Few actors in modern times have come close to the fame and glory of Clark Gable, the original macho man of movies for three decades. Gable stamped his image indelibly on the public consciousness in 92 motion pictures including "Gone With the Wind," one of the most popular films of all time.
Although not the greatest actor in the world, nor the most handsome, Gable was probably the most popular romantic star Hollywood ever produced. So wonderfully human, so manly and magnetic, he was loved by millions of women, admired by their husbands and millions of other men, and worshiped by children.
Many stars are short men who appear bigger than life on screen. William Clark Gable, who was born Feb. 1, 1901, in Ohio, was bigger than life on and off screen, and the public realized it: He had that magic quality called presence or charisma. In every film he made, even the early ones, he made his roles believable. In my opinion, Gable would be an even bigger star today because so much emphasis in current films is on plot contrivance and computer gimmickry rather than fully rounded characters.
I'd grown up watching Gable films in theaters in my hometown, and later saw them projected on sheets hung between poles on various islands in the South Pacific during World War II. He defined masculinity for an entire generation of us young adult males. Like many Americans, I was a childhood fan of the hero/actor. As an adult who came to know him, I became a fan of the real-life man.
I first met him during the fall of 1951 when he was in New York to promote "Across the Wide Missouri," his latest film. The assignment editor at the New York Herald Tribune, where I had just started working as a reporter, told me to find out how Gable was spending his time in Manhattan. An MGM press agent arranged for me to see Gable at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
By that time, Gable was the biggest star in the Hollywood firmament. He had won an Academy Award for 1934's "It Happened One Night." Instead of a long-winded speech, he said only, "Thank you." He was nominated two more times, for "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) and "Gone With the Wind" (1939). He'd been married four times. Three of the wives he divorced were his senior by many years. His marriage to actress Carole Lombard ended with her tragic death at 33 in a plane crash in 1942.
When I phoned Gable's room from the hotel lobby, he answered the phone himself. "I'll meet you in the lobby," he said. "I have a short errand to do. Maybe you can go with me and we'll talk."
