Clark Gable's mother died when he was seven months old. At 16 he quit high school, went to work in an Akron (Ohio) tire factory and 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 coached and later married him (she was 17 years his senior). After playing a few bit parts he returned to the stage, becoming lifelong friends with Lionel Barrymore. After several failed screen tests (for Barrymore and Darryl F. Zanuck), Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul the same year. His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust made him MGM's most important star. At one point he refused an assignment and the studio punished him by loaning him out to (at the time) low-rent Columbia Pictures, which put him in Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, which won him an Oscar. He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. When his third wife Carole Lombard died in a plane crash returning from a War Bond drive, a grief-stricken Gable joined the US Army Air Force and was off the screen for three years, flying combat missions in Europe. When he returned the studio regarded his salary as excessive and did not renew his contract. He freelanced, but his films didn't do well at the box office. He announced during filming of The Misfits that, for the first time, he was to become a father. Two months later he died of a heart attack. He was laid to rest beside Carole Lombard at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
The Misfits (1961): $750,000 + $58,000 for each week of overtime
Soldier of Fortune (1955): $100,000
Any Number Can Play (1949): $241,250
Gone with the Wind (1939): $120,000
Hold Your Man (1933): $2,000/week
Strange Interlude (1932): $2,000/week
Polly of the Circus (1932): $650/week
Hell Divers (1931): $650/week
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931): $650/week
Sporting Blood (1931): $650/week
A Free Soul (1931): $650/week
The Secret Six (1931): $650/week
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931): $650/week
The Painted Desert (1931): $750/week
Forbidden Paradise (1924): $7.50/day

Adolf Hitler esteemed the film star above all other actors, and during the war offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and return Gable unscathed to him. A few months after his death, his wife gave birth to John Clark Gable. John is into racing and has appeared in at least one film. Actress Judy Lewis is Clark's illegitimate daughter by actress Loretta Young. In the 1970s his Encino, California estate was subdivided and turned into a very upscale tract development called "Clark Gable Estates." Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Trust, on the left hand side, next to Carole Lombard. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#36). [1995] It was at Gable's 36th birthday that Judy Garland sang "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You." Gable's first two wives - Josephine Dillon and Ria Langham - were 14 and 17 years older than he was, respectively. In the summer of 1942, Clark enlisted in the army in honor of his late wife, Carole Lombard. She had been killed in a plane crash while on tour selling war bonds. When he was first cast in It Happened One Night opposite Claudette Colbert, he told director Frank Capra that he would give the role a shot, but if things weren't going well after a few days, he would leave the production. So durable, he could play the same role in both an original (_Red Dust (1932)_ ) with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor, and its re-make (Mogambo) with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. When he was born he was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. He disliked Greta Garbo, a feeling that was mutual. She thought his acting was wooden while he considered her a snob. Playing a cowboy in his last film, The Misfits, which was also the final film for co-star Marilyn Monroe, the aging Gable diligently performed his own stunts, taking its toll on his already guarded health. He died from a heart attack before the film was released. Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued on 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp features Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. The other films honored were Beau Geste, Stagecoach, and The Wizard of Oz. Grandfather of Clark James Gable, who's the first child of his son John Clark Gable and his ex-wife Tracy Yarro. Clark James was born on September 10, 1988 at a hefty 10 lbs. Gable was dyslexic, a fact which didn't emerge until several years after his death. Cousin-in-law of William B. Hawks. Joined the Army Air Corps during the Second World War, and was commissioned an officer with service number 565390. Rose to the rank of captain and served primarily in Public Affairs, making training films and performing public relations visits to soldiers and airmen in Europe. As a native of Cadiz, Ohio, he was inducted into the Lou Holtz Museum/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in June 2004 (www.LouHoltzHallOfFame.com). He was seriously considered to play Tarzan in _Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)_ , but he was deemed an unknown and Johnny Weissmuller was chosen instead. He was voted the 8th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Was Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's inspiration for half of Superman's alter ego name Clark Kent ("Kent" came from Kent Taylor). He worked as a lumberman in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the early 1920s. After a couple of months of doing that, he quit, saying that "the work was too hard" and he would rather act instead. He then left to go to Hollywood, where he began his acting career. His widow, Kay Williams, divorced her previous husband, Adolph Spreckels Jr., heir to the Spreckels Sugar fortune, in 1952. In the divorce papers she alleged that he beat her with one of her slippers. His wife Sylvia Ashley was born Edith Louise Sylvia Hawkes in 1904. She was the widow of Douglas Fairbanks. Her first husband was Lord Anthony Ashley (they divorced November 28, 1934), her third was Lord Stanley of Alderney, and her fifth was Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (whom she married in 1954 and stayed married to until her death). She died June 29, 1977. Her grave stone refers to her as "Princess Sylvia Djordjadze." His widow, Kay Williams, was born August 7, 1916, and died in May of 1983. He was voted the 21st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Named the #7 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by the American Film Institute In some radio interviews at the end of his life, his voice has a haunting similarity to Walt Disney's. Served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II making training films. Also trained as an aerial gunner, he flew 5 combat missions with the 8th Air Force's 351st Bombardment Group (Heavy) while making his films and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. Is the subject of the song "Clark Gable" by The Postal Service. Is portrayed by James Brolin in Gable and Lombard, by Bruce Hughes and Shayne Greenman in _"Blonde" (2001) (mini)_ , by Charles Unwin in Lucy, by Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story, by Edward Winter in Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War, by Boyd Holister in Grace Kelly, by Gary Wayne in Malice in Wonderland and by Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story Military records on celebrities released by the Pentagon in 2005 reveal that Gable, upon enlistment, was described as a "motion picture specialist" and his weekly wage was listed as $7,500. A movie cameraman, Andrew J. McIntyre, enlisted along with Gable and trained with him, the documents showed. "In order to have something definite to describe and some tangible evidence of his experiences, it is proposed that there be enlisted his cameraman to be trained as an aerial gunner also who may make pictures of Gable in various theaters of operations," one Army memo said. Prior to making The Misfits, he crash-dieted from a bloated 230 lbs. to 195 lbs. Twice in the previous decade he had suffered seizures that might have been heart attacks; once, ten years earlier, while driving along a freeway he had chest pains so severe that he had to pull off the road and lie down on the ground until he felt well enough to continue on. Both parents were of German ancestry. Gave his Oscar for It Happened One Night to a child who admired it, telling him it was the winning of the statue that had mattered, not owning it. The child returned the Oscar to the Gable family after Clark's death. Had to have almost all of his teeth extracted due to pyorrhea. The infection would have killed him had he not been rushed to a private hospital for treatment. Underwent cosmetic surgery on his ears and teeth in 1933. Gable's first screen test was made by director Mervyn LeRoy for Warner Bros. When studio head Jack L. Warner and production chief Darryl F. Zanuck saw the test they were furious at LeRoy for wasting their money on that big "ape" with those "huge floppy ears". Years later when Gable made it big, LeRoy used to tease Warner and say, "How would you like to have him and those huge floppy ears now?" He served as a pallbearer and usher at Jean Harlow's funeral in 1937. In a poll of entertainment readers, he was overwhelmingly selected "King of Hollywood" and was officially crowned by columnist Ed Sullivan in 1938. When MGM remade Red Dust in 1953 as Mogambo, Ava Gardner played the Jean Harlow part, Grace Kelly had the Mary Astor role, and Gable played his old part. Only Gable could fill Gable's shoes, even 21 years later. At the time of his death, his gun collection was valued at half a million dollars. He had a special gun room in his house filled with gold-inlaid revolvers, shotguns and rifles. On 6 November 1960, Gable was devastated to learn of the unexpected death of his close friend Ward Bond from a heart attack. Shortly afterwards Gable himself suffered a massive heart attack, and died ten days later in the hospital. Although it is often claimed that Gable died as a result of Marilyn Monroe's behavior and performing his own stunts in The Misfits, he was already in terrible health when filming began from years of excessive drinking and smoking more than three packs of cigarettes a day. He is the second cousin of film producer Thomas R. Bond II who is President of 'American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]' motion pictures and entertainment company. He was very homophobic and did not get along with Charles Laughton while they were filming Mutiny on the Bounty (he also did not get along with gay director George Cukor on Gone with the Wind, and was supposedly responsible for Cukor's being fired from that project). Relations with Laughton broke down further when Laughton brought his boyfriend onto the location. Part of Gable and Carole Lombard's honeymoon in 1939 was spent at the Willows Inn in Palm Springs, California. Today the Inn continues to operate and anyone can stay in the same room, which is largely unaltered since that time. He turned down the role of Colonel William Travis in The Alamo because he didn't want to be directed by John Wayne. So durable, he could play the same role in both an original (_Red Dust (1932)_ ) with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor, and its remake (Mogambo) with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. Is portrayed by James Brolin in Gable and Lombard, by Bruce Hughes and Shayne Greenman in _Blonde (2001) (TV)_ , by Charles Unwin in Lucy, by Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story, by Edward Winter in Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War, by Boyd Holister in Grace Kelly, by Gary Wayne in Malice in Wonderland. He was seriously considered to play Tarzan in _Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)_ , but was deemed an unknown and Johnny Weissmuller was chosen instead. Although he was never crowned #1 at the Box Office in the Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual survey of movie exhibitors, he made the list a then-record 15 times from 1932 to 1949, and a 16th time in 1955. Gable, "The King", was ranked in the top four of Box Office stars every year from 1934 to 1939 (the "Golden Age" of Hollywood), ranking #2 in 1934 and 1936 through 1938, inclusive, when he was topped by Shirley Temple. After ranking #3 at the Box Office in 1940, he slumped to #10 in 1941, a position he also held in 1942 and 1943. After returning from the war, he took the #7 spot in the Box Office poll in 1947 and 1948, before again slumping to #10 in 1949. He made his last appearance in the Top 10 in 1955, when he again placed #10. Despite his dyslexia, Gable became an avid reader. He would never allow himself to be photographed reading on film sets, fearing it would undermine his macho screen image. Discouraged by his failure to progress in films, Gable tried the stage and became an employable actor, first in stock and eventually on Broadway, without acquiring real fame. When he returned to Hollywood in 1930 for another try at movie acting, his rugged good looks, powerful voice and charisma made him an overnight sensation as the villainous Rance Brett in his first sound picture, The Painted Desert. Gable exploded onto the screen in a dozen 1931 releases, in small parts at first, but he was an established star by the end of the year. Soon Gable's success threatened to eclipse every other star, including his rival Gary Cooper. He was a member of the right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals from its beginning in 1943 until his death in 1960. Attempted suicide using a high powered motorbike following his wife Carol Lombard's death. During his time on Broadway Gable worked as a stage gigolo, performing stud services for such actresses as Pauline Frederick and Laura Hope Crews, who were considerably older than he. His much older first wife served as his first acting coach and paid for his false teeth. Later he married a woman seventeen years his senior, Texan heiress Rhea Langham, who had underwritten his successful assault on Hollywood.