Gable, (William) Clark 1901-60
US film actor

He was born in Cadiz, Ohio, and his early stage experience was intermingled with casual labour and work as an extra in silent films. A concentrated assault on Hollywood stardom resulted in a role in The Painted Desert and 11 other film appearances in 1931. He won an Academy Award for It Happened One Night (1934), and was voted 'King of Hollywood' in 1937. His sympathetic, ruggedly masculine and humorous persona made him the perfect Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind (1939). He returned to the cinema after World War II army service and remained in demand as a sparring partner in films like Mogambo (1953) and Teacher's Pet (1958), and as an ageing cowboy in his last film, The Misfits (1961). Married five times, his third wife was the actress Carole Lombard.

Bibliography: Lyn Tornabene, Long Live the King (1977)