Clark Gable: His Life and Career

Clark Gable was known as The King long before Elvis Presley was. He was the top box office leading man of the 1930s.

Clark Gable was known as The King long before Elvis Presley was. He was the top box office leading man of the 1930s. From Judy Garland singing "Dear Mr Gable" in Broadway Melody of 1937 to fans demanding he play Rhett Butler, Gable was, and is, one of the most beloved movie stars of all time. He had an amazing life, marked with huge successes and devastating defeats. He was The King, and he lived life on his terms.

Clark Gable was born in 1901. His mother died 7 months after giving birth. He dropped out of school at age 16, worked odd jobs and did some small town stage acting until arriving in Hollywood during the 1920s. He appeared in several silent films in very small roles. So insignificant were his silent film roles that he did not get any film acting roles for 5 years. In 1931 he made his first talking film, The Painted Dessert. Joan Crawford took notice of him and helped him get a role in Dance, Fools, Dance later that year.

Although he appeared in a dozen movies in 1931, it was not until he was paired with Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) that he began to attract a huge audience. That same year, he worked with comic great Carole Lombard in No Man of Her Own. He was currently married to wife number 2. She was likewise then married, to actor William Powell. Gable and Lombard would not get married until 1939.

In 1934, Gable found himself at odds with MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer. To punish him for being defiant of his authority, Mayer loaned Gable to Columbia, a much smaller studio, to work on a comedy called It Happened One Night with Claudette Colbert. The idea was for Gable to learn to appreciate the perks of working for a large important movie studio. In director Frank Capra's autobiography, he describes Gable as arriving to his first day of work drunk. Capra then scolded Gable who became more cooperative the rest of the shoot. It Happened One Night went on to win Gable a Academy Award for best actor as well as become the first movie to win all four big Oscar awards; Actor, Actress, Picture and Director.

With the success of It Happened One Night, Gable was offered more important roles at MGM. He appeared in films based on classic literature like Mutiny on The Bounty (1935) in which he received an Academy Award nomination and The Call of The Wild, also made in 1935.

While filming The Call of the Wild, Gable and co-star Loretta Young began an affair and she ended up giving birth to Gable’s first child, a daughter, Judy. The birth was kept a huge secret as Gable was married and Young’s screen image was hardly that of a woman who had an illegitimate child with a married man. As far as the public knew, Young had adopted a baby girl and she was given the last name of Young’s soon to be husband, Lewis. Young recounted having to make her daughter wear hats whenever photographers were around so as to cover her daughters large ears that she inherited from her father. Gable would rarely see his daughter. Judy Lewis grew up to do some stage and television acting before becoming a licensed clinical psychotherapist.

When MGM announced it was turning Gone With The Wind into a movie, every actress in town, including Carole Lombard, petitioned and auditioned for the role of Scarlett O’Hara. The public demanded, via letters and polls, that Clark Gable play the role of Rhett Butler. Gable was not at all anxious to play Rhett. He saw it as a supporting role. Finally, it was announced that he would play the part but he would not use a southern accent. Gone With The Wind went on to become one of, if not the, greatest movies ever filmed. Gable’s final line, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” is one of the most memorable lines ever spoken in a movie. Gable showed up at the premeire, with Carole Lombard, drunk. Much to the dismay of author Margeret Mitchell.

Gable starred with Marilyn Monroe in his last film, The Misfits.

In 1942, after so much success and good fortune, tragedy struck as Carole Lombard died in a plane crash while on a war bonds selling tour. Gable then took a three year absence from movies to join the US Army Air Force and actually flew in combat missions in Europe. It was rumored that Adolf Hitler was a fan of Gables and offered an award to anyone who captured and brought him before him unharmed.

Gable returned to film making after the war. He still played the romantic lead, as in Mogambo (1958) and he stilled charmed the ladies in romantic comedies like Teacher's Pet (1958). His post war years also displayed some of his best dramatic work, such as, Command Decision, (1948) Run Silent Run Deep (1958) and The Misfits, (1961).

He was married briefly in the early 50s to wife number 4. In 1955 he married for the last to Kay Williams. While filming his last movie, The Misfits, with Marilyn Monroe, Kay announced she was pregnant. Clark Gable died, from a heart attack, shortly after filming was completed. He never laid his eyes on his only son, John Clark Gable. His body was laid to rest next to that of Carole Lombard's.