the allegations. In the 1950s Gable joined Walt Disney , John Wayne , James Stewart and other politically conservative entertainers to "assist" the House Un-American Activities Committee in its efforts to find alleged Communist infiltration in the film industry. 11/16/60: Gable sat up in his hospital bed while reading a magazine and suffered his fourth and final heart attack. He was dead within seconds and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Proposed his headstone should read: "Back to silents." It was not used by his widow though. 1948: Proposed marriage to Nancy Reagan . As head of the actors' division of the Hollywood Victory Committee, Gable sent his wife Carole Lombard on one of the first tours, in January 1942, to her home state of Indiana, where she sold $2 million worth of bonds. On the plane trip back to Hollywood the plane crashed, killing Lombard and her mother. Gable drank heavily for six months before enlisting as a private in the Army Air Corps.

He served as a combat cameraman in Britain, rose to the rank of major, and eventually was furloughed to Fort Roach, as the First Motion Picture Unit headquarters came to be known. Gable's discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan . 1999: The American Film Institute named Gable among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #7. Turned down Cary Grant 's role in The Philadelphia Story (1940) because he thought the film was too wordy. His private funeral service at the Church of the Recessional in Forest Lawn Park was attended by 200 mourners including Spencer Tracy , Robert Taylor , James Stewart , Norma Shearer , Ann Sothern , Marion Davies , Frank Capra , Robert Stack , Jack Oakie , Roy Rogers , Dale Evans , Van Johnson and Howard Strickling , Gable's longtime publicity man at MGM. There was no eulogy. The closed casket was adorned with yellow roses shaped like a crown, befitting the one-time King of Hollywood. He was baptized as a Catholic, but raised as a Protestant. However, he did not practice any religion as an adult.

11/5/60: His heart attack happened when he was changing a tire on his jeep. President Dwight D. Eisenhower , a close friend of Gable's, sent him a message of support wishing him a speedy recovery. Contrary to popular belief, Gable did not perform his own stunts in The Misfits (1961). He was only used for the close ups while a stunt double stood in for him in the long shots. His heart attack was caused by his lifestyle - thirty years of heavy smoking and drinking, plus his increasing weight in later years. It is also believed his crash diet before filming began may have been a contributing factor. Director Howard Hawks had long intended to make Hatari! (1962) with Gable and John Wayne . However, by the time filming began Gable was already dead. In the mid-1950s he started to receive television offers but rejected them outright, even though some of his peers, like his old flame Loretta Young , were flourishing in the new medium.

In 1955, he formed a production company with Jane Russell and her husband Bob Waterfield , and they produced The King and Four Queens (1956), the star's one and only production. The stress of making the film took such a toll on his health that Gable decided not to produce again. Well known for his pipe smoking, sustaining at least two bowlfuls a day. To this day he still has pipes named after him. Originally the image of Gable as an outdoors man was an invention of the studios, designed to bolster his masculine screen image during the early 1930s. However, he soon discovered that he enjoyed hunting, shooting and fishing, so the image swiftly became the reality. In order to expedite divorce from his second wife Ria so he could marry Carole Lombard , Gable paid his ex-wife a $500,000 settlement in 1939, nearly everything he had at the time. Despite his rising popularity, Gable balked at playing gangsters and overtly callous characters, and was therefore very pleased to be cast in Red Dust (1932), the film that set the seal on his stardom.

As a teenager his voice was very high-pitched, however with vocal training he was able to lower it over time. His voice later proved a major asset in his climb to fame. Once named Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) as his favorite of his movies, despite the fact that he did not like his co-star Charles Laughton . He was also initially disappointed by the casting of Franchot Tone as Midshipman Byam since the two actors had been bitter rivals for the affections of Joan Crawford . However, during filming they became close friends. He disliked his most famous film Gone with the Wind (1939), which he regarded as "a woman's picture.". He liked westerns, and once expressed his regret that he didn't make more of them. He was highly patriotic, a staunch anti-communist and a firm believer in military intervention. Among the political leaders he admired were President Dwight D. Eisenhower , Sir Winston Churchill and King George VI . Until John Wayne 's stardom eclipsed Gable's in the late 1940s, many Americans thought of Gable as THE American star.

Gable and then future wife Carole Lombard first met in late 1924 while working as extras on the set of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). They would make three films together as extras, Ben-Hur, The Johnstown Flood (1926) and The Plastic Age (1925) and star together in No Man of Her Own (1932), but not become romantically attached until 1936. On Easter weekend, 1935, Gable flew to Houston to give away step-daughter Jana in her marriage to Dr. Thomas Burke. He separated from wife Maria ('Ria') in October, 1935. Met his second wife Ria when he was in a play. Her brother, Booth Franklin, brought her backstage and introduced them. His two step-children from wife Ria were George Anna "Jana" (b. circa 1913) and Alfred Lucas (b. circa 1919).

In order to hide that she and Gable had an illegitimate child, fearing that it would ruin both of their careers, Loretta Young secretly gave birth to her daughter Judy Lewis pretending she was vacationing in Europe. When she returned to Hollywood, she claimed that Judy was adopted. Gable met Judy only once when she was a teenager. His father always opposed his decision to become an actor, and even after Gable became a major star he still denounced acting as a "sissy" occupation. Gable became a Freemason in 1933 just to please his father. However, he showed no grief when his father died aged 78 from a heart attack on 4 August 1948, having outlived his three wives. Died on the first birthday of his granddaughter, Maria. In 1949 he served as a pallbearer at the funeral of director Victor Fleming , whom he considered something of a father figure. Turned down Robert Mitchum 's role in Home from the Hill (1960). He was so disappointed by the critical and commercial failure of Adventure (1945) that he did not agree to make another film until more than a year had passed.

Fortunately, The Hucksters (1947) proved to be a success and his performance was acclaimed. Although discharged from the US Army Air Force early in 1944, he refused to make another movie until the war had ended. Watched very little television except boxing matches. Had a fear of flying, and made all long journeys across America by train. Grandfather of Kayley Gable . He was already good friends with Hattie McDaniel prior to their making Gone with the Wind (1939) together, and wanted her to play the part of "Mammy", but it was her coming fully dressed and nailing the part that got her the coveted role. When it came time for the premiere on December 15, 1939, producer David O. Selznick attempted to bring along McDaniel. MGM advised him not to because of Georgia's strict segregation laws, which would have prevented McDaniel from being at the same function, on an equal basis, with whites. Gable was so outraged he told MGM he would not attend the premiere unless she was allowed to attend, also. She eventually convinced him to attend without her.

In the late 1940s MGM wanted to cast him alongside Angela Lansbury in a drama to be called "Angel's Flight" but Gable strongly disliked the storyline and the studio canceled the picture. He appeared in three Best Picture Academy Award winners, the first two of which were in consecutive years: It Happened One Night (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Gone with the Wind (1939). Wallis Clark also appeared in all three films. Gable was a chain smoker by the time he was sixteen. He was known to smoke 3 or 4 packs of cigarettes a day as an adult. He declined an offer to make a film with Errol Flynn , as Flynn was eight years younger than him. He was the second husband of Carole Lombard while his Manhattan Melodrama (1934) co-star William Powell was her first husband. Played the part of newspaper reporter in nine films, more than any other kind of role. Recovering alcoholic Spencer Tracy tried to avoid Gable when he was trying to stay off drink, as Gable was always surrounded by alcohol.

Personal Quotes (42) The only reason they come to see me is that I know that life is great - and they know I know it. [on his acting ability] I worked like a son of a bitch to learn a few tricks and I fight like a steer to avoid getting stuck with parts I can't play. This "King" stuff is pure bullshit. I eat and sleep and go to the bathroom just like everybody else. There's no special light that shines inside me and makes me a star. I'm just a lucky slob from Ohio. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I had a lot of smart guys helping me--that's all. Working with Marilyn Monroe on The Misfits (1961) nearly gave me a heart attack. I have never been happier when a film ended. [about The Misfits (1961)] This is the best picture I have made, and it's the only time I've been able to act. Hell, if I'd jumped on all the dames I'm supposed to have jumped on, I'd have had no time to go fishing.

The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He's got to have some inner standards worth fighting for or there won't be any way to bring him into conflict. And he must be ready to choose death before dishonor without making too much song and dance about it. That's all there is to it. It is an extra dividend when you like the girl you've fallen in love with. I hate a liar. Maybe because I'm such a good one myself, heh? Anyway, to find someone has told an out-and-out lie puts him on the other side of the fence from me for all time. I'm no actor and I never have been. What people see on the screen is me. [on rumors he was dull in bed] I can't emote worth a damn. Everything Marilyn [ Marilyn Monroe ] does is different from any other woman, strange and exciting, from the way she talks to the way she uses that magnificent torso. [on Spencer Tracy ] The guy's good. There's nobody in the business who can touch him, and you're a fool to try.

And the bastard knows it, so don't fall for that humble stuff! Every picture I make, every experience of my private life, every lesson I learn are the keys to my future. And I have faith in it. I am intrigued by glamorous women . . . A vain woman is continually taking out a compact to repair her makeup. A glamorous woman knows she doesn't need to. [about Gary Cooper ] Coop is a right guy, the kind you like to hunt and fish with and not talk about making movies. I laid it on him one time about his romance with Carole [ Carole Lombard , Gable's wife] and he got pale as hell. She told me about it during a drunken argument we had. After that, Coop and I didn't hunt together so much and when we did, we kept an eye on each other. She used to throw him up to me in my face and that was hard to take, especially since I didn't know the whole truth until years later. I got to admit I was jealous. [on playing Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939)] I discovered that Rhett was even harder to play than I had anticipated.

With so much of Scarlett preceding his entrance, Rhett's scenes were all climaxes. There was a chance to build up to Scarlett, but Rhett represented drama and action every time he appeared. He didn't figure in any of the battle scenes, being a guy who hated war, amid he wasn't in the toughest of the siege of Atlanta shots. What I was fighting for was to hold my own in the first half of the picture--which is all Vivien's [ Vivien Leigh ]--because I felt that after the scene with the baby, Bonnie, Rhett could control the end of the film. That scene where Bonnie dies, and the scene where I strike Scarlett and she accidentally tumbles down stairs, thus losing her unborn child, were the two that worried me most. Types really don't matter. I have been accused of preferring blondes. But I have known some mighty attractive redheads, brunettes, and yes, women with grey hair. Age, height, weight haven't anything to do with glamour. [on Jean Harlow ] She didn't want to be famous. She wanted to be happy. I bring to a role everything I am, was and hope to be.

This power that I'm supposed to have over women was never noticed when I was a stage actor on Broadway. I don't know when I got it. And by God, I can't explain it. I don't believe I'm king of anything, but I know why they like to think I am. I'm not much of an actor, but I'm not bad unless it's one of those things outside my comprehension. I work hard. I'm no Adonis, and I'm as American as the telephone poles I used to climb to make a living. So men don't get sore if their women folks like me on the screen. I'm one of them, they know it, so it's a compliment to them. They see me broke, in trouble, scared of things that go bump in the night, but I come out fighting. They see me making love to Jean Harlow or Claudette Colbert and they say, 'If he can do it, I can do it,' and figure it'll be fun to go home and to make love to their wives. [in 1958] My days of playing the dashing lover are over. I'm no longer believable in those parts.

There has been considerable talk about older guys wooing and winning leading ladies half their age. I don't think the public likes it, and I don't care for it myself. It's not realistic. Actresses that I started out with like Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck have long since quit playing glamor girls and sweet young things. Now it's time I acted my age. Let's be honest. It's a character role, and I'll be playing more of them. There's a risk involved, of course. I have no idea if I can attain the success as a character actor as I did playing the dashing young lover, but it's a chance I have to take. Not everybody is able to do it. I don't want a lot of strangers looking down at my wrinkles and my big fat belly when I'm dead. When I die, don't let them make a circus out of it. Method actors are like hams. If any child of mine becomes an actor I will turn in my grave. The public interest in my playing Rhett [in Gone with the Wind (1939)] puzzled me. I was the only one, apparently, who didn't take it for granted that I would.

I found myself trapped by a series of circumstances over which I had no control. It was a funny feeling. I think I know now how a fly must react after being caught in a spider's web. Scarlett doesn't always love Rhett. It's the first time that the girl isn't sure that she wants me from the minute she sets eyes on me. Single men never have any problems. I suppose that the public builds some kind of idea from what they've seen of me on the screen. I don't discuss women at all with anyone. There are good qualities in all women. Some may be lacking in some of these qualities and should have them. I'm liable to say so and hurt their feelings, and it wouldn't be meant that way at all. I was scared, when I discovered that I had been cast by the public. I felt that every reader would have a different idea as to how Rhett should be played on the screen, and I didn't see how I could please everybody. ["Miami News" article 1939 on public reaction to Gone with the Wind (1939)] Damn it. I never conceived of this.

When I rode through Atlanta's streets today it wasn't like an opening at Grauman's Chinese at Hollywood. It wasn't like anything I ever experienced in my life. It was almost too big for me to take. For the first time I actually realized I wasn't Clark Gable to Atlanta, but Rhett Butler [laughs] . . . and I hope to heaven when I leave here tomorrow night, after everybody has seen the picture, that I leave as Rhett Butler and not Clark Gable. [In 1932] I have been in show business for 12 years. They have known me in Hollywood but two. Yet as picture-making goes, two years is a long time. Nevertheless, my advice has never been asked about a part in a picture. I found out I was going into "Susan Lenox" in Del Monte. Read it in a paper. When I walked on the set one day, they told me I was going to play Red Dust (1932) in place of John Gilbert . I have never been consulted as to what part I would like to play. I am paid not to think. I was pretty sore because they insisted on taping my ears back.

One day, in a scene with [ Greta Garbo ], the tape snapped loose and one ear flapped in the breeze. That was the end of the taping. They see me as an ordinary guy, like a construction worker or the guy who delivers your piano. It's a chain of accidents. When you step into Hollywood, you wind yourself into thousands of chains of accidents. If all of the thousands happen to come out exactly right - and the chance of that figures out to be one in eight million - then you'll be a star. [on playing Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)] The character is a pansy. And I'm not going to be seen wearing a pigtail and knickers. [on Carole Lombard ] After we got married, I asked her what she wanted more than anything. We were looking over the property and she said, "I'd like manure for the bottom thirty." And she meant it, too. [on The Misfits (1961)] The title sums up this mess. [ Arthur Miller , [ Marilyn Monroe ]and [ Montgomery Clift ]--they don't know what the hell they're doing. We don't belong in the same room together.

[What he wants on his tombstone] "He was lucky and he knew it". [on his preference for brothels] When it's over it's over. No questions, no tears, no farewell kisses. When I came to town 25 years ago my six feet, two inches were considered pretty high up. But year by year they keep coming in - taller and taller. Today, it would appear than an actor under six feet is virtually a runt. (1955) Salary (19) BIOGRAPHY: Clark Gable Lifetime twitter BIOGRAPHY Having met on a film set, the matinee idol and his 'funny girl' made the perfect Hollywood couple. But their blissful marriage ended in tragedy... Clark Gable was born in Ohio, to William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller, and Adeline in 1901. His mother baptised him as a Catholic and died of a brain tumour when he was just seven months old. He was heavily influenced by his stepmother Jeannie, who his dad married in 1903, as she brought Clark up to be a well-behaved and well-dressed gentleman.

She also taught him how to play the piano and at the age of 13, he was the only boy in the town's Men's Band. At the age of 16 he quit high school and was inspired to become an actor after seeing the play 'Birds of Paradise'. However, he couldn't start this career until he inherited some money at the age of 21. Following the death of his stepmother, Gable's father had financial difficulties so Clarke worked at a tire factory. In 1924, he moved to Hollywood with his theatre coach Josephine Dillon, who was 17 years his senior. She paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She also trained him to lower his voice and achieve better body posture. In Hollywood, she became his manager and first wife. They divorced in 1930 and Gable married Maria Langham, who was also 17 years his senior. Famed for his charm and knowing smile, Gable worked as an extra in Hollywood before making his film debut as an archetypal villain in the western 'The Painted Desert' in 1931.

He starred in films for various companies, until he signed a contract with MGM that lasted for twenty-three years. His on-screen appeal meant that early in his career he was playing the leading man, opposite such actresses as Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo. The 1930s saw him at the peak of his acting ability and his popular appeal. Crawford even asked for Gable to co-star with her in the 1931 film 'Dance, Fools, Dance' while the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in 'Free Soul' in the same year. He attracted public acclaim for his unshaven lovemaking with Rita Hayworth in the 1932 film 'Red Dust'. His performance in 'It Happened One Night', which was made in 1934 when MGM had loaned the actor to Columbia Studios as a punishment for refusing to make a film with MGM, earned him a 'Best Actor' Oscar, and in 1937 he was crowned King of Hollywood. Directors knew that with Clark Gable they were assured a box-office hit.

1939 saw Gable play perhaps his most famous role, Rhett Butler to Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara in the civil war epic 'Gone With The Wind'. He got to utter the famous last line, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn". He divorced his second wife in 1939 after fathering a child with actress Loretta Young, with whom he appeared in 'Call of the Wild' in 1935. The same year he married his third wife, actress Carole Lombard, and for a time they were considered the golden couple of Hollywood. Sadly, Lombard died in a plane crash in 1942. After his service in the war, Gable returned to the big screen as a leading man. Some say that after Carole Lombard's tragic death his sadness became evident in his acting, and in the fading of his all-important smile. Even though his work in the 1940s and 50s didn't shine in the same way as his earlier work, he continued to be a box-office draw.

In 1949 he married Douglas Fairbanks' widow Silvia Ashley but they divorced in 1952. He wed Kay Williams, who had been a former sweetheart, in 1955 and he became stepfather to her two children. Marilyn Monroe was his last on-screen partner. His role as a troubled cowboy in 'The Misfits' in 1961 proved to be his last. Shortly after they finished filming, he died of a heart attack. His wife Kay gave birth to their first child in March 1961, after his death, and named him John Clark Gable. Clark Gable (1901 - 1960) - Find A Grave Memorial Los Angeles County California, USA Actor. Born under the name William Clark Gable, his early life was ordinary, unhappy and confusing. Two towns claim him as a native son, Cadiz, Ohio and Meadville, Pennsylvania. His mother died when he was but a few months of age. He attended the Hopedale Schoolhouse in Hopedale, Ohio, which then was both a grammar and high school housed in the same building located on a hilltop directly behind the family residence.

With his family, William attended Hopedale Methodist Church where his father was a Sunday School teacher. A poor student, he became a school dropout leaving home to take a job with Firestone Tire in Akron, Ohio. The biggest attractions in the city for William Gable were movies and especially the Akron Music Hall where a stock company was doing a live performance. He hung around the hall until landing an unsalaried position. He found out what he wanted to be and no amount of adversity, hardship or negative opinion would ever change his mind. A long indirect journey to Hollywood began with many odd jobs along the way leading him to Portland, Oregon. He landed a job with a stock company gaining valuable training from the woman who would become his wife and lead him to Hollywood and a career which spanned three decades with appearances in 92 movies including "Gone With the Wind," one of the most popular film of all times. Gable won an Academy Award in 1934 for his role in "It Happened One Night." His third marriage to actress Carole Lombard ended with her tragic death at 33 in a plane crash in 1942 while participating in a bond drive.

Distraught, he withdrew from his career and though well over the draft age, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps becoming an aerial gunner during World War II flying in five bombing missions over Germany and received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. Discharged with the rank of Major, he returned to Hollywood and resumed film making. Two weeks after completing his last movie, "The Misfits," He suffered chest pains and was transported to Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles where he was diagnosed as having suffered a coronary thrombosis. On the ninth day of his confinement he was gone. Clark Gable was buried in a closed casket. An Episcopal service was led by an Air Force chaplain accompanied by an honor guard at the Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. His fifth wife Kay had arranged for him to be interred next to his third wife, Carole Lombard. A few weeks later she delivered a boy at the same hospital where his father died. (bio by: Donald Greyfield) Clark Gable - Hollywood Star Walk - Los Angeles Times Hollywood Star Walk Died Nov.

16, 1960 of heart attack in Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, CA Clark Gable was, for a long time, the undisputed king of Hollywood and one of its highest-paid stars. He broke into the movies after a fling as a roustabout in the Texas and Oklahoma oil fields. Under the tutelage of his first wife, Josephine Dillon, who operated an acting clinic in Hollywood coaching stage actors for the movies, Gable acquired acting polish that soon shot him to stardom. Gable's film career included an Academy Award-winning performance in "It Happened One Night" (1934). He was nominated for Oscars for his performances in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) and "Gone With the Wind" (1939). Other well-known films of his are "Hell Divers" (1931), "Strange Interlude" (1932), "Call of the Wild" (1935), "The Hucksters" (1947), "Command Decision" (1948), "Teacher's Pet" (1958) and "Too Hot to Handle" (1938).

Gable was known in Hollywood circles as a "loner" despite his brash movie roles and rugged, he-man appearance. On the screen, he made women swoon and said he had received 5,000 marriage proposals by mail. He was married five times. At the time of his unexpected death — which came shortly after he finished filming the final scenes for "The Misfits" with Marilyn Monroe — his wife Kay was pregnant. — The Los Angeles Times Nov, 17, 1960 Related 11 thoughts about Clark Gable “ What about the love of his life Carole Lombard?? No mention of her. You can't talk about Clark without mentioning Carole. And OMG YES Clark certainly deserves his 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' ” — Danita, March 17, 2010 at 12:21 p.m. “ 12/6/2010 I never met Clark Gable but I lived in San Gabriel where Clark Gable and wife lived in about two acres of land. The acreage is gone but the house is still there and has visiting hours. I was in grammer school and passed by there everyday.

It seemed like a big jungle to me with all the trees and bushes. ” — Walt Cobos, December 5, 2010 at 8:27 a.m. “ Of course Clark Gable deserves this star on the Walk of Fame. If he doesn't, I don't know who does! ” — Rich Gordon, January 19, 2011 at 2:16 p.m. “ Clark Gable will always be known as one of the gods of old Hollywood, along with the likes of Humphry Bogart and Gary Cooper. If he didn't have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame than nobody should. Gable is the quintessential movie star. ” — Dan Ehle, May 22, 2011 at 2:34 a.m. “ I never met Clark Gable but one of my fondest teen-age memories is when we passed each other on the escalator at the old Broadway Hollywood Department Store at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. He was 57 or 58 at the time and yes, he really was that good looking even at that time of his life.

Never spoke a word to him but seeing him that one time has provided a memory that has lasted over half a century. Other people with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame connected to Gable? Just about anybody who worked at the same time. Carole Lombard, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Bette Davis, Norma Shearer, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe, just to mention a few. Another place that was important to Gable outside of Hollywood was the ranch that he and Lombard owned in Encino in the San Fernando Valley, about twenty miles from Hollywood. They are not to be considered as "Valley Gentry". They actually worked the ranch as much as they made movies. The house is still there. Does Gable deserve a star on the Walk of Fame? Does that question need to be asked? ” — David Swan, September 23, 2011 at 9:24 a.m. “ Clark Gable makes my heart skip a beat today even though he died forty five years before I was born. I could watch anything with him in it; he lights up the screen. He deserves a thousand stars!

” — Helen, May 28, 2012 at 3:13 p.m. “ I think Clark Gable is the most glamorous husband in the world. He has such charm, cool and masculinity that really shocks the audience. ” — Brigid Park, June 18, 2013 at 10:13 p.m. “ I think Clark Gable is a legendary movie star with a good look and lots of grace!! ” — Brigid, June 20, 2013 at 2:28 a.m. “ he was good actor loved his movies he should have been born later and lived longer ” — Honey lalumondiere, November 17, 2014 at 12:28 a.m. “ I never met him but I would loved to have been in his presence once. All of the other stars should have some connection with him. They could have learned something. All of the world should be important to him. He was important and admired by all who saw him. He should have the biggest star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

” — BettyS, January 2, 2015 at 10:37 a.m. “ They don't make them like Clark any more. Those were the golden years ” — Sherry Clark, January 2, 2015 at 11:33 a.m. Share a thought about Clark Gable Did you ever meet Clark Gable? Share your memory. Which other stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame have connections to Clark Gable? Are other places in the world important to Clark Gable? Does Clark Gable deserve this star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? If you enter anything in this field your comment will be treated as spam Name

Question: Which movie was Clark Gable making when he died?
Answer: The Misfits