Clark Gable
American actor (1901–1960)
Clark Gable and the making of a Hollywood star
Before the studio contract
Clark Gable worked outside entertainment before joining travelling theatre companies. He learned his craft on stage, including a Broadway appearance in Machinal, and later sought film roles in Hollywood. His path was not an overnight discovery: theatre work and repeated attempts to enter the studios preceded the screen persona that audiences came to know.
From MGM leading man to Oscar winner
After his speaking role in The Painted Desert in 1931, MGM signed him and paired him with established actresses. A loan to Columbia for Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night proved decisive: Gable won the Academy Award for that 1934 film. His role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind in 1939 then became one of the defining parts of his career.
War service and later films
After the death of his wife Carole Lombard in 1942, Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Forces and flew on combat missions. He returned to filmmaking after the war, appearing in Mogambo and other productions. The Misfits was his final film. His career thus stretches from studio-era romantic comedy through wartime service to the changing Hollywood of the 1950s.