Performers Biography - Film & Television Credits

Biography for Clark Gable More at IMDbPro » advertisementDate of Birth 1 February 1901, Cadiz, Ohio, USA Date of Death 16 November 1960, Los Angeles, California, USA (coronary thrombosis) Birth Name William Clark Gable Nickname Gabe The King The King of Hollywood Pa (by Carole Lombard) Height 6' 1" (1.85 m) Mini Biography Clark Gable's mother died when he was seven months old. 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. In 1924 he reached Hollywood with the help of Portland, Oregon, theatre manager Josephine Dillon, who coached and later married him (she was 17 years his senior). After playing a few bit parts he returned to the stage, becoming lifelong friends with Lionel Barrymore. After several failed screen tests (for Barrymore and Darryl F. Zanuck), Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (1931) the same year. His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) made him MGM's most important star. 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), which won him an Oscar. He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939). When his third wife Carole Lombard died in a plane crash returning from a War Bond drive, 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 announced during filming of The Misfits (1961) that, for the first time, he was to become a father. Two months later he died of a heart attack. He was laid to rest beside Carole Lombard at Forest Lawn Cemetery. IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan Mini Biography William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio. Later that year 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. When Clark was 16 he dropped out of school and worked at many odd jobs before joining a traveling theater company. On December 13, 1924 he married Josephine Dillon, his acting coach and 15 years his senior. Around that time, they moved to Hollywood so that Clark could concentrate on his acting career. In April 1930, they divorced and a year later he married Maria Langham (a.k.a. Maria Franklin Gable), also about 15 years older than him. After working as an extra in various movies, he was offered a small part in the The Painted Desert (1931) in 1931. From this point, his acting career flourished, and in 1934 he won an Academy Award for his performance in Frank Capra's classic It Happened One Night (1934). The next year saw a starring role in The Call of the Wild (1935) with Loretta Young, with whom he had an affair (resulting in the birth of a daughter, Judy Lewis). Divorced in 1939, he later that same year starred in Gone with the Wind (1939). In March 1939 Clark married Carole Lombard, 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. Clark then volunteered to be drafted and served in Europe for several years. After the war he continued with his film career and married Silvia 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. On November 16, 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 (1961), when he suffered a heart attack, and died later that month. Gable was buried shortly afterwards in the shrine that he had built for Carole Lombard and her mother when they died. In March 1961, Kay Gable gave birth to a boy whom she named John Clark Gable after his father. IMDb Mini Biography By: Gable Freak Spouse Kay Williams (11 July 1955 - 16 November 1960) (his death) 1 child Sylvia Ashley (20 December 1949 - 21 April 1952) (divorced) Carole Lombard (29 March 1939 - 16 January 1942) (her death) Maria Franklin Gable (19 July 1931 - 4 March 1939) (divorced) Josephine Dillon (13 December 1924 - 1 April 1930) (divorced) Trade Mark Pencil thin mustache that hugged his upper lip Often played a virile, lovable rogue whose gruff facade only thinly masked a natural charm and goodness. Distinctive, powerful voice. Trivia Adolf Hitler esteemed the film star above all other actors, and during the war offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and return Gable, who had enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was flying combat missions over Germany, unscathed to him. A few months after his death, his wife gave birth to John Clark Gable. John is into racing and has appeared in at least one film. Actress Judy Lewis is Clark's out-of-wedlock daughter by actress Loretta Young. The two had a romance during the filming of The Call of the Wild (1935). 1970s: His Encino, CA, estate was subdivided and turned into a very upscale tract development called "Clark Gable Estates.". Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Trust, on the left hand side, next to Carole Lombard. 1995: Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#36). It was at Gable's 36th birthday that Judy Garland sang "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You." Gable's first two wives - Josephine Dillon and Maria Franklin Gable (aka Ria Langham) - were 14 and 17 years older than he was, respectively. 1942: He enlisted in the army in honor of his late wife, Carole Lombard. She had been killed in a plane crash while on tour selling war bonds. When he was first cast in It Happened One Night (1934) opposite Claudette Colbert, he told director Frank Capra that he would give the role a shot, but if things weren't going well after a few days, he would leave the production. So durable, he could play the same role in both an original (Red Dust (1932)) with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor, and its remake (Mogambo (1953)) with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. When he was born he was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. He disliked Greta Garbo, a feeling that was mutual. She thought his acting was wooden while he considered her a snob. Playing a cowboy in his last film, The Misfits (1961), which was also the final film for co-star Marilyn Monroe, the aging Gable diligently performed his own stunts, taking its toll on his already guarded health. He died from a heart attack before the film was released. Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued on 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp features Gable and Vivien Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind (1939). The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939), Stagecoach (1939) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Grandfather of Clark James Gable, who's the first child of his son John Clark Gable and his ex-wife Tracy Yarro. Clark James was born on September 10, 1988 at a hefty 10 lbs. Gable was dyslexic, a fact which didn't emerge until several years after his death. Cousin-in-law of William B. Hawks. Joined the Army Air Corps during the Second World War, and was commissioned an officer with service number 565390. Rose to the rank of captain and served primarily in Public Affairs, making training films and performing public relations visits to soldiers and airmen in Europe. June 2004: As a native of Cadiz, OH, he was inducted into the Lou Holtz Museum/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame (www.LouHoltzHallOfFame.com). He was seriously considered to play Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), but he was deemed an unknown and Johnny Weissmuller was chosen instead. He was voted the 8th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Was Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's inspiration for half of Superman's alter ego name Clark Kent ("Kent" came from Kent Taylor). He worked as a lumberman in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the early 1920s. After a couple of months of doing that, he quit, saying that "the work was too hard" and he would rather act instead. He then left to go to Hollywood, where he began his acting career. 1952: His widow, Kay Williams, divorced her previous husband, Adolph Spreckels Jr., heir to the Spreckels Sugar fortune. In the divorce papers she alleged that he beat her with one of her slippers. His wife Sylvia Ashley was born Edith Louise Sylvia Hawkes in 1904. She was the widow of Douglas Fairbanks. Her first husband was Lord Anthony Ashley (they divorced November 28, 1934), her third was Lord Stanley of Alderney, and her fifth was Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (whom she married in 1954 and stayed married to until her death). She died June 29, 1977. Her grave stone refers to her as "Princess Sylvia Djordjadze." His widow, Kay Williams, was born August 7, 1917, and died in May of 1983. He was voted the 21st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Named the #7 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by the American Film Institute In some radio interviews at the end of his life, his voice has a haunting similarity to Walt Disney's. Served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II making training films. Also trained as an aerial gunner, he flew 5 combat missions with the 8th Air Force's 351st Bombardment Group (Heavy) while making his films and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. Is the subject of the song "Clark Gable" by The Postal Service. Is portrayed by James Brolin in Gable and Lombard (1976), Bruce Hughes and Shayne Greenman in Blonde (2001) (TV), Charles Unwin in Lucy (2003) (TV), Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980) (TV), Edward Winter in The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980) (TV), Boyd Holister in Grace Kelly (1983) (TV) and Gary Wayne in Malice in Wonderland (1985) (TV). Military records on celebrities released by the Pentagon in 2005 reveal that Gable, upon enlistment, was described as a "motion picture specialist" and his weekly wage was listed as $7,500. A movie cameraman, Andrew J. McIntyre, enlisted along with Gable and trained with him, the documents showed. "In order to have something definite to describe and some tangible evidence of his experiences, it is proposed that there be enlisted his cameraman to be trained as an aerial gunner also who may make pictures of Gable in various theaters of operations," one Army memo said. Prior to making The Misfits (1961), he crash-dieted from a bloated 230 lbs. to 195 lbs. Twice in the previous decade he had suffered seizures that might have been heart attacks; once, ten years earlier, while driving along a freeway he had chest pains so severe that he had to pull off the road and lie down on the ground until he felt well enough to continue on. Both parents were of German ancestry. Gave his Oscar for It Happened One Night (1934) to a child who admired it, telling him it was the winning of the statue that had mattered, not owning it. The child returned the Oscar to the Gable family after Clark's death. Had to have almost all of his teeth extracted due to pyorrhea. The infection would have killed him had he not been rushed to a private hospital for treatment. 1933: Underwent cosmetic surgery on his ears and teeth. Gable's first screen test was made by director Mervyn LeRoy for Warner Bros. When studio head Jack L. Warner and production chief Darryl F. Zanuck saw the test they were furious at LeRoy for wasting their money on that big "ape" with those "huge floppy taxi-cab ears". Years later when Gable made it big, LeRoy used to tease Warner and say, "How would you like to have him and those huge floppy ears now?". He served as a pallbearer and usher at Jean Harlow's funeral in 1937. 1938: In a poll of entertainment readers, he was overwhelmingly selected "King of Hollywood" and was officially crowned by columnist Ed Sullivan. When MGM remade Red Dust (1932) in 1953 as Mogambo (1953), Ava Gardner played the Jean Harlow part, Grace Kelly had the Mary Astor role, and Gable played his old part. Only Gable could fill Gable's shoes, even 21 years later. At the time of his death, his gun collection was valued at half a million dollars. He had a special gun room in his house filled with gold-inlaid revolvers, shotguns and rifles. 11/6/60: Gable was devastated to learn of the unexpected death of his close friend Ward Bond from a heart attack. Shortly afterwards Gable himself suffered a massive heart attack, and died ten days later in the hospital. Although it is often claimed that Gable died as a result of Marilyn Monroe's behavior and performing his own stunts in The Misfits (1961), he was already in terrible health when filming began from years of excessive drinking and smoking more than three packs of cigarettes a day. He is the second cousin of film producer Thomas R. Bond II, President of American Mutoscope & Biograph, a motion picture and entertainment company. 1939: Part of Gable and Carole Lombard's honeymoon was spent at the Willows Inn in Palm Springs, CA. Today the Inn continues to operate and anyone can stay in the same room, which is largely unaltered since that time. Some sources say he turned down the role of Colonel William Travis in The Alamo (1960) because he didn't want to be directed by John Wayne. However this seems unlikely, since Travis was 26 at the time of the battle, and Gable would have been 58 when the movie was filmed. Although he was never crowned #1 at the Box Office in the Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual survey of movie exhibitors, he made the list a then-record 15 times from 1932 to 1949, and a 16th time in 1955. Gable, "The King", was ranked in the top four of Box Office stars every year from 1934 to 1939 (the "Golden Age" of Hollywood), ranking #2 in 1934 and 1936 through 1938, inclusive, when he was topped by Shirley Temple. After ranking #3 at the Box Office in 1940, he slumped to #10 in 1941, a position he also held in 1942 and 1943. After returning from the war, he took the #7 spot in the Box Office poll in 1947 and 1948, before again slumping to #10 in 1949. He made his last appearance in the Top 10 in 1955, when he again placed #10. Despite his dyslexia, Gable became an avid reader. He would never allow himself to be photographed reading on film sets, fearing it would undermine his macho screen image. Discouraged by his failure to progress in films, Gable tried the stage and became an employable actor, first in stock and eventually on Broadway, without acquiring real fame. When he returned to Hollywood in 1930 for another try at movie acting, his rugged good looks, powerful voice and charisma made him an overnight sensation as the villainous Rance Brett in his first sound picture, The Painted Desert (1931). Gable exploded onto the screen in a dozen 1931 releases, in small parts at first, but he was an established star by the end of the year. Soon his success threatened to eclipse every other star, including his rival Gary Cooper. He was an early member of the right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Attempted suicide using a high-powered motorbike following his wife Carole Lombard's death. During his time on Broadway Gable worked as a stage gigolo, performing stud services for such actresses as Pauline Frederick and Laura Hope Crews, who were considerably older than he. His much older first wife served as his first acting coach and paid for his false teeth. Later he married a woman seventeen years his senior, Texan heiress Rhea Langham, who had underwritten his successful assault on Hollywood. Gable became increasingly unhappy with the mediocre roles offered him by MGM as a mature actor. He refused to renew his contract with them in 1953 and proceeded to work independently. He was a conservative Republican, although his third wife Carole Lombard, a liberal Democrat, encouraged him to support President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal reforms. In 1951 Gable attended a rally in support of the Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a few days before his death he voted by post for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election. 6/11/33: He was hospitalized for an infection of the gums the day before he was to begin shooting Dancing Lady (1933). He was hospitalized for several days, after which most of his teeth were extracted. Afterwards, he went on a vacation to Alaska and Canada with his wife, as it would take a couple of weeks for his gums to heal enough so he could be fitted for dentures. MGM shot around Gable until he returned and was fitted with a dental plate, but on July 30, after one day's shooting, the infection felled him again. In the days before antibiotics, the infection was so serious Gable's gall bladder was removed. Out another month, the film had to be shut down and went $150,000 over budget. MGM boss Louis B. Mayer docked Gable two weeks pay, which caused bad feelings between the studio and its top star. In order to teach him a lesson, Mayer lent him to Columbia Pictures, then a poverty-row studio, to make a comedy. The movie, Frank Capra's masterpiece It Happened One Night (1934), swept the Academy Awards the next year and brought Gable his only Oscar. 3/15/46: Was injured in a car crash at the traffic circle at Sunset Blvd. and Bristol Ave. in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. According to a press release from MGM, Gable was driving east on Sunset Blvd. and had entered the south half of the traffic circle when he was struck by another car, whose driver apparently had become confused by the "round-about" and was driving in a westerly direction on the same arc of the circle. Gable drove his car over a curb to avoid hitting the the other car, and it struck a tree, throwing him against the steering wheel. He was treated at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for a bruised chest and a cut on his right leg that required stitches. The driver of the other car drove away from the site without checking on Gable or reporting the accident. The hit-and-run accident gave rise to the urban legend that Gable had struck and killed a pedestrian while driving drunk, an incident that allegedly was covered up by MGM. Though reported in several biographies, there is no basis in fact for the allegations. In the 1950s Gable joined Walt Disney, John Wayne, James Stewart and other politically conservative entertainers to "assist" the House Un-American Activities Committee in its efforts to find alleged Communist infiltration in the film industry. 11/16/60: Gable sat up in his hospital bed while reading a magazine and suffered his fourth and final heart attack. He was dead within seconds and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Proposed his headstone should read: "Back to silents." It was not used by his widow though. 1948: Proposed marriage to Nancy Davis. As head of the actors' division of the Hollywood Victory Committee, Gable sent his wife Carole Lombard on one of the first tours, in January 1942, to her home state of Indiana, where she sold $2 million worth of bonds. On the plane trip back to Hollywood the plane crashed, killing Lombard and her mother. Gable drank heavily for six months before enlisting as a private in the Army Air Corps. He served as a combat cameraman in Britain, rose to the rank of major, and eventually was furloughed to Fort Roach, as the First Motion Picture Unit headquarters came to be known. Gable's discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan. 1999: The American Film Institute named Gable among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #7. Turned down Cary Grant's role in The Philadelphia Story (1940) because he thought the film was too wordy. His private funeral service at the Church of the Recessional in Forest Lawn Park was attended by 200 mourners including Spencer Tracy, Robert Taylor, James Stewart, Norma Shearer, Ann Sothern, Marion Davies, Frank Capra, Robert Stack, Jack Oakie, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Van Johnson and Howard Strickling, Gable's longtime publicity man at MGM. There was no eulogy. The closed casket was adorned with yellow roses shaped like a crown, befitting the one-time King of Hollywood. He was baptized as a Catholic, but raised as a Protestant. However, he did not practice any religion as an adult. 11/5/60: His heart attack happened when he was changing a tire on his jeep. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a close friend of Gable's, sent him a message of support wishing him a speedy recovery. Contrary to popular belief, Gable did not perform his own stunts in The Misfits (1961). He was only used for the close ups while a stunt double stood in for him in the long shots. His heart attack was caused by his lifestyle - thirty years of heavy smoking and drinking, plus his increasing weight in later years. It is also believed his crash diet before filming began may have been a contributing factor. His favorite drink was whiskey. Director Howard Hawks had long intended to make Hatari! (1962) with Gable and John Wayne. However, by the time filming began Gable was already dead. In the mid-1950s he started to receive television offers but rejected them outright, even though some of his peers, like his old flame Loretta Young, were flourishing in the new medium. In 1955, he formed a production company with Jane Russell and her husband Bob Waterfield, and they produced The King and Four Queens (1956), the star's one and only production. The stress of making the film took such a toll on his health that Gable decided not to produce again. Well known for his pipe smoking, sustaining at least two bowlfuls a day. To this day he still has pipes named after him. Originally the image of Gable as an outdoors man was an invention of the studios, designed to bolster his masculine screen image during the early 1930s. However, he soon discovered that he enjoyed hunting, shooting and fishing, so the image swiftly became the reality. In order to expedite divorce from his second wife Rita in order to marry Carole Lombard, Gable paid his ex-wife a $500,000 settlement in 1939, nearly everything he had at the time. Despite his rising popularity, Gable balked at playing gangsters and overtly callous characters, and was therefore very pleased to be cast in Red Dust (1932), the film that set the seal on his stardom. As a teenager his voice was very high-pitched, however with vocal training he was able to lower it over time. His voice later proved a major asset in his climb to fame. Once named Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) as his favorite of his movies, despite the fact that he did not like either of his co-stars, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone. He disliked his most famous film Gone with the Wind (1939), which he regarded as "a woman's picture.". He liked westerns, and once expressed his regret that he didn't make more of them. He was highly patriotic, a staunch anti-communist and a firm believer in military intervention. Among the political leaders he admired were President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sir Winston Churchill and King George VI. Until John Wayne's stardom eclipsed Gable's in the late 1940s, many Americans thought of Gable as THE American star. Gable and then future wife Carole Lombard first met in late 1924 while working as extras on the set of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). They would run into each other off and on again for the next year and a half (the two also appeared as extras in the epic The Johnstown Flood (1926)), but would not formally meet until 1931. On Easter weekend, 1935, Gable flew to Houston to give away step-daughter Jana in her marriage to Dr. Thomas Burke. He separated from wife Ria in October, 1935. Met his second wife Ria when he was in a play. Her brother, actor Booth Franklin, brought her backstage and introduced them. His two step-children from wife Ria were George Anna "Jana" (b. circa 1913) and Alfred Lucas (b. circa 1919). Personal Quotes The only reason they come to see me is that I know that life is great - and they know I know it. [on his acting ability] I worked like a son of a bitch to learn a few tricks and I fight like a steer to avoid getting stuck with parts I can't play. This 'King' stuff is pure bullshit. I eat and sleep and go to the bathroom just like everybody else. There's no special light that shines inside me and makes me a star. I'm just a lucky slob from Ohio. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I had a lot of smart guys helping me - that's all. Working with Marilyn Monroe on The Misfits (1961) nearly gave me a heart attack. I have never been happier when a film ended. [about The Misfits (1961)] This is the best picture I have made, and it's the only time I've been able to act. Hell, if I'd jumped on all the dames I'm supposed to have jumped on, I'd have had no time to go fishing. The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He's got to have some inner standards worth fighting for or there won't be any way to bring him into conflict. And he must be ready to choose death before dishonor without making too much song and dance about it. That's all there is to it. It is an extra dividend when you like the girl you've fallen in love with. I hate a liar. Maybe because I'm such a good one myself, heh? Anyway, to find someone has told an out-and-out lie puts him on the other side of the fence from me for all time. I'm no actor and I never have been. What people see on the screen is me. [on rumors he was dull in bed] I can't emote worth a damn. Everything Marilyn [Marilyn Monroe] does is different from any other woman, strange and exciting, from the way she talks to the way she uses that magnificent torso. [on Spencer Tracy] The guy's good. There's nobody in the business who can touch him, and you're a fool to try. And the bastard knows it, so don't fall for that humble stuff! Every picture I make, every experience of my private life, every lesson I learn are the keys to my future. And I have faith in it. I am intrigued by glamorous women . . . A vain woman is continually taking out a compact to repair her makeup. A glamorous woman knows she doesn't need to. [about Gary Cooper] Coop is a right guy, the kind you like to hunt and fish with and not talk about making movies. I laid it on him one time about his romance with Carole [Carole Lombard, Gable's wife] and he got pale as hell. She told me about it during a drunken argument we had. After that, Coop and I didn't hunt together so much and when we did, we kept an eye on each other. She used to throw him up to me in my face and that was hard to take, especially since I didn't know the whole truth until years later. I got to admit I was jealous. [on playing Rhett Butler] I discovered that Rhett was even harder to play than I had anticipated. With so much of Scarlett preceding his entrance, Rhett's scenes were all climaxes. There was a chance to build up to Scarlett, but Rhett represented drama and action every time he appeared. He didn't figure in any of the battle scenes, being a guy who hated war, amid he wasn't in the toughest of the siege of Atlanta shots. What I was fighting for was to hold my own in the first half of the picture - which is all Vivien's - because I felt that after the scene with the baby, Bonnie, Rhett could control the end of the film. That scene where Bonnie dies, and the scene where I strike Scarlett and she accidentally tumbles down stairs, thus losing her unborn child, were the two that worried me most. Types really don't matter. I have been accused of preferring blondes. But I have known some mighty attractive redheads, brunettes, and yes, women with grey hair. Age, height, weight haven't anything to do with glamour. [on Jean Harlow] She didn't want to be famous. She wanted to be happy. I bring to a role everything I am, was and hope to be. This power that I'm supposed to have over women was never noticed when I was a stage actor on Broadway. I don't know when I got it. And by God, I can't explain it. I don't believe I'm king of anything, but I know why they like to think I am. I'm not much of an actor, but I'm not bad unless it's one of those things outside my comprehension. I work hard. I'm no Adonis, and I'm as American as the telephone poles I used to climb to make a living. So men don't get sore if their women folks like me on the screen. I'm one of them, they know it, so it's a compliment to them. They see me broke, in trouble, scared of things that go bump in the night, but I come out fighting. They see me making love to Jean Harlow or Claudette Colbert and they say, 'If he can do it, I can do it,' and figure it'll be fun to go home and to make love to their wives. [in 1958] My days of playing the dashing lover are over. I'm no longer believable in those parts. There has been considerable talk about older guys wooing and winning leading ladies half their age. I don't think the public likes it, and I don't care for it myself. It's not realistic. Actresses that I started out with like Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck have long since quit playing glamor girls and sweet young things. Now it's time I acted my age. Let's be honest. It's a character role, and I'll be playing more of them. There's a risk involved, of course. I have no idea if I can attain the success as a character actor as I did playing the dashing young lover, but it's a chance I have to take. Not everybody is able to do it. I don't want a lot of strangers looking down at my wrinkles and my big fat belly when I'm dead. When I die, don't let them make a circus out of it. Method actors are like hams. If any child of mine becomes an actor I will turn in my grave. The public interest in my playing Rhett puzzled me. I was the only one, apparently, who didn't take it for granted that Iwould. I found myself trapped by a series of circumstances over which I had no control. It was a funny feeling. I think I know now how a fly must react after being caught in a spider's web. Scarlett doesn't always love Rhett. It's the first time that the girl isn't sure that she wants me from the minute she sets eyes on me. Salary The Misfits (1961) $750,000 + $58,000 for each week of overtime Soldier of Fortune (1955) $100,000 Any Number Can Play (1949) $241,250 Strange Cargo (1940) $7,500/week Gone with the Wind (1939) $120,000 Test Pilot (1938) $4,000/week Dancing Lady (1933) $2,500/week Hold Your Man (1933) $2,000/week Strange Interlude (1932) $2,000/week Polly of the Circus (1932) $650/week Hell Divers (1931) $650/week Susan Lenox <Her Fall and Rise> (1931) $650/week Sporting Blood (1931) $650/week A Free Soul (1931) $650/week The Secret Six (1931) $650/week Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) $650/week The Painted Desert (1931) $750/week Forbidden Paradise (1924) $7.50/day Filmography Jump to filmography as: Actor, Soundtrack, Self, Archive Footage Actor: 1960s 1950s 1940s 1930s 1920s The Misfits (1961) .... Gay Langland It Started in Naples (1960) .... Michael Hamilton But Not for Me (1959) .... Russell 'Russ' Ward Teacher's Pet (1958) .... James Gannon/James Gallangher Run Silent Run Deep (1958) .... Cmdr. 'Rich' Richardson ... aka Run Silent, Run Deep (USA: poster title) Band of Angels (1957) .... Hamish Bond The King and Four Queens (1956) .... Dan Kehoe The Tall Men (1955) .... Colonel Ben Allison Soldier of Fortune (1955) .... Hank Lee Betrayed (1954) .... Col. Pieter Deventer Mogambo (1953) .... Victor Marswell Never Let Me Go (1953) .... Philip Sutherland Lone Star (1952) .... Devereaux Burke Across the Wide Missouri (1951) .... Flint Mitchell To Please a Lady (1950) .... Mike Brannan ... aka Red Hot Wheels (USA: reissue title) Key to the City (1950) .... Steve Fisk Any Number Can Play (1949) .... Charley Enley Kyng Command Decision (1948) .... Brig. Gen. K.C. 'Casey' Dennis Homecoming (1948) .... Col. Ulysses Delby 'Lee' Johnson (Dr. Johnson) The Hucksters (1947) .... Victor Albee Norman Adventure (1945) .... Harry Patterson Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) .... Jonathon 'Jonny' Davis Honky Tonk (1941) .... 'Candy' Johnson They Met in Bombay (1941) .... Gerald Meldrick Comrade X (1940) .... McKinley B. 'Mac' Thompson Boom Town (1940) .... Big John McMasters Strange Cargo (1940) .... André Verne Gone with the Wind (1939) .... Rhett Butler - a Visitor from Charleston Idiot's Delight (1939) .... Harry Van Too Hot to Handle (1938) .... Christopher 'Chris' Hunter Test Pilot (1938) .... Jim Lane Saratoga (1937) .... Duke Bradley Parnell (1937) .... Charles Stewart Parnell Love on the Run (1936) .... Michael Anthony Cain and Mabel (1936) .... Larry Cain San Francisco (1936) .... Blackie Norton Wife vs. Secretary (1936) .... Van Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) .... Christian The Call of the Wild (1935) .... Jack Thornton China Seas (1935) .... Captain Alan Gaskell After Office Hours (1935) .... James 'Jim' Branch Forsaking All Others (1934) .... Jeffrey 'Jeff'/'Jeffy' Williams Chained (1934) .... Michael 'Mike' Bradley Manhattan Melodrama (1934) .... Edward J. 'Blackie' Gallagher Men in White (1934) .... Dr. George Ferguson It Happened One Night (1934) .... Peter Warne Dancing Lady (1933) .... Patch Gallagher Night Flight (1933) .... Jules Hold Your Man (1933) .... Eddie Hall The White Sister (1933) .... Giovanni Severi Strange Interlude (1932) .... Dr. Ned Darrell ... aka Strange Interval No Man of Her Own (1932) .... Babe Stewart Red Dust (1932) .... Dennis Carson Polly of the Circus (1932) .... Reverend John Hartley Hell Divers (1931) .... CPO Steve Nelson Possessed (1931) .... Mark Whitney Susan Lenox <Her Fall and Rise> (1931) .... Rodney Spencer ... aka Rising to Fame ... aka The Rise of Helga (UK) Sporting Blood (1931) .... Warren 'Rid' Riddell Night Nurse (1931) .... Nick, the Chauffeur A Free Soul (1931) .... Ace Wilfong Laughing Sinners (1931) .... Carl Loomis The Secret Six (1931) .... Carl Luckner The Finger Points (1931) .... Louis J. Blanco Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) .... Jake Luva The Easiest Way (1931) .... Nick Feliki, Laundryman The Painted Desert (1931) .... Rance Brett Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930) (uncredited) .... Extra ... aka Dubarry One Minute to Play (1926) (uncredited) .... Extra The Johnstown Flood (1926) (uncredited) .... Extra Standing at Bar in Saloon Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) (uncredited) .... Extra ... aka Ben-Hur (USA: short title) North Star (1925) .... Archie West The Plastic Age (1925) (uncredited) .... Athlete The Merry Widow (1925) (uncredited) .... Ballroom Extra What Price Gloria? (1925) (uncredited) .... Bit Role The Merry Kiddo (1925) (uncredited) .... Bit Role Declassée (1925) (uncredited) .... Extra ... aka The Social Exile The Pacemakers (1925) .... Bit Role Forbidden Paradise (1924) (uncredited) .... Soldier in Czarina's guard White Man (1924) .... Lady Andrea's Brother Fighting Blood (1923) (uncredited) .... Extra Soundtrack: 1970s 1940s 1930s That's Entertainment! (1974) (performer: "Puttin' On the Ritz") ... aka That's Entertainment: 50 Years of MGM (USA: alternative title) Comrade X (1940) (lyrics: "Funiculi, Funicula") Boom Town (1940) ("Polly Wolly Doodle" (uncredited)) Idiot's Delight (1939) (performer: "By the Light of the Silvery Moon", "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Boola Boola") Saratoga (1937) (performer: "The Horse with the Dreamy Eyes" (uncredited)) ("The Horse with the Dreamy Eyes" (uncredited)) Love on the Run (1936) (performer: "String Quintet In E, Op. 13 No. 5: Minuet" (uncredited)) ("She'll be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" (uncredited)) Wife vs. Secretary (1936) ("Thank You for a Lovely Evening" (uncredited), "She Was Poor But She Was Honest" (uncredited), "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!" (1915) (uncredited)) It Happened One Night (1934) (performer: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf") Self: 1950s 1940s 1930s The 30th Annual Academy Awards (1958) (TV) .... Himself - Co-Presenter: Writing Awards A Star Is Born World Premiere (1954) (TV) .... Himself (in crowd) "Toast of the Town" .... Himself (1 episode, 1953) ... aka The Ed Sullivan Show (USA: new title) - Episode #6.33 (1953) TV episode .... Himself Callaway Went Thataway (1951) (uncredited) .... Himself ... aka The Star Said No (UK) Screen Actors (1950) (uncredited) .... Himself Some of the Best (1949) (uncredited) .... Himself Screen Snapshots Series 23, No. 1: Hollywood in Uniform (1943) .... Himself ... aka Screen Snapshots, No. 1, Series 23 (USA: review title) Wings Up (1943) (voice) .... Narrator Show Business at War (1943) .... Himself ... aka The March of Time Volume IX, Issue 10 Combat America (1943) .... Himself/Narrator You Can't Fool a Camera (1941) .... Himself ... aka A New Romance of Celluloid: You Can't Fool a Camera (USA: series title) Northward, Ho! (1940) (uncredited) .... Himself Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 9 (1939) .... Himself, Horse Show Attendee Hollywood Hobbies (1939) (uncredited) .... Himself Hollywood Goes to Town (1938) .... Himself Another Romance of Celluloid (1938) (uncredited) .... Himself Hollywood Party (1937) .... Himself The Candid Camera Story (Very Candid) of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention (1937) (uncredited) .... Himself Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 3 (1936) .... Himself - Observer Screen Snapshots Series 15, No. 8 (1936) .... Himself Starlit Days at the Lido (1935) (uncredited) .... Himself Hollywood Hobbies (1935) .... Himself Hollywood on Parade No. B-13 (1934) .... Himself Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933) (uncredited) .... Himself Hollywood on Parade No. A-6 (1933) .... Himself Screen Snapshots (1932/I) .... Himself The Christmas Party (1931) .... Himself ... aka A Christmas Story ... aka Jackie Cooper's Christmas Party (USA: DVD title) Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party (1931) .... Himself Archive Footage: You Know the Face (2009) .... Himself Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV) .... Various Roles Gable and Crawford (2008) (V) .... Himself Vampire déchu, Le (2007) (TV) .... Himself Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) .... Commander Richardson "Today Tonight" - Episode dated 6 April 2007 (2007) TV episode (uncredited) .... Rhett Butler Old Hollywood: Silent Stars, Deadly Secrets (2007) (TV) (uncredited) .... Peter Warne "War Stories with Oliver North" - Hollywood Goes to War (2006) TV episode .... Himself "Corazón de..." - Episode dated 16 January 2006 (2006) TV episode - Episode dated 3 October 2005 (2005) TV episode 50 y más (2005) (TV) Garbo (2005) (uncredited) Irving Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood (2005) (TV) Robert Capa, l'homme qui voulait croire à sa légende (2004) (TV) .... Himself "Unsere Besten" - Das große Lesen (2004) TV episode .... Rhett Butler "American Masters" - Judy Garland: By Myself (2004) TV episode .... Himself "Somebody's Daughter, Somebody's Son" - Episode #1.1 (2004) TV episode .... Himself The People's Hollywood (2003) (TV) .... Himself The True Story of Seabiscuit (2003) (TV) .... Himself "Biography" - Clark Gable: The King of Hollywood (2003) TV episode .... Himself Complicated Women (2003) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself Clark Gable and Carole Lombard (2003) (TV) .... Himself "Great Performances" - Making 'The Misfits' (2002) TV episode .... Himself Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel (2001) (TV) .... Rhett Butler in "Gone With the Wind" Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000) (TV) ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999) (TV) "The Rat Pack" (1999) .... Himself "The 20th Century: A Moving Visual History" (1999) .... Himself Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998) (TV) .... Himself Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults (1997) (TV) .... Himself Judy Garland's Hollywood (1997) (V) Hollywood Commandos (1997) (TV) .... Himself We Remember Marilyn (1996) (V) .... Himself The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995) (TV) .... Himself Legends of Entertainment Video (1995) (V) .... Himself Entertaining the Troops (1994) .... Himself That's Entertainment! III (1994) (uncredited) .... Himself (clip from "Dancing Lady") Classe américaine, La (1993) (TV) .... L'Acteur "MGM: When the Lion Roars" (1992) .... Himself "Geraldo" - Frank Sinatra/Elvis Presley/Clark Gable (1991) TV episode .... Himself Hollywood Remembers: Myrna Loy - So Nice to Come Home to (1991) (TV) .... Himself Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991) (TV) .... Himself in screen test Hollywood on Parade (1990) (V) .... Himself John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989) .... Himself The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988) (TV) .... Himself Hollywood Sex Symbols (1988) (V) The 1950's: Music, Memories & Milestones (1988) (V) .... Himself America Censored (1985) (TV) .... Rhett Butler That's Dancing! (1985) .... Himself (clip from "Gone with the Wind") Bob Hope's Overseas Christmas Tours: Around the World with the Troops - 1941-1972 (1980) (TV) .... Himself "That's Hollywood" - You've Never Seen This Before (1978) TV episode .... Himself America at the Movies (1976) .... Peter Warne/Blackie Norton That's Entertainment, Part II (1976) .... Clips from 'Gone with the Wind' & 'Strange Cargo' etc. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975) .... Himself Hooray for Hollywood (1975) .... Himself Gable: The King Remembered (1975) (TV) .... Himself/Various Characters That's Entertainment! (1974) .... Clip from 'Idiot's Delight' Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972) (TV) Dear Mr. Gable (1968) Inside Daisy Clover (1965) (uncredited) .... Himself The Love Goddesses (1965) .... Himself Hollywood My Home Town (1965) .... Himself Verifica incerta, La (1965) The Big Parade of Comedy (1964) "Hollywood and the Stars" - Hollywood Goes to War (1964) TV episode .... Himself "Toast of the Town" - Episode #16.38 (1963) TV episode .... Himself - Episode #14.17 (1961) TV episode .... Gay Langland - Episode #13.45 (1960) TV episode .... Himself - Episode #10.10 (1956) TV episode .... Himself - Episode #8.22 (1955) TV episode .... Himself The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) (uncredited) .... Actor in Clip from 'Mogambo' Hollywood Without Make-Up (1963) .... Himself The James Dean Story (1957) (uncredited) .... Himself - 'Giant' premiere footage When the Talkies Were Young (1955) (uncredited) .... Nick "MGM Parade" - Episode #1.14 (1955) TV episode .... Fletcher Christian Screen Snapshots: Memories in Uniform (1954) .... Himself The Stratton Story (1949) (uncredited) .... Himself, Clip from 'Honky Tonk' Trifles of Importance (1940) (uncredited) The Miracle of Sound (1940) .... Himself Land of Liberty (1939) .... Blackie Norton (edited from: San Francisco) Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937) (uncredited) .... Film Clips 'Dear Mr. Gable' number

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