Clark Gable Bio
Clark Gable Biography Nuggets: Born: 2/1/01 Caditz, OH  Died: 11/16/60 Early Life:           -His mother died when he was an infant.  His father was very tough on Clark, calling him a sissy &...
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Clark Gable Biography Nuggets:

Born: 2/1/01 Caditz, OH

Died: 11/16/60

Early Life:

-His mother died when he was an infant. His father was very tough on Clark, calling him a sissy & weak, a practice that was only exacerbated by Clark choosing to be an actor. As an adult Clark paid for his father's home in LA and generally supported him, even though he continued to rail against Clark's occupation

-Gable left home at 15 and worked a series of jobs, including on an oil rig. Turned to acting in a volunteer role in local theatres in Northwest. His first wife was his acting teacher, Josephine Dillon, who was 15 years his senior. He was 23 at the time. They divorced in 1930. A year later he married another woman who was more than 15 years older than him. She would extract more than $500,000 from Gable under terms of their divorce, partly funded by MGM as an advance on Gable's contract.

-1920's spent in touring theatre and on Broadway.

Pre-Fame:

-A screen test for Warner Bros. was seen by Darryl Zanuck who commented that Gables ears made him look like a ape and therefore he rejected the test.

-Gable's first paid film part was for Ernst Lubitsch (Design For Living ('33), Trouble in Paradise ('32), Ninotchka ('39) in 1923's Forbidden Paradise.

-David Bret, in his book Clark Gable: Tortured Star asserts that Gable practiced "gay for pay" homosexual relationships to advance his career in the 1920's and was bi-sexual throughout his life.

-Signed by Irving Thalberg at MGM in 1930. $650 per week on a 1 year probationary contract. The Easiest Way ('31) was his first MGM movie.

-Painted Desert ('30) movie that got him noticed by audiences.

-Sporting Blood was the first picture with Gable headlining.

-Fearing a return the poverty of his youth & teenage years, Gable was a notorious cheapskate his entire life.

-Gable had all his natural teeth removed due to gum disease. This & cheap dentures led to his chronic halitosis.

The King of Hollywood:

-Made 8 movies with Joan Crawford & had an on again/off again affair with her for more than 15 years. She is said to have described her first meeting with Gable "When we first met it was like an electric current going through my whole body."

-Gable also made 7 films with Myrna Loy, 6 with Jean Harlow & 3 with Norma Shearer.

-Gable was considered by Thalberg for the part of Tarzan that eventually went to Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller.

-Made 12 movies in 1931 alone, including Night Nurse as the villainous driver Nick, among other early "heavy roles."

-He & Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM never cared much for each other. Mayer described Gable as "a passing fad. A gigolo with brash knuckles." Mayer's loan outs of Gable, as punishment for asking for a raise, backfired with It Happened One Night, when Gable won an Oscar. His loan out to Paramount for No Man of Her Own resulted in the only onscreen pairing of Gable's 3rd wife and love of his life, Carole Lombard.

-Upon completing No Man of Her Own Lombard gave Gable a large ham with his picture superimposed on it to indicate her feelings about his acting abilities. It was all done in gest

-While making Call of the Wild Gable had a sexual encounter with Loretta Young that resulted in a child. Whether the sex was consensual has always been a matter for debate. After putting the child up for adoption, Young reclaimed the child as an infant & raised her. Gable met the child twice, but she was born with his ears, which were cosmetically altered later in her life.

-Gable was a Top 10 Box Office performer from 1932-1939, finishing second to Shirley Temple from 36-39.

-Superman's name came from combining Clark Gable & Kent Taylor's (B movie actor) names.

Marriage to Carole Lombard:

-Became romantically interested in each other after becoming reacquainted at charity ball organized by Lombard. He spirited her away in his convertable, only to be turned down when he invited her to his hotel room. Disappointed, he returned her to the party only to awake the following morning with Doves flying around the hotel room, a peace offering from Lombard.

-Lombard & Gable referred to each other as "ma" & "pa", which dated back to the No Man of Her Own set.

-3 Year courtship was the result of a recalcitrant Mrs. Gable, who would not grant a divorce until she was rightfully compensated. She went to far as to hire private detectives to follow Gable & conspired with Louis B. Mayer to keep Gable in line. Gable paid nearly 1/2 of his salary to her while they were separated.

-Open secret of their romance was splashed across fan magazines weekly, but never overtly spoken about. They were oten photographed together "as friends."

-The couple sneaked away to Kingman, AZ to get married, driving round trip to avoid press or public attention.

-Lombard paid $50,000 cash for the ranch they would live in once married because Gable was largely broke after his divorce. The ranch had previously been owned by Raoul Walsh, a Gable friend.

-Lombard largely tolerated Gable's affairs/one night stands while they were married, but insisted he never cavort with his leading lady, even positioning herself on set while he worked with Lana Turner on Honky Tonk ('41), who made it known that she would have loved to bed Gable.

-Gable chaired the Hollywood Victory committee that assigned Lombard to the war bond rally in Indianapolis that would lead to her death in a plane crash in January 1942.

Gone With the Wind:

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Later Career:

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