Clark Gable's grandson died of fentanyl OD, coroner says
Martha Ross mross@bayareanewsgroup.com
Clark Gable III, who never met his screen legend grandfather Clark Gable, died of the same opioid involved in the deaths of Prince, Mac Miller and Lil Peep.
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The Mercury News
Clark Gable III, who long struggled with substance abuse and being the grandson of a screen legend he never met, died Feb. 22 from an overdose of drugs that included fentanyl, the same high-powered opioid involved in the deaths of Prince, Mac Miller and Lil Peep.

That’s according to an autopsy from the medical examiner’s office in Dallas County, Texas, where Clark Gable’s only known grandson lived, TMZ reported. The 30-year-old model and aspiring actor, who had inherited his grandfather’s famous good looks, was found unresponsive in his bed at his Dallas home by his fiancee, according to Variety and other reports. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The autopsy said the overdose was caused by the combined effects of the opioids fentanyl and oxycodone, as well as the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam, best known as Xanax, TMZ reported.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is similar to morphine and heroin but is 50 to 100 times more potent, and it’s typically reserved for people with severe pain following surgery or for patients needing palliative care, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

The medical examiner also said that Gable III had a history of abusing marijuana, alcohol and Xanax, TMZ added.

After Gable III’s death, his mother, Tracy Yarro Scheff, wrote on Instagram: “It’s … with an extremely heavy heart we say goodbye to my beautiful son Clark.”

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Gable III, also known as Clark James Gable, was the father of a baby girl, Shore LaRae Gable, born in 2017. When he died, he was trying to find his way into an industry that made his grandfather rich and famous. Gable III probably is best known for hosting several seasons of “Cheaters,” a reality TV show that showed him confronting people on TV for committing adultery.

Sadly, the young actor’s death opened a window into Clark Gable’s painful family legacy.

Gable, the handsome, rakish “King of Hollywood” in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, may have been considered a model of 20th century American masculinity. But for various reasons, the mustachioed “Gone With the Wind” star struggled with one traditional male role: becoming a father.

Gable never knew his only son, the father of Gable III. He also never acknowledged a secret love-child daughter. Gable died in November 1960 of a fatal arterial blood clot following a heart attack; shortly before his death, he wrapped up the physically demanding work of filming “The Misfits” with Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift.

His only son, John Clark Gable, was born four months after his father’s death. John Clark Gable was the son of Gable’s fifth wife, model and socialite Kay Gable.

It turns out that Gable had at least one other child. In 1994, a former actress named Judy Lewis revealed in a memoir that she was the secret love child of Clark Gable and actress Loretta Young, the New York Times reported. When Gable was married to his second wife, he and the unmarried Young, then 22, had an affair while working on the 1935 film “Call of the Wild.”

Young, who was devoutly Catholic, decided to have the baby but hide the truth about her daughter’s parentage. For decades, she passed off her love child with Gable as an orphan whom she adopted.

Gable III’s death also made public some raw, hard feelings among Clark Gable’s descendants.

In a Facebook post, Gable III’s sister, Kayley, revealed two generations of apparent dysfunction and possible substance abuse. She shared texts, purportedly written by their father, John Clark Gable, in which he accused his son and daughter of using their grandfather’s name “in disgrace.” John Clark Gable also refused to pay for the costs of his son’s funeral and said he didn’t want him buried next to Clark Gable in the family plot at Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Kayley Gable responded by threatening to write a tell-all that would let the world know “the truth” about their apparently messed-up family.

As it turns out, Gable III was buried next to his maternal grandparents in Provo, Utah, on March 9, Kayley Gable revealed on Facebook.

Meanwhile, John Clark Gable had made headlines for his own alleged misuse of substances. In 2013, he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence after hitting several parked cars in Malibu, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies suspected he was “on drugs,” the Times added.