Clark Gable

Actors

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as “The King of Hollywood.” He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in a wide variety of genres in a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man. Gable died of a heart attack; his final on screen appearance was of an aging cowboy in John Huston‘s The Misfits (co-starring Marilyn Monroe, in her last complete role), released posthumously in 1961.

Born and raised in Ohio, Gable traveled to Hollywood where he began his film career as an extra in Hollywood silent films between 1924 and 1926. He progressed to supporting roles for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and his first leading role in 1931’s Dance, Fools, Dance was alongside Joan Crawford, who requested him for the part. His next role, in the romantic drama Red Dust (1932) with reigning sex symbol Jean Harlow, made him MGM’s biggest male star. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Frank Capra‘s It Happened One Night (1934), co-starring Claudette Colbert; which first film to win the Big 5 Academy Awards (Picture, Director, Writer, Actor, and Actress), followed by Miloš Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), with Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher; and Jonathan Demme‘s The Silence of the Lambs (1990), with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins

He was nominated for the same award for his roles in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and in Victor Fleming‘s Gone with the Wind (1939) opposite Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel. He found continued commercial and critical success with Manhattan Melodrama (1934), San Francisco (1936), Saratoga (1937), Test Pilot (1938), and Boom Town (1940), three of which co-starred Spencer Tracy. He appeared opposite some of the most popular actresses of their time. Joan Crawford was a favorite actress of his to work with, and he partnered with her in eight films. Myrna Loy worked with him seven times, and he was paired with Jean Harlow in six productions. He also starred with Lana Turner in four features and in three each with Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner.

Gable spent two years as an aerial cameraman and bomber gunner in Europe during World War II. Although his movies following his return were not critically lauded, they did well at the box office. He experienced a critical revival with The Hucksters (1947), Homecoming (1948) and John Ford‘s Mogambo (1953), which also featured newcomer Grace Kelly. Later he starred in westerns and war movies, such as Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) with Burt Lancaster, and in comedies that paired him with a new generation of leading ladies such as Doris Day in Teacher’s Pet (1958), Sophia Loren in It Started in Naples (1960) and Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits (1961).

Gable was one of the most consistent box-office performers in history, appearing on Quigley Publishing’s annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll 16 times. He was named the seventh-greatest male star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute.

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(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Fighting Blood (1923) – directed Malcolm St. Clair & Henry Lehrman – uncredited
White Man (1924) – directed by Louis J. Gasnier – lost
Forbidden Paradise (1924) – directed by Ernst Lubitsch – uncredited
The Pacemakers (1925) – directed by Wesley Ruggles – uncredited – short
Déclassé (1925) – directed by Robert G. Vignola – uncredited
The Merry Kiddo (1925) – directed by Wesley Ruggles – uncredited – short
What Price Gloria? (1925) – directed by Wesley Ruggles – uncredited – short
The Merry Widow (1925) – directed by Erich von Stroheim – uncredited
The Plastic Age (1925) – directed by Wesley Ruggles – uncredited
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) – directed by Fred Niblo & B. Reeves Easton
North Star (1925) – directed by Paul Powell
The Johnstown Flood (1926) – directed by Irving Cummings
One Minute to Play (1926) – directed by Sam Wood – uncredited
Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930) – directed by Sam Taylor – uncredited
The Painted Desert (1931) – directed by Howard Higgin
The Easiest Way (1931) – directed by Jack Conway
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) – directed by Harry Beaumont
The Finger Points (1931) – directed by John Francis Dillon
The Secret Six (1931) – directed by George W. Hill
Laughing Sinners (1931) – directed by Harry Beaumont
A Free Soul (1931) – directed by Clarence Brown
Night Nurse (1931) – directed by William A. Wellman
Sporting Blood (1931) – directed by Charles Brabin
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) – directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Possessed (1931) – directed by Clarence Brown
Hell Divers (1931) – directed by George W. Hill (uncredited)
Polly of the Circus (1932) – directed by Alfred Santell
Red Dust (1932) – directed by Victor Fleming
Strange Interlude (1932) – directed by Robert Z. Leonard
No Man of Her Own (1932) – directed by Wesley Ruggles
The White Sister (1933) – directed by Victor Fleming
Hold Your Hand (1933) – directed by Sam Wood (uncredited)
Night Flight (1933) – directed by Clarence Brown
Dancing Lady (1933) – directed by Robert Z. Leonard
It Happened One Night (1934) – directed by Frank Capra
Men in White (1934) – directed by Ryszard Bolesławski
Manhattan Melodrama (1934) – directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Chained (1934) – directed by Clarence Brown
Forsaking All Others (1934) – directed by W.S. Van Dyke
After Office Hours (1935) – directed by Robert Z. Leonard
The Call of the Wild (1935) – directed by William A. Wellman
China Seas (1935) – directed by Tay Garnett
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) – directed by Frank Lloyd
Wife vs. Secretary (1936) – directed by Clarence Brown
San Francisco (1936) – directed by W.S. Van Dyke & D.W. Griffith (uncredited)
Cain and Mable (1936) – directed by Lloyd Bacon
Love on the Run (1936) – directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Parnell (1937) – directed by John M. Stahl
Saratoga (1937) – directed by Jack Conway
Test Pilot (1938) – directed by Victor Fleming
Too Hot to Handle (1938) – directed by Jack Conway
Idiot’s Delight (1939) – directed by Clarence Brown
Gone with the Wind (1939)** – directed by Victor Fleming
Strange Cargo (1940) – directed by Frank Borzage
Boom Town (1940) – directed by King Vidor
Comrade X (1940) – directed by King Vidor
They Met in Bombay (1941) – directed by Clarence Brown
Honky Tonk (1941) – directed by Jack Conway
Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942) – directed by Wesley Ruggles
Adventure (1945) – directed by Victor Fleming
The Hucksters (1947) – directed by Jack Conway
Homecoming (1948) – directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Command Decision (1948) – directed by Sam Wood
Any Number Can Play (1949) – directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Key to the City (1950) – directed by George Sidney
To Please a Lady (1950) – directed by Clarence Brown
Across the Wide Missouri (1951) – directed by William A. Wellman
Lone Star (1952) – directed by Vincent Sherman
Never Let Me Go (1953) – directed by Delmer Daves
Mogambo (1953) – directed by John Ford
Betrayed (1954) – directed by Gottfried Reinhardt
Soldier of Fortune (1955) – directed by Edward Dmytryk
The Tall Men (1955) – directed by Raoul Walsh
The King and Four Queens (1956) – directed by Raoul Walsh
Band of Angels (1957) – directed by Raoul Walsh
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) – directed by Robert Wise
Teacher’s Pet (1958) – directed by George Seaton
But Not for Me (1959) – directed by Walter Lang
It Started in Naples (1960) – directed by Melville Shavelson
The Misfits (1961) – directed by John Huston – posthumously released

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