EARLY DAYS PRODUCTIONS
Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio to William Henry "Bill" Gable, an oil-well driller, and Adeline Hershelman, of German and Irish descent. He was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. His original name was probably William Clark Gable, but birth registrations, school records and other documents contradict one another. "William" would have been in honor of his father. "Clark" was the maiden name of his maternal grandmother. At seventeen, Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise, but he was not able to make a real start until he turned 21 and inherited money. His acting coach was a theater manager in Portland, Oregon, Josephine Dillon (17 years his senior). Dillon paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body, and taught him better body control and posture. She spent considerable time training his naturally high-pitched voice, which Gable slowly managed to lower, and he gained better resonance and tone. As his speech habits improved, Gable's facial expressions became more natural and convincing. After the long period of rigorous training, she eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career.
1901 - 1960
Stats:
Birth Name:
William Clark Gable
Height: 6' 1"
Hair Color: dark
brown
Eye Color: hazel
Nickname: The King
Quote: "I bring to a role everything I am, was, and hope to be."
Birth Name:
William Clark Gable
Height: 6' 1"
Hair Color: dark
brown
Eye Color: hazel
Nickname: The King
Quote: "I bring to a role everything I am, was, and hope to be."
In 1930, after his impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the play The Last Mile, Gable was offered a contract with MGM. His first role in a sound picture was as the villain in a low-budget William Boyd western called The Painted Desert (1931). He received a lot of fan mail as a result of his powerful voice and appearance; the studio took notice. Gable's timing in arriving in Hollywood was excellent as MGM was looking to expand its stable of male stars and he fit the bill. Gable then worked mainly in supporting roles, often as the villain. He built his fame and public visibility in such important movies as A Free Soul (1931), in which he played a gangster who slapped Norma Shearer (Gable never played a supporting role again after that slap). The Hollywood Reporter wrote "A star in the making has been made, one that, to our reckoning, will outdraw every other star... Never have we seen audiences work themselves into such enthusiasm as when Clark Gable walks on the screen".
According to legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a second-rate operation, as punishment for refusing roles; however, this has been refuted by more recent biographies. MGM did not have a project ready for Gable and was paying him $2000 per week, under his contract, to do nothing. Studio head Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2500 per week, making a $500 per week profit. Gable was not the first choice to play the lead role of Peter Warne in It Happened One Night. Robert Montgomery was originally offered the role, but he felt that the script was poor. Filming began in a tense atmosphere, but both Gable and Frank Capra enjoyed making the movie. A persistent legend has it that Gable had a profound effect on men's fashion, thanks to a scene in this movie. As he is preparing for bed, he takes off his shirt to reveal that he is bare-chested. Sales of men's undershirts across the country allegedly declined noticeably for a period following this movie. Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1934 performance in the film. He returned to MGM a bigger star than ever.
Immediately after his discharge from the service, Gable returned to his ranch and rested. He resumed a pre-war relationship with Virginia Grey and dated other starlets. He introduced his golf caddie Robert Wagner to MGM casting. Gable's first movie after World War II was the 1945 production of Adventure, with his ill-matched co-star Greer Garson. It was a critical and commercial failure despite the famous teaser tagline "Gable's back and Garson's got him". After this film, Gable's career as a top star in Hollywood was damaged.
Gable became increasingly unhappy with what he considered mediocre roles offered him by MGM, while the studio regarded his salary as excessive. In 1953, Gable refused to renew his contract, and began to work independently which he would do for the rest of his career. Gable died in Los Angeles on November 16, 1960, aged 59, from a coronary thrombosis ten days after suffering a severe heart attack. There was much speculation that Gable's physically demanding role in The Misfits contributed to his sudden death soon after filming was completed.
For more information about Clark Gable please visit: Wikipedia
Clark Gable's Selected Filmography
1961The Misfits
1960 It Started in Naples
1959 But Not for Me
1958 Teacher's Pet
1958 Run Silent Run Deep
1957 Band of Angels
1956 The King and Four Queens
1955 The Tall Men
1955 Soldier of Fortune
1954 Betrayed
1953 Mogambo
1953 Never Let Me Go
1952 Lone Star
1951 Across the Wide Missouri
1950 To Please a Lady
1950 Key to the City
1949 Any Number Can Play
1948 Command Decision
1948 Homecoming
1947 The Hucksters
1945 Adventure
1942 Somewhere I'll Find You
1941 Honky Tonk
1941 They Met in Bombay
1940 Comrade X
1940 Boom Town
1940 Strange Cargo
1939 Gone with the Wind
1939 Idiot's Delight
1938 Too Hot to Handle
1938 Test Pilot
1937 Saratoga
1937 Parnell
1936 Love on the Run
1936 Cain and Mabel
1936 San Francisco
1936 Wife vs. Secretary
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty
1935 China Seas
1935 The Call of the Wild
1935 After Office Hours
1934 Forsaking All Others
1934 Chained
1934 Manhattan Melodrama
1934 Men in White
1934 It Happened One Night
1933 Dancing Lady
1933 Night Flight
1933 Hold Your Man
1933 The White Sister
1932 Strange Interlude
1932 No Man of Her Own
1932 Red Dust
1932 Polly of the Circus
1931 Hell Divers
1931 Possessed
1931 Susan Lenox
1931 Sporting Blood
1931 Night Nurse
1931 A Free Soul
1931 Laughing Sinners
1931 The Secret Six
1931 The Finger Points
1931 The Front Page
1931 Dance, Fools, Dance
1931 The Easiest Way
1931 The Painted Desert
1930 Du Barry, Woman of Passion
1926 One Minute to Play
1926 The Johnstown Flood
1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
1925 North Star
1925 The Plastic Age
1925 The Merry Widow
1925 What Price Gloria? (short)
1925 The Merry Kiddo (short)
1925 Declassée
1925 The Pacemakers (short)
1924 Fighting Blood
1924 Forbidden Paradise
1924 White Man
1960 It Started in Naples
1959 But Not for Me
1958 Teacher's Pet
1958 Run Silent Run Deep
1957 Band of Angels
1956 The King and Four Queens
1955 The Tall Men
1955 Soldier of Fortune
1954 Betrayed
1953 Mogambo
1953 Never Let Me Go
1952 Lone Star
1951 Across the Wide Missouri
1950 To Please a Lady
1950 Key to the City
1949 Any Number Can Play
1948 Command Decision
1948 Homecoming
1947 The Hucksters
1945 Adventure
1942 Somewhere I'll Find You
1941 Honky Tonk
1941 They Met in Bombay
1940 Comrade X
1940 Boom Town
1940 Strange Cargo
1939 Gone with the Wind
1939 Idiot's Delight
1938 Too Hot to Handle
1938 Test Pilot
1937 Saratoga
1937 Parnell
1936 Love on the Run
1936 Cain and Mabel
1936 San Francisco
1936 Wife vs. Secretary
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty
1935 China Seas
1935 The Call of the Wild
1935 After Office Hours
1934 Forsaking All Others
1934 Chained
1934 Manhattan Melodrama
1934 Men in White
1934 It Happened One Night
1933 Dancing Lady
1933 Night Flight
1933 Hold Your Man
1933 The White Sister
1932 Strange Interlude
1932 No Man of Her Own
1932 Red Dust
1932 Polly of the Circus
1931 Hell Divers
1931 Possessed
1931 Susan Lenox
1931 Sporting Blood
1931 Night Nurse
1931 A Free Soul
1931 Laughing Sinners
1931 The Secret Six
1931 The Finger Points
1931 The Front Page
1931 Dance, Fools, Dance
1931 The Easiest Way
1931 The Painted Desert
1930 Du Barry, Woman of Passion
1926 One Minute to Play
1926 The Johnstown Flood
1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
1925 North Star
1925 The Plastic Age
1925 The Merry Widow
1925 What Price Gloria? (short)
1925 The Merry Kiddo (short)
1925 Declassée
1925 The Pacemakers (short)
1924 Fighting Blood
1924 Forbidden Paradise
1924 White Man
Early Days Productions: Clark Gable 03/02/2012
Full Movie: It Happened One Night (1934)
A spoiled heiress, running away from her family, is helped by a man who's actually a reporter looking for a story. - Edited from IMDB
Gable also earned an Academy Award nomination when he portrayed Fletcher Christian in 1935's Mutiny on the Bounty. Gable once said that this was his favorite film of his own, despite the fact that he did not get along with his co-stars Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone. In the following years, he acted in a succession of enormously popular pictures, earning him the undisputed title of "King of Hollywood" in 1938. The title 'King' was first offered by Spencer Tracy, probably in jest but soon Ed Sullivan started a poll in his newspaper column and more than 20 million fans voted Gable 'King' and Myrna Loy 'Queen' of Hollywood. Though the honorific certainly helped his career, Gable grew tired of it and later stated, "This 'King' stuff is pure bull****...I'm just a lucky slob from Ohio. I happened to be in the right place at the right time".Throughout most of the 1930s and the early 1940s, he was arguably the world's biggest movie star.
Despite his reluctance to play the role, Gable is best known for his performance in Gone with the Wind (1939), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Gable was an almost immediate favorite for the role of Rhett Butler with both the public and producer David O. Selznick. But as Selznick had no male stars under long-term contract, he needed to go through the process of negotiating to borrow an actor from another studio. Gary Cooper was Selznick's first choice. When Cooper turned down the role, he was quoted as saying, "Gone With The Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me". Decades later, Gable said that whenever his career would start to fade, a re-release of Gone with the Wind would instantly revive everything, and he continued as a top leading man for the rest of his life.
