Line #53 Creator/ClarkGable


1	%% Image selected per thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1429618626058156600
2	%% Do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a31b92a11c1215d50ba6b7e4061cac4b.png]]
5
6	->''"I'm no actor and I never have been. What people see on the screen is me."''
7
8	William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American actor in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood. His three most famous roles are Peter Warne in ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'', Fletcher Christian in ''Film/MutinyOnTheBounty'' and Rhett Butler in ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''; all three earned him UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations, and he won for ''It Happened One Night''. He was named the seventh greatest actor in American history in a poll by the Creator/AmericanFilmInstitute.
9
10	At one point he was Hollywood's top male box-office draw, second overall only to Creator/ShirleyTemple. He was nicknamed "The King of Hollywood". Joe Shuster named Franchise/{{Superman}}'s alter-ego after Gable and fellow leading man Kent Taylor.
11
12	Ironically, for all the confident leading men roles he played on screen, Gable was noted in private to be somewhat shy and insecure; he outright abhorred unplanned public speaking, often relying on his much more confident long-term girlfriend and later wife, actress Creator/CaroleLombard, to guide him through red-carpet appearances. Lombard's sudden death in a plane crash in 1942 is noted as the event that took much of the wind out of Gable for the later part of his career, [[TheMourningAfter and left him in a depressive funk for years]], during which he enlisted in the U.S. Army to join the war effort in Europe and took a three-year absence from the screen. And even though he later returned to acting, and even remarried twice (to actress Sylvia Ashley in 1949 and actress Kay Williams in 1955), many of his friends and colleagues noticed [[TheLostLenore how the loss of Lombard always hung over him like a shadow for the rest of his life]].
13
14	Gable eventually passed away from a heart attack in late 1960. His last appearence on film, ''Film/TheMisfits'', posthumously released in 1961, would also be Creator/MarilynMonroe's last completed film.
15
16	According to rumor, Gable (unintentionally) made one other lasting imprint on pop culture: There's a scene in ''It Happened One Night'' where his character is talking while chewing on a carrot. The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' creators, being fans of the film, [[AffectionateParody affectionately parodied]] this trait in the character of WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, for whom it quickly became a trademark.
17
18	----
19	!!Clark Gable films on TV Tropes include:
20
21	* ''Film/TheFingerPoints'' (1931)
22	* ''Film/AFreeSoul'' (1931)
23	* ''Film/NightNurse'' (1931)
24	* ''Film/{{Possessed\|1931}}'' (1931)
25	* ''Film/TheSecretSix'' (1931)
26	* ''Film/SusanLenoxHerFallAndRise'' (1931)
27	* ''Film/{{No Man of Her Own\|1932}}'' (1932)
28	* ''Film/PollyOfTheCircus'' (1932)
29	* ''Film/RedDust'' (1932)
30	* ''Theatre/StrangeInterlude'' (1932)
31	* ''Film/HoldYourMan'' (1933)
32	* ''Film/ForsakingAllOthers'' (1934)
33	* ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'' (1934)
34	* ''Film/ManhattanMelodrama'' (1934)
35	* ''Theatre/MenInWhite'' (1934)
36	* ''Literature/TheCallOfTheWild'' (1935)
37	* ''Film/ChinaSeas'' (1935)
38	* ''Film/MutinyOnTheBounty'' (1935)
39	* ''Film/{{San Francisco\|1936}}'' (1936)
40	* ''Film/WifeVsSecretary'' (1936)
41	* ''Film/{{Saratoga}}'' (1937)
42	* ''Film/TestPilot'' (1938)
43	* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' (1939)
44	* ''Theatre/IdiotsDelight'' (1939)
45	* ''Film/{{Boom Town\|1940}}'' (1940)
46	* ''Film/StrangeCargo'' (1940)
47	* ''Film/TheHucksters'' (1947)
48	* ''Film/{{Homecoming}}'' (1948)
49	* ''Film/AcrossTheWideMissouri'' (1951)
50	* ''Film/{{Lone Star\|1952}}'' (1952)
51	* ''Film/{{Mogambo}}'' (1953) -- remake of ''Red Dust''
52	* ''Film/RunSilentRunDeep'' (1958)
53	* ''[[Film/TeachersPet1958 Teacher's Pet]]'' (1958)
54	* ''Film/TheMisfits'' (1961)
55	----
56	!!Tropes associated with Clark Gable's work include:
57
58	* {{Hunk}}: His characters carried this persona, even if they weren't "manly", such as his numerous journalist roles. He had the odd {{shirtless scene}} and [[ChickMagnet many female admirers]], and was trained by the studios to [[ManlyMenCanHunt learn how to hunt and fish]]. Despite adapting exceptionally to this persona, behind the camera, he was a BigSofty, who loved to read, especially poetry and Shakespeare sonnets, and who allegedly shed ManlyTears at the premiere of ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.
59	* MagnumOpusDissonance:[[invoked]] ''Film/MutinyOnTheBounty'' was his favourite role, in contrast to some of the more famous ones.
60	* ManlyFacialHair: His signature appearance is sporting a pencil moustache, which added to his manliness. Creator/{{TCM}} once made an amusing promo in which they "interviewed" his mustache when Clark was the Star of the Month.
61	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: He was not confident in his ability to do accents, so he chose to keep his familiar Midwestern accent to play the English Fletcher Christian and the South Carolinan Rhett Butler.
62	* OldShame:[[invoked]] His biggest starring role film flop was the biopic ''Parnell''. It was the punchline to much of Creator/CaroleLombard's teasing.
63	* PlayfulCatSmile: [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/66d2aeca7cc049983ab123c3c52bbcf9/tumblr_p5jqtkGNhz1qlzdpio10_400.gif His cute, boyish grin]]. Another Gable trademark, even when he wasn't trying. It's associated with Gable so much, when other actors made a similar face, people then and now joke that they were trying to imitate him. His smile was said to have [[WhenHeSmiles made women swoon]].
64	* RomanceOnTheSet: [[invoked]]
65	** He had an affair with Creator/LorettaYoung while filming ''Literature/TheCallOfTheWild'' in 1935. This affair produced a child Judy Lewis, who Loretta claimed was adopted to prevent the scandal from ruining her career. However, according to Young's daughter-in-law Linda Lewis, Young had confided before her death that Judy was conceived after Gable allegedly date-raped her.
66	** He also had a brief fling with Joan Crawford while they filmed ''Dance, Fools, Dance''.
67	* TallDarkAndHandsome: Many of his roles. [[Film/GoneWithTheWind Rhett Butler]] is even the page image (ironically, Clark also [[ScullyBox wore heels]] in that role, most likely to appear even taller).
68	* ThoseTwoActors: [[invoked]] He did six films with Creator/JeanHarlow.
69	* TypeCasting: [[invoked]]
70	** The LovableRogue was his thing.
71	** He also played a newspaper reporter in nine different films.
72	* UnusualEars: As noted he was handsome, but those ears of his.. stood out. He had plastic surgery to pin them back.
73	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]]
74	** He nearly played the title role in ''Film/TarzanTheApeMan1932''. But because he was unknown at the time, Creator/JohnnyWeissmuller was given the role instead.
75	** {{Creator/MGM}} wanted very much to cast him alongside Creator/AngelaLansbury in a drama called ''Angel's Flight''. Clark disliked the story and the film was cancelled.
76	** A big criticism of ''Film/HisGirlFriday'' in the weeks after its release was that Creator/CaryGrant was horribly miscast, with many film critics saying that Gable should've replaced him.

Context Creator / ClarkGable