Clark Gable

Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960)

He was often regarded as The King of Hollywood or just simply as The King. Gable began his career as a stage actor and appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926, and progressed to supporting roles with a few films for MGM in 1931. The next year he landed his first leading Hollywood role and became a leading man in more than 60 motion pictures over the next three decades. Gable was arguably best known for his role as Rhett Butler in the epic Gone with the Wind (1939), for which he received his third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was also nominated for leading roles in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and he won for It Happened One Night (1934).[2] Gable found further success commercially and critically with films like Red Dust (1932), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), San Francisco (1936), Saratoga (1937) Boom Town (1940), The Hucksters (1947) Homecoming (1948) and The Misfits (1961) which was his final screen appearance (as well as Marilyn Monroe's). Gable's marriage in 1939 to his third wife, actress Carole Lombard (1908–1942), was the happiest period of his personal life. They met while filming 1932's No Man of Her Own, when Lombard was still married to actor William Powell, but their romance did not take off until 1936. They became reacquainted at a party and soon were inseparable. It was Gable's role in Gone with the Wind that allowed him to pay for his divorce, in order to marry Lombard. When she died in a plane crash in 1942, Gable was emotionally and physically devastated. After Lombard's death, Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, being promoted to major in 1944. Adolf Hitler favored Gable above all other actors. During World War II, Hitler offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and bring Gable to him unscathed.

After the war, Gable resumed his acting career, starring in such films as Mogambo and The Misfits. He died on November 16, 1960, from a coronary thrombosis, ten days after suffering a severe heart attack at age 59. There was speculation that Gable's physically demanding role in The Misfits contributed to his sudden death soon after filming was completed. Clark Gable is buried next to Carole Lombard at Forest Lawn-Glendale.