Kay Spreckels (11 July 1955 -
16 November 1960) (his death)
Sylvia Ashley (20 December 1949
- 21 April 1952) (divorced)
Carole Lombard (29 March 1939
- 16 January 1942) (her death)
Ria Langham (19 June 1931 - 4
March 1939) (divorced)
Josephine Dillon (13 December
1924 - 1 April 1930) (divorced)
Children:
John Clark Gable born after his
father's death on March 20, 1961.
Judy Lewis is Gable's
illegitimate daughter by actress Loretta Young. She was born November 6, 1935.
Nicknames: Gabe, The King
Salary for Gone With the Wind:
$120,000
Height: 6'1"
Quotes:
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."
"The only reason they come to
see me is that I know that life is great -- and they know I know it."
David O. Selznick: "Oh, Gable
has enemies all right, but they all like him!"
A former girlfriend: "Of course,
Clark never really married anyone. A number of women married him; he just
went along for the gag."
Mini-bio
He lost his mother when he
was ten months old. He quit high school and went to work in an Akron
tire factory. Gable decided to become an actor after seeing the play "The
Bird of Paradise". He toured in stock companies, worked oil fields and
sold ties.
In 1924 he reached Hollywood with the help of Portland, Oregon theatre manager Josephine Dillon, who was his acting coach and first wife, 12 years his senior.
Lionel Barrymore suggested to MGM's Irving Thalberg that Gable be screen tested after seeing him in the play "The Last Mile". when Thalberg viewed the screen test he said,
"Look at those big, bat-like ears! Forget it, Lionel!". MGM eventually hired him. His on screen sparks with Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) made him MGM's most important star.
As punishment for refusing an assignment; he was loaned out to Columbia where he won a Best Actor Oscar for It Happened One Night (IHON) (1934). He was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939).
When his third wife Carole Lombard died in a plane crash in 1942 while returning from a War Bond drive, a grief-stricken Gable joined the Army Air Corps.
When he returned from his service in WWII his first movie, Adventure (1945), was promoted with the slogan, "Gable's Back and Garson's Got Him!". However, the film didn't
grab the attention of the critics. MGM eventually regarded his salary as
excessive and did not renew his contract.
He made a series of lackluster films, (for the most part), through the rest of the '40's and '50's.
He delighted in his 1955 marriage to Kay Spreckels and loved playing the role of "Pa" to her two children from a previous marriage.
He announced during filming of The Misfits (1961) that he was to become a father. He died of a heart attack without ever seeing his son, John Clark Gable, who was born four months after his death. He was laid to rest beside Carole Lombard at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Filmography:
1. Misfits, The (1961) -- Gay
Langland
2. It Started in Naples (1960)
-- Michael Hamilton
3. But Not for Me (1959) -- Russ
Ward
4. Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
-- Commander Richardson
5. Teacher's Pet (1958) -- James
Gannon
6. Band of Angels (1957) -- Hamish
Bond
7. King and Four Queens, The (1956)
-- Dan Kehoe
8. Soldier of Fortune (1955) --
Hank Lee
9. Tall Men, The (1955) -- Ben
Allison
10. Betrayed (1954) -- Col. Pieter
Deventer
11. Never Let Me Go (1953) --
Philip Sutherland
12. Mogambo (1953) -- Victor
Marswell
13. Callaway Went Thataway (1951)
-- Cameo
14. Across the Wide Missouri (1951)
-- Flint Mitchell
15. Lone Star (1951) -- Devereaux
Burke
16. Key to the City (1950) --
Steve Fisk
17. To Please a Lady (1950) --
Mike Brannan
18. Any Number Can Play (1949)
-- Charley Enley Kyng
19. Command Decision (1948) --
General K. C. "Casey" Dennis
20. Homecoming (1948) -- Ulysses
Delby Johnson
21. Hucksters, The (1947) --
Victor Albee Norman
22. Adventure (1945) -- Harry
Patterson
23. Combat America (1943) --
Himself/Narrator
24. Show Business at War (1943)
-- Himself
25. Wings Up (1943) (voice) --
Narrator
26. Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)
-- Jonny Davis
27. Honky Tonk (1941) -- 'Candy'
Johnson
28. They Met in Bombay (1941) --
Gerald Meldrick
29. You Can't Fool a Camera (1941)
(uncredited) -- Himself
30. Boom Town (1940) -- Big John
McMasters
31. Strange Cargo (1940) -- Verne
32. Comrade X (1940) -- McKinley
B. Thompson
33. Gone with the Wind (1939) --
Rhett Butler
34. Idiot's Delight (1939) --
Harry Van
35. Test Pilot (1938) -- Jim
Lane
36. Too Hot to Handle (1938) --
Chris Hunter
37. Saratoga (1937) -- Duke Bradley
38. Parnell (1937) -- Charles
Stewart Parnell
39. Love on the Run (1936) --
Michael Anthony
40. San Francisco (1936) -- Blackie
Norton
41. Wife vs. Secretary (1936) --
Van Stanhope
42. Cain and Mabel (1936) --
Larry Cain
43. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
-- Fletcher Christian
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