Clark Gable (Cadiz, Ohio, USA, February 1, 1901 - Los Angeles, California, USA, November 16, 1960)
Clark Gable is probably the most famous film Romeo from the golden age of Hollywood. He will always remain in our memory as Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind (1939), even though he never cared for that film much himself. He got interested in acting as a young man and tried to act in the theater while earning money at other jobs. In Portland, he joined a theatre group led by Josephine Dillon, who became his mentor and first wife in 1924. Together they went to Hollywood, but after several small roles, Gable was discouraged and decided to try his luck in New York. There he became friends with the actor Lionel Barrymore who encouraged him to act in the theatre. After several successful roles, Gable had still managed to get only very little work due to the recession and moved back to Hollywood with his second wife Ria Langham. Following his role in the theatre play The Last Mile he signed a contract with MGM. After doing several silent films in 1931, he had his first credited role in a sound film The Painted Desert (1931). Then he had a supporting role in A Free Soul (1931), after which he began playing leading roles opposite actresses such as Joan Crawford (Dance, Fools, Dance; Laughing Sinners; Possessed, 1931), Barbara Stanwyck (Night Nurse, 1931), Greta Garbo (Susan Lenox - Her Fall and Rise, 1931), Jean Harlow (Red Dust, 1932, Hold Your Man, 1933), Carole Lombard (No Man of Her Own, 1932). Just before and during the filming of Dancing Lady (1933) he was hospitalized due to severe tooth problems and most of his teeth had to be removed. He had to recover for a long time and the shooting of the film suffered. Therefore, MGM’s boss Louis B. Mayer decided to deny Gable two weeks’ pay and tensions arose on both sides. To teach Gable a lesson, Mayer “loaned” him to the poorer studio Columbia Pictures and Gable made the comedy Dogodilo se jedne noći (It Happened One Night, 1934), directed by Frank Capra, which brought him an Oscar for Best Actor (Claudette Colbert won an Oscar as Best Actress, Capra as Best Director, screenwriter Robert Riskin for Best Adapted Screenplay and the film itself as Best Film). Afterwards, the studio doubled his pay and he starred in many famous films opposite great actresses. One of his most famous films is Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), but four years later, he starred in Gone with the Wind (1939), which brought him global fame. In 1942, he experienced a great personal tragedy when his wife, actress Carole Lombard, died in a plane crash together with her mother. A few months later, a devastated Gable volunteered to join the army where he spent the next two years. After the war, he returned to making films and starred in Victor Fleming’s Adventure (1945). Because he never attained his previous heights of glory and being dissatisfied with the roles the studio gave him, he decided to reject many offers for television. In 1954, he cancelled his contract with MGM and became an independent actor. In that period he starred in Mogambo (1953) by John Ford, Run Silent Run Deep (1958) by Robert Wiese and Misfits (1961) by John Houston, which was his last film and, according to many, his best role ever. He died of a heart attack soon after the film was finished.
Filmography:
The Misfits (1961)
It Started in Naples (1960)
But Not for Me (1959)
Teacher's Pet (1958)
Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
Band of Angels (1957)
The King and Four Queens (1956)
The Tall Men (1955)
Soldier of Fortune (1955)
Betrayed (1954)
Mogambo (1953)
Never Let Me Go (1953)
Lone Star (1952)
Across the Wide Missouri (1951)
To Please a Lady (1950)
Key to the City (1950)
Any Number Can Play (1949)
Command Decision (1948)
Homecoming (1948)
The Hucksters (1947)
Adventure (1945)
Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)
Honky Tonk (1941)
They Met in Bombay (1941)
Comrade X (1940)
Boom Town (1940)
Strange Cargo (1940)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Idiot's Delight (1939)
Too Hot to Handle (1938)
Test Pilot (1938)
Saratoga (1937)
Parnell (1937)
Love on the Run (1936)
Cain and Mabel (1936)
San Francisco (1936)
Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
China Seas (1935)
The Call of the Wild (1935)
After Office Hours (1935)
Forsaking All Others (1934)
Chained (1934)
Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Men in White (1934)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Dancing Lady (1933)
Night Flight (1933)
Hold Your Man (1933)
The White Sister (1933)
Strange Interlude (1932)
No Man of Her Own (1932)
Red Dust (1932)
Polly of the Circus (1932)
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)
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)
The Easiest Way (1931)
The Painted Desert (1931)
North Star (1925)
The Plastic Age (1925) (unaccredited)
The Merry Widow (1925) (unaccredited)
What Price Gloria? (1925) (unaccredited)
The Merry Kiddo (1925) (unaccredited)
Declassée (1925) (unaccredited)
The Pacemakers (1925)
Forbidden Paradise (1924) (unaccredited)
White Man (1924)
Fighting Blood (1923) (unaccredited)