Clark Gable

American actor known as the 'King of Hollywood'.

William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901, in Cadiz, Ohio, to an oil-well driller and his wife.^[1] Over a 37-year span, Clark Gable acted in more than 60 films and was a leading man for three of those decades.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name: William Clark Gable
Born: 1 February 1901
Birthplace: Cadiz, Ohio, U.S.
Died: 16 November 1960
Place of death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Burial place: Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Other names: The King of Hollywood
Occupation: Actor

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Gable's mother died when he was ten months old, and his father refused to raise him in the Catholic faith.^[3] His stepmother raised him to be well-dressed and well-groomed, and she gave him piano lessons at home.^[4] Gable was inspired to become an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise at age 17.^[5] He joined the United States Army Air Forces on August 12, 1942, following the death of his wife Carole Lombard.^[6][7]

Josephine Dillon, who managed a theater in Portland, served as Gable's acting coach; she financed dental work and a new hairstyle for him, and instructed him in improving his physical control and posture.^[8] In 1924, Gable and Dillon journeyed to Hollywood, where she took on the roles of his manager and spouse.^[9] For his role in the 1934 film It Happened One Night, Gable received the Academy Award for Best Actor.^[10] While serving as an observer-gunner on B-17 Flying Fortresses, Gable participated in five combat missions and was awarded both the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.^[11]

A heart attack caused Gable's death on November 16, 1960.^[12]

What the cited sources add

The Huffington Post account notes that Gable was savvy about knowing which roles would work for him, while also advancing the Gable image.^[12] The same source states that Gable's marriage to Carole Lombard marked the happiest portion of his life, but the union was cut short in less than three years.^[12] The American Air Museum in Britain reports that Adolf Hitler held Gable in great esteem, offering a sizeable reward for his capture.^[13] The "Actor Clark Gable Served in Uniform" article describes how Gable's beloved wife Carole Lombard was killed in the crash of a DC-3 airliner returning from a war bonds tour.^[7]

That article also notes that veterans recall Gable flying many more than the five recorded combat missions.^[7] The Biography.com entry states that Gable dropped out of high school at 16 and went to work at a tire factory in Akron, Ohio.^[14] The same entry reports that Gable developed pyorrhea during filming in 1933, requiring removal of nearly all his teeth.^[14]

References

Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Spicer, "Clark Gable: Biography, Filmography, Bibliography", McFarland & Company, 2002; Van Neste, "Clark Gable Reconstructed Birthhome: Fit For A King", Classic Images, 1999 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Clark Gable: King of Hollywood", The Huffington Post (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Spicer, "Clark Gable: Biography, Filmography, Bibliography", McFarland & Company, 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Famous American Freemasons, Volume 2", Lulu.com, 2009, p. 92; Spicer, "Clark Gable: Biography, Filmography, Bibliography", McFarland, January 15, 2002 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Clark Gable, in Pictures: Candid Images of the Actor's Life", McFarland, October 14, 2011; Harris, "Clark Gable: A Biography", Crown, September 1, 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "From the Archives: Clark Gable joins the Army", Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Actor Clark Gable Served in Uniform, Flew Combat Missions in World War II". facts only, no text reused. defensemedianetwork.com
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harris, "Clark Gable: A Biography", Harmony Books, 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hollywood Bohemians: Transgressive Sexuality and the Selling of the Movieland Dream", McFarland, November 21, 2014; Harris, "Clark Gable: A Biography", Harmony Books, 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harris 2002, pp. 112–114. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Clark Gable" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Clark Gable American Air Museum in Britain", www.americanairmuseum.com (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
"Clark Gable: King of Hollywood", The Huffington Post. facts only, no text reused. m.huffpost.com
"Clark Gable American Air Museum in Britain", www.americanairmuseum.com. facts only, no text reused. americanairmuseum.com
Clark Gable on Biography.com Accessed August 5, 2016. facts only, no text reused. biography.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Clark Gable (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.