Clark Gable and His Perfect Movie Roles
Gone With the Wind, Misfits- Enduring Icon of Hollywood's Golden Era
Jan 14, 2009
Born in 1901, Gable began acting in the silent movies of the 1920's. Making the adjustment to talkies later in that decade, he was ready for the leap to stardom as the Depression unfolded.
It Happened One Night
Gable had already established himself as a romantic lead opposite Jean Harlow in "Red Dust" in 1932 when he was cast in a comedic role with Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night." He portrayed a recently fired newspaper reporter who resists the temptation to turn in a runaway heiress for a reward, eventually falling in love with her instead. Their bus ride, hitch-hiking, and chaste overnight motel stay captivated movie audiences and won them both Academy Awards.
As a matter of fact, the film made the first sweep of the top four awards, including best picture and director. Gable's box-office success in he-man action roles dominated most of his career and, although he occasionally returned to light comedy, he never had a comparable chance to exercise the talents on display in "It Happened One Night."
Mutiny on the Bounty
A year later, Gable was the hero in the Hollywood version of an actual event in British naval history. Playing an idealized version of Fletcher Christian, leader of a mutiny in the Pacific in 1787, he first struggled to remain loyal to his cruel captain but ultimately felt forced to rebel against his inhuman treatment of the crew. He then led his fellow mutineers to a remote island where they escaped retribution and began a new life in isolation from the world. Gable, Charles Laughton, who played the hated Captain Bligh, and Franchot Tone, another officer, were all nominated for Best Actor in the Oscar competition, which probably enabled Victor McClaglen to win for "The Informer."
Gone with the Wind
When it became known that Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of the Civil War, "Gone with the Wind," was going to be filmed, Gable was quickly identified as movie fandom's choice for the role of Rhett Butler, the daring blockade runner and charming lover. By contrast, there was a long and well-publicized competition for the leading female role, Scarlett O'Hara, involving both established stars and unknowns. Briton Vivian Leigh won, and she and Gable were magic on the screen. Butler's parting words to Scarlett have been quoted as many times as any movie line in history.
The film won 10 Academy Awards in 1939, a record that stood for 20 years, but Gable lost out to Robert Donat in "The 39 Steps."
Afterwards
He continued acting until 1942, when his wife, Carole Lombard, was killed in a plane crash returning from a war bond promotion. Gable then enlisted in the Air Force and took a break from Hollywood until 1945. After a highly publicized resumption of his career in a series of mediocre films after the war, he regained his stride and a measure of his earlier popularity in the 1950's.
"The Misfits," his last film and, ironically also the last made by 1950's glamor queen Marilyn Monroe, was made in 1960, just before he died of a heart attack at 59. Some critics considered it one of his best performances.
Source: classicmoviefavorites.com
