Clark Gable (1901-1960)
Gable
was the King of Hollywood in the 30s, he was the leading male star at
the box office even if few of his films and performances have really
endured, certainly not as many as contemporaries such as Cagney,
Cooper, Stewart and Grant. Still he was on top in the 30s and events in
his private life had a big impact on his life, Gable was never quite
the same personally or professionally after the death of his wife
Carole Lombard in a plane accident in 1942.Gable began his film career as an extra in the silents and a heavy in early talkies like the western The Painted Desert (1931). MGM were on the look out for a replacement for John Gilbert whose career had declined with the arrival of sound and Gable fitted the bill with his harder edge. Irving Thalberg encouraged the development of stories for Gable after seeing his performance in Night Nurse (1931), he was teamed over the next few years with all the great MGM leading ladies but his most important screen partnerships were with three actresses : Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Myrna Loy. The best of his early MGM films was Red Dust (1932) with Harlow and Mary Astor, but it was on a loan out to Columbia for director Frank Capra that he made his first great film It Happened One Night (1934). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as intrepid reporter Peter Warne.
He was an effective contrast to Charles Laughton's Captain Bligh in Mutiny On the Bounty (1935). Gable was even better in one of his greatest pictures with Spencer Tracy and Jeanette MacDonald : San Francisco (1936). He co-starred with Tracy in two further entertaining films : Test Pilot (1938) and Boom Town (1940). The Thirties ended with Gone with the Wind (1939) in which Gable seemed to sum up all his lovable rogues in the character of Rhett Butler. During the filming he married the love of his life Lombard, after her death he joined the Army.
Gable's post war movies never really recaptured his Thirties' peak. A remake of Red Dust (1932) : Mogambo (1953) with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly was disappointing when compared with the original, shortly after that Gable left MGM to become a free agent. His best film after that was his final one The Misfits (1961) with Marilyn Monroe but Gable died before it was released.
Gable's great 30s performances mean that the King of Hollywood will continue to be remembered fondly and enjoyed.
FILMOGRAPHY
1924 FORBIDDEN PARADISE performer
1924 WHITE MAN performer
1925 DECLASSEE performer
1925 THE MERRY WIDOW performer
1925 NORTH STAR performer
1925 THE PLASTIC AGE performer
1926 THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD performer
1931 DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE performer
1931 THE EASIEST WAY performer
1931 THE FINGER POINTS performer
1931 A FREE SOUL performer
1931 LAUGHING SINNERS performer
1931 NIGHT NURSE performer
1931 THE PAINTED DESERT performer
1931 POSSESSED performer
1931 THE SECRET SIX performer
1931 SPORTING BLOOD performer
1931 SUSAN LENOX: HER FALL AND RISE performer
1932 HELL DIVERS performer
1932 NO MAN OF HER OWN performer
1932 POLLY OF THE CIRCUS performer
1932 RED DUST performer
1932 STRANGE INTERLUDE performer
1933 DANCING LADY performer
1933 HOLD YOUR MAN performer
1933 NIGHT FLIGHT performer
1933 THE WHITE SISTER performer
1934 CHAINED performer
1934 FORSAKING ALL OTHERS performer
1934 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT performer
1934 MANHATTAN MELODRAMA performer
1934 MEN IN WHITE performer
1935 AFTER OFFICE HOURS performer
1935 CALL OF THE WILD performer
1935 CHINA SEAS performer
1935 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY performer
1936 CAIN AND MABEL performer
1936 LOVE ON THE RUN performer
1936 SAN FRANCISCO performer
1936 WIFE VS. SECRETARY performer
1937 PARNELL performer
1937 SARATOGA performer
1938 TEST PILOT performer
1938 TOO HOT TO HANDLE performer
1939 GONE WITH THE WIND performer
1939 IDIOT'S DELIGHT performer
1940 BOOM TOWN performer
1940 COMRADE X performer
1940 STRANGE CARGO performer
1941 HONKY TONK performer
1941 THEY MET IN BOMBAY performer
1942 SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU performer
1945 ADVENTURE performer
1947 THE HUCKSTERS performer
1948 COMMAND DECISION performer
1948 HOMECOMING performer
1949 ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY performer
1950 KEY TO THE CITY performer
1950 TO PLEASE A LADY performer
1951 ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI performer
1951 CALLAWAY WENT THATAWAY performer
1952 LONE STAR performer
1953 MOGAMBO performer
1953 NEVER LET ME GO performer
1954 BETRAYED performer
1955 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE performer
1955 THE TALL MEN performer
1956 THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS performer
1957 BAND OF ANGELS performer
1958 RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP performer
1958 TEACHER'S PET performer
1959 BUT NOT FOR ME performer
1960 IT STARTED IN NAPLES performer
1961 THE MISFITS performer
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Written content of the Golden Age of Hollywood Website (except where indicated) copyright Derek McLellan, 2007.