Clark Gable

Born on February 1, 1901, in Cadiz, Ohio, William Clark Gable faced a hardscrabble youth, working as an oilfield wildcatter and lumberjack before discovering an irresistible passion for acting with itinerant theater companies. Arriving in Hollywood during the dawn of the sound era in 1930, Gable was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where his rugged masculinity, charming self-deprecation, and dimpled smile quickly catapulted him to superstardom. In 1934, on loan to Columbia Pictures, Gable starred opposite Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra's romantic comedy 'It Happened One Night'. His portrayal of the cynical reporter Peter Warne swept the Academy Awards, earning Gable the Oscar for Best Actor and popularizing the modern romantic comedy genre. In 1935, his portrayal of Fletcher Christian in 'Mutiny on the Bounty' cemented his stature, leading a nationwide poll of twenty million moviegoers in 1938 to crown him the undisputed 'King of Hollywood'. His definitive screen role came in 1939 as Rhett Butler in David O. Selznick's monumental epic 'Gone with the Wind', delivering the most famous line in motion picture history: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.' Following the tragic death of his beloved wife Carole Lombard in a 1942 plane crash, Gable enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces at age forty-one, flying combat missions over Europe aboard B-17 bombers. Returning to film after the war, Gable delivered one of his finest and most poignant performances alongside Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift in John Huston's 'The Misfits' (1961). Gable suffered a fatal heart attack just days after filming concluded, passing away on November 16, 1960, in Los Angeles at age fifty-nine.