Clark Gable

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor.

Often referred to as the "King of Hollywood", he had roles in more than 60 films in a variety of genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man.

He was named the seventh greatest male movie star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute.

William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901, in Cadiz, Ohio, to William Henry "Will" Gable (1870–1948), an oil-well driller, and his wife Adeline ( Hershelman).

His father was a Protestant and his mother a Catholic.

Gable was named Bill after his father, but he was almost always called Clark, and referred to as "the kid" by his father.

Gable was six months old when he was baptized at a Roman Catholic church in Dennison, Ohio.

When he was ten months old, his mother died.

His father refused to raise him in the Catholic faith, which provoked criticism from the Hershelman family.

Gable and his father were active in the Methodist church where his father was a Sunday School teacher.

The dispute was resolved when his father agreed to allow him to spend time with his maternal uncle Charles Hershelman and his wife on their farm in Vernon Township, Pennsylvania.

In April 1903, Gable's father married Jennie Dunlap (1874–1920).

Gable's stepmother raised the tall, shy child with a loud voice to be well-dressed and well-groomed.

She played the piano and gave him lessons at home.

He later took up brass instruments, becoming the only boy in the Hopedale Men's town band at age 13.

Gable was mechanically inclined and loved to repair cars with his father, who insisted that he engage in masculine activities such as hunting and hard physical work.

Gable also loved literature; he would recite Shakespeare among trusted company, particularly the sonnets.

His father had financial difficulties in 1917 and decided to try his hand at farming, and moved the family to Palmyra Township, near Akron, Ohio.

His father insisted that he work the farm, but Gable soon left to work in Akron for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.

Gable was inspired to become an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise at age 17, but he was unable to make a start in acting until he turned 21 and received his $300 inheritance from a Hershelman trust.

After his stepmother died in 1920, his father moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, going back into the oil business.

He worked with his father for some time wildcatting and sludge removing in the oil fields of Oklahoma before traveling to the Pacific Northwest.

Gable toured in second-class stock companies, finding work with traveling tent shows, lumber mills, and other odd jobs.

He made his way across the Midwest to Portland, Oregon, where he worked as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store.

Also working there was local stage actor Earle Larimore, (the nephew of Laura Hope Crews who portrayed Aunt Pittypat alongside Gable in Gone with the Wind) who encouraged Gable to return to acting.

Though Larimore didn't invite him to join his theater group The Red Lantern Players, he did introduce Gable to one of its members, Franz Dorfler, and they started dating.

After the couple's audition for The Astoria Players, Gable's lack of training was evident, but the theater group accepted him after cajoling from Larimore.

Gable and Dorfler moved to Astoria, Oregon, touring with the group until its bankruptcy, and then moved back to Portland where Gable obtained a day job with Pacific Telephone and started receiving dramatic lessons in the evening.

Gable's acting coach, Josephine Dillon, was a theater manager in Portland.

She paid to have his teeth fixed and his hair styled.

She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body, and taught him better body control and posture.

Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the romantic comedy It Happened One Night (1934).

He was further Oscar-nominated for his roles as Fletcher Christian in the drama Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and Rhett Butler in the historical romance drama Gone with the Wind (1939).

He also starred in Call of the Wild (1935), Key to the City (1950), and Mogambo (1953).

He received Golden Globe Award nominations for his comedic roles in Teacher's Pet (1958), and But Not for Me (1959).

Gable died of a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 59.

His final on-screen role was as an aging cowboy in The Misfits (1961).

Gable was one of the most consistent box-office performers in the history of Hollywood, appearing on Quigley Publishing's annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll sixteen times.

He appeared opposite many of the most popular actresses of their time.

He frequently acted alongside Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner.