Original photo by colaimages/ Alamy Stock Photo
“His ears are too big and he looks like an ape.” So said Twentieth Century-Fox founder Darryl F. Zanuck of the young actor who would become “the King of Hollywood” and appear in more than 60 films. Zanuck was initially no fan, but he eventually changed his mind — and that wasn’t the only time William Clark Gable confounded his critics. Screen idol Gary Cooper turned down a role that Gable accepted, stating, “[That film] is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me.” That film, by the way, was Gone With the Wind, and Gable’s portrayal of Rhett Butler is still legendary. Here are six more interesting facts about one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men.
Clark Gable’s Birth Certificate Said He Was a Girl
The birth certificate that showed Clark Gable as a girl must have come as a surprise to his parents, after their son arrived on February 1, 1901, in the small town of Cadiz, Ohio. It’s not clear what led to the error. His mother, Adeline Gable (née Hershelman), died while Clark was still an infant, and his father (also named William) soon remarried. Gable’s stepmother, Jennie Dunlap, encouraged his love of music and literature.
He Was a Man of Many Professions
Although he aspired to be an actor from the age of 17, Gable held a number of jobs before “making it” in Hollywood. In addition to helping his father farm, he worked in a tire factory, as a wildcatter — his father had also worked on oil rigs — and as a lumberjack and salesman before beginning to land film roles. The studios played up Gable’s rugged appeal, leading one magazine to describe him as a “lumberjack in evening clothes.”
He Loved His Leading Ladies
Literally. Gable’s first wife, theater manager Josephine Dillon, was 17 years his senior and his agent, helping him control his rather high-pitched voice and improving his acting. After he became leading man material, Gable’s affairs were legendary. He lured Joan Crawford away from her actor husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; fathered a secret child with Loretta Young; and carried on with Lana Turner while married to “the love of his life,” Carole Lombard, who was killed in a plane crash in 1942 (the pair had married in 1939). Gable also had a son, John Clark Gable, with his fifth (and last) wife, Kay Williams.
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Clark Gable Became a War Hero
Like many actors of his day, Gable did his part in World War II. Although above draft age, the actor enlisted as a private before attending Officers’ Candidate School, and then trained as an aerial gunner. Against the wishes of his studio (which wanted him in a noncombat role), Gable flew missions over Europe, producing footage for the film Combat America. He was relieved from active duty in 1944.
Hitler Wanted to Kidnap Him
The German dictator was well known for his obsession with movies, and was a big fan of American and British films. During World War II, the Führer even concocted a plot to kidnap the Gone With the Wind star. A $5,000 reward was offered to anyone who could capture Gable and deliver him — unharmed — to Germany. Whether Hitler wanted him for propaganda or other purposes, it’s probably safe to say that the actor did not return the admiration.
He Probably Did Have Really Bad Breath
He was known for his famous smile, but periodontal disease robbed Gable of his own teeth as a young adult. While filming MGM’s Dancing Lady in 1933, he was hospitalized for pyorrhea, a gum infection that eventually required the removal of his teeth. It’s rumored that the shooting delay and subsequent cost overruns led to him being lent to Columbia Pictures for It Happened One Night, for which Gable won an Academy Award. The actor carried on with a full set of dentures… and halitosis. “Kissing Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind was not that exciting,” Vivian Leigh once said. “His dentures smelled something awful.” (Gable’s smoking probably didn’t help.)
Cynthia Barnes has written for the Boston Globe, National Geographic, the Toronto Star and the Discoverer. After loving life in Bangkok, she happily calls Colorado home.
