With his natural charm and knowing smile, Clark Gable (1901-1959) was 'The King of Hollywood' during the 1930s. He often portrayed down-to-earth, bravado characters with a carefree attitude, and was seen as the epitome of masculinity. Gable won an Academy Award for Best Actor for It Happened One Night (1934), and was nominated for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and for his best-known role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939).
![Clark Gable]()
French postcard by Europe, no. 1056. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
![Greta Garbo and Clark Gable in Susan Lenox (1931)]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 140/2. Greta Garbo and Clark Gable in Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (Robert Z. Leonard, 1931). The film was released in German-speaking countries as Helga's Fall und Aufstieg. Garbo's character's name is really Helga Ohlin, she only later changes it into Susan Lenox.
![Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in Red Dust (1932)]()
Dutch postcard, no. 483. Photo: M.G.M. Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932). Sent by mail in 1935.
![Clark Gable and Helen Hayes in The White Sister (1933)]()
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. PC 95. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable and Helen Hayes in The White Sister (Victor Fleming, 1933).
![Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934)]()
British postcard in the Film Shots Series by Film Weekly. Photo: Columbia. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934).
![Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the wind (1939)]()
Italian postcard by Zincografica, Firenze. Photo: Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
William Clark Gable was born in 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, where he stayed until he was two. His father then returned to take him back to Cadiz.
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.
His acting coach Josephine Dillon, 15 years his senior, paid for him to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She also trained him to lower his voice and attain better body posture, attributes that that were instrumental in contributing to his later success and eventual iconic status.
In 1924, with Dillon's financing, they went to Hollywood, where she became Gable's manager and first wife. He appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926. However, he was not offered any major film roles, so he returned to the stage.
While Gable acted on stage, he became a lifelong friend of Lionel Barrymore. He moved to New York City, where Dillon sought work for him on Broadway. He received good reviews in 'Machinal' (1928). He gave an impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the Los Angeles stage production of 'The Last Mile'.
In 1930, Gable and Dillon divorced, and a year later, he married Maria Langham (a.k.a. Maria Franklin Gable), also about 17 years older than him.
![Clark Gable in The White Sister (1933)]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8211/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in The White Sister (Victor Fleming, 1933).
![Clark Gable]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9753/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
![Clark Gable in Parnell (1937)]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1245/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in Parnell (John M. Stahl, 1937).
![Clark Gable in Saratoga (1937)]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1600/2, 1937-1938. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937).
![Clark Gable]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2156/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
![Clark Gable]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2291/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
![Clark Gable in Test Pilot (1938)]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2610/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in Test Pilot (Victor Fleming, 1938).
After several failed screen tests, Clark Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. He made his talking film debut as an archetypal villain named Brett in the Western The Painted Desert (Howard Higgin, 1931), starring William Boyd.
Joan Crawford asked for him as a co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (Harry Beaumont, 1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (Clarence Brown, 1931) the same year.
His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932) made him MGM's most important star. His acting career then flourished.
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 (1934) opposite Claudette Colbert. He won an Academy Award for his performance.
The next year saw a starring role in Call of the Wild (William A. Wellman, 1935) with Loretta Young, with whom he had an affair. It resulted in the birth of a daughter, Judy Lewis. He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (Frank Lloyd, 1935) and Rhett Butler in the Oscar-winning epic Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
![Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in Forsaking All Others (1934)]()
British postcard by De Reszke Cigarettes, no. 47. Photo: M.G.M. Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in Forsaking All Others (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934).
![Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934)]()
British postcard. Photo: Columbia. Clark Gable as Peter in It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934).
![Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in Test Pilot (1938)]()
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 249. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in Test Pilot (Victor Fleming, 1938).
![Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the wind (1939)]()
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 347. Photo: David O'Selznick Production / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
![Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind (1939)]()
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo. Sent by mail in 1951. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
![Hedy Lamarr and Clark Gable in Comrade X]()
Belgian collector's card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, Series C, no. 166. Photo: MGM. Hedy Lamarr and Clark Gable in Comrade X (King Vidor, 1940).
![Lana Turner and Clark Gable in Homecoming (1948)]()
Belgian Collectors Card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, Series C, no. 194. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lana Turner and Clark Gable in Homecoming (Mervyn LeRoy, 1948).
After divorcing Maria Langham, Clark Gable married Carole Lombard in 1939, but tragedy struck in January 1942 when the plane in which Carole and her mother were flying crashed into Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, killing them both.
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 starred in such films as The Hucksters (Jack Conway, 1947) and Homecoming (Mervyn LeRoy, 1948) with Lana Turner. He married Sylvia Ashley, the widow of Douglas Fairbanks, in 1949. Unfortunately, this marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1952.
In July 1955 he married a former sweetheart, Kathleen Williams Spreckles (a.k.a. Kay Williams), and became stepfather to her two children, Joan and Adolph ("Bunker") Spreckels III. In 1959, Gable became a grandfather when Judy Lewis, his daughter with Loretta Young, gave birth to a daughter, Maria. In 1960, Gable's wife Kay discovered that she was expecting their first child.
In early November 1960, he had just completed filming The Misfits (John Huston, 1961) with Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe, when he suffered a heart attack, and died later that month. Gable was buried shortly afterward in the shrine that he had built for Carole Lombard and her mother when they died, at Forest Lawn Cemetery. In March 1961, Kay Gable gave birth to a boy, whom she named John Clark Gable after his father.
![Clark Gable in Lone Star (1952)]()
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 12 F. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1954. Clark Gable in Lone Star (Vincent Sherman, 1952).
![Clark Gable]()
Belgian postcard by S.A. Victoria, Bruxelles / N.V. Victoria, Brussel, no. 639. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
![Clark Gable]()
French collectors card by Massilia.
![Clark Gable]()
German postcard by F.J. Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 189dpa. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
![Clark Gable in But Not For Me (1959)]()
Dutch postcard by N.V. v.h. Weenenk & Snel, Baarn, no. 160. Photo: Paramount. Clark Gable in But Not For Me (Walter Lang, 1959). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Clark Gable]()
German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CL-269. Photo: Terb Agency.
![Clark Gable]()
German collectors card by Schumann-Verlag, Berlin-Lichterfelde-Süd / Heinerle, Bamberg. Photo: Ullstein.
![Clark Gable]()
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 10.
Sources Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
French postcard by Europe, no. 1056. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 140/2. Greta Garbo and Clark Gable in Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (Robert Z. Leonard, 1931). The film was released in German-speaking countries as Helga's Fall und Aufstieg. Garbo's character's name is really Helga Ohlin, she only later changes it into Susan Lenox.
Dutch postcard, no. 483. Photo: M.G.M. Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932). Sent by mail in 1935.
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. PC 95. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable and Helen Hayes in The White Sister (Victor Fleming, 1933).
British postcard in the Film Shots Series by Film Weekly. Photo: Columbia. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934).
Italian postcard by Zincografica, Firenze. Photo: Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
His teeth repaired and his hair styled
William Clark Gable was born in 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, where he stayed until he was two. His father then returned to take him back to Cadiz.
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.
His acting coach Josephine Dillon, 15 years his senior, paid for him to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She also trained him to lower his voice and attain better body posture, attributes that that were instrumental in contributing to his later success and eventual iconic status.
In 1924, with Dillon's financing, they went to Hollywood, where she became Gable's manager and first wife. He appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926. However, he was not offered any major film roles, so he returned to the stage.
While Gable acted on stage, he became a lifelong friend of Lionel Barrymore. He moved to New York City, where Dillon sought work for him on Broadway. He received good reviews in 'Machinal' (1928). He gave an impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the Los Angeles stage production of 'The Last Mile'.
In 1930, Gable and Dillon divorced, and a year later, he married Maria Langham (a.k.a. Maria Franklin Gable), also about 17 years older than him.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8211/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in The White Sister (Victor Fleming, 1933).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9753/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1245/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in Parnell (John M. Stahl, 1937).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1600/2, 1937-1938. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2156/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2291/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2610/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable in Test Pilot (Victor Fleming, 1938).
Unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow
After several failed screen tests, Clark Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. He made his talking film debut as an archetypal villain named Brett in the Western The Painted Desert (Howard Higgin, 1931), starring William Boyd.
Joan Crawford asked for him as a co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (Harry Beaumont, 1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (Clarence Brown, 1931) the same year.
His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932) made him MGM's most important star. His acting career then flourished.
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 (1934) opposite Claudette Colbert. He won an Academy Award for his performance.
The next year saw a starring role in Call of the Wild (William A. Wellman, 1935) with Loretta Young, with whom he had an affair. It resulted in the birth of a daughter, Judy Lewis. He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (Frank Lloyd, 1935) and Rhett Butler in the Oscar-winning epic Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
British postcard by De Reszke Cigarettes, no. 47. Photo: M.G.M. Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in Forsaking All Others (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934).
British postcard. Photo: Columbia. Clark Gable as Peter in It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934).
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 249. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in Test Pilot (Victor Fleming, 1938).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 347. Photo: David O'Selznick Production / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo. Sent by mail in 1951. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939).
Belgian collector's card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, Series C, no. 166. Photo: MGM. Hedy Lamarr and Clark Gable in Comrade X (King Vidor, 1940).
Belgian Collectors Card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, Series C, no. 194. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lana Turner and Clark Gable in Homecoming (Mervyn LeRoy, 1948).
Grief-stricken flying combat missions
After divorcing Maria Langham, Clark Gable married Carole Lombard in 1939, but tragedy struck in January 1942 when the plane in which Carole and her mother were flying crashed into Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, killing them both.
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 starred in such films as The Hucksters (Jack Conway, 1947) and Homecoming (Mervyn LeRoy, 1948) with Lana Turner. He married Sylvia Ashley, the widow of Douglas Fairbanks, in 1949. Unfortunately, this marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1952.
In July 1955 he married a former sweetheart, Kathleen Williams Spreckles (a.k.a. Kay Williams), and became stepfather to her two children, Joan and Adolph ("Bunker") Spreckels III. In 1959, Gable became a grandfather when Judy Lewis, his daughter with Loretta Young, gave birth to a daughter, Maria. In 1960, Gable's wife Kay discovered that she was expecting their first child.
In early November 1960, he had just completed filming The Misfits (John Huston, 1961) with Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe, when he suffered a heart attack, and died later that month. Gable was buried shortly afterward in the shrine that he had built for Carole Lombard and her mother when they died, at Forest Lawn Cemetery. In March 1961, Kay Gable gave birth to a boy, whom she named John Clark Gable after his father.
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 12 F. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1954. Clark Gable in Lone Star (Vincent Sherman, 1952).
Belgian postcard by S.A. Victoria, Bruxelles / N.V. Victoria, Brussel, no. 639. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
French collectors card by Massilia.
German postcard by F.J. Rüdel, Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 189dpa. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Dutch postcard by N.V. v.h. Weenenk & Snel, Baarn, no. 160. Photo: Paramount. Clark Gable in But Not For Me (Walter Lang, 1959). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CL-269. Photo: Terb Agency.
German collectors card by Schumann-Verlag, Berlin-Lichterfelde-Süd / Heinerle, Bamberg. Photo: Ullstein.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 10.
Sources Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.