Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio on February 1st back in 1901. His birth name was William Clark Gable but took up the nickname as either Gabe or Clark Gable throughout his childhood years. By the time of his death, he had already been married 5 different times. His first two marriages ended up in divorce while the second two ended early because his wives died. His final wife lived on past his death.

Clark Gable’s mother died when he was only 7 years old. This is just one of many occurrences in his life which shaped him into the person he was to become. At the age of 16, Clark would drop out of school in order to accept a job working at a tire factory in Akron, Ohio. Later he would have several other occupations such as working with stocks as well as working in an oil field and he even was a tie salesman at on time.

By the time he reached the age of 24, Clark Gable had made his way to Portland, Oregon and while watching the play ‘The Bird of Paradise’, he was so inspired that he made the decision to get into acting. The manager of the theater, Josephine Dillon would help him reach Hollywood and his dreams as well as becoming his first wife.

It was the actor Lionel Barrymore who would make the suggestion to Irving Thalberg of MGM, to screen test Clark Gable. Of course Irving was not in anyway impressed with Clark or his looks and would turn him down. Later on though, he would be hired as a co-actor to Joan Crawford. His first role was in the 1931 movie entitled Dance, Fools, Dance.

The following year he would land the role in Red Dust where the public fell in love with him. Everyone felt the chemistry he created on-screen. Clark began to grow in popularity and when MGM asked him to play a role he did not want to, as a punishment then sent him to Columbia Pictures to work for a while. This of course was MGM’s mistake as the Columbia film It Happened One Night got Clark Gable an Oscar.

MGM did not want to lose their star so they asked Clark to return where he acted in the films Gone with the Wind and Mutiny on the Bounty. Shortly after this though, his wife and mother-in-law would die in a plane accident and Clark Gable left Hollywood. He would even eventually sign up to the Army Corps to due his duty in World War II.

After he finished up his military tour during WWII, Clark would stage a comeback film entitled Adventure that would become a flop. As a result, MGM felt they would not longer need his services and refused to renew his contract.

He would make other films, however most of these would go unnoticed until the 1961 movie Misfits. Before the film’s release and the birth of his first son, Clark Gable would die of a heart attack.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This