How much was Clark Gable worth?
| Net Worth: | $100 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | February 1, 1901 (aged 59) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.85 m |
About Clark Gable
Born on February 1, 1901, William Clark Gable was an American actor with a $100 million estimated net worth. Clark Gable was dubbed “The King” for good reason: he made the top 10 box office list 16 times, peaking at #2 in 1955. He radiated unadulterated machismo with his distinctive mustache and sinister smile with dimples.
Gable made an impression on screen in roles as a vain reporter, mutineer, oil prospector, nightclub owner, and submarine captain, but Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind will live in people’s memories the longest.
Frequently referred to as “The King of Hollywood” Clark Gable
Early Years
Gable, who was born William Clark Gable on February 1st, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, fell in love with acting at the age of 17 after going to a play. He traveled the nation by performing odd jobs and touring with stock companies as W.C. Gable. Gable met the theatrical manager Josephine Dillon after joining a troupe in Portland, Oregon. She took on the role of his acting coach, paid to have his teeth whitened, and worked with him to improve his voice, body, and posture. They traveled to Hollywood in 1924. She became his first wife and was seventeen years older than him.
The actor started out in silent movies as an extra in 1925 under the name Clark Gable. He caught MGM’s eye in a play, and in 1930 he was hired as the bad guy in The Painted Desert (1931). Because Darryl Zanuck thought his ears were too enormous, he failed a screen test at Warner Brothers. Irving Thalberg then signed him with MGM, where he would work for the most of his career.
Gable’s Road to Stardom
Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford were Glable’s leading ladies in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), and he slapped her in A Free Soul the following year. Glable was initially featured in supporting roles as bad people, but as his fame grew, he was cast as the bad guy in more and more roles. Because of the latter, he received a lot of attention and was promoted to prominent roles, appearing alongside Greta Garbo in Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise (1931) and again with Crawford in Possessed (1931). The two reportedly had an extended, on-and-off relationship and ignited on screen in eight movies.
By 1932, Gable was MGM’s biggest star. In Red Dust (1932), he paired up with Jean Harlow, and the two enjoyed great success. Their on-screen relationship lasted until 1937, when Harlow passed away.
Louis B. Mayer sent Clark Gable to Columbia Studios in 1934 to play Peter Warne in It Happened One Night, a part that earned Gable an Oscar for Best Actor.
The actor continued to impress, earning a second nomination for an Academy Award for his performance of Fletcher Christian in the star’s favorite movie of all time, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935).
Judy Garland sung “You Made Me Love You” to a photograph of Clark Gable in 1938’s Broadway Melody because MGM was a huge fan. At Gable’s MGM birthday celebrations, she also performed it. During an MGM stars photo shoot, Gable snapped to Garland, “You jerk. Every one of my birthdays was destroyed by you. It’s a pain in the a** that they drag you out of the wallpaper to sing that song.”
Gable dominated the 1930s before landing the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, which turned him become an icon (1939). The public insisted that he take on the role, but Gable was reluctant to let his supporters down. I believe I understand how a fly must respond to being caught in a spider’s web, he remarked. He nevertheless met the demands of viewers all across the world.
Gable’s career benefited from the re-releases of Gone with the Wind in 1947 and 1954 during his lifetime. He is one of a select group of actors who starred in the title roles of the three Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards: It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Gone with the Wind.
Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 after the tragic death of his third wife, Carole Lombard, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. He received a promotion to Major in May 1944.
Post-War Years
After the war, Gable’s condition was unstable. He was still a heartbroken widower at 44, elder than his returning coworkers. His early post-war pictures, notably his debut, Adventure, a box office failure, are largely forgettable. Other motion pictures include Never Let Me Go (1950), Key to the City (1950), To Please a Lady (1950), and Any Two Can Play (1949). (1953).
Gable’s contract with MGM did not get renewed in 1953. He was so enraged by this that he declined to see Gone with the Wind in Atlanta in 1954 for its 25th anniversary. Working independently, though, he saw his fame rise once more with roles in movies like Teacher’s Pet (1958), Run Silent, Run Deep, and Soldier of Fortune (1955), all starring Doris Day.
In The Misfits, which also starred Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, Gable played Gay Langland in what would be his final motion picture. Due to his three-pack-per-day cigarette habit and a 35-pound weight drop from a crash diet before production started, his role was physically demanding and taxing on his heart. On November 16, 1960, just a few days after The Misfits was finished, Clark Gable passed away. He is in the same grave as Carole Lombard.
Personal Life
After divorcing Josephine Dillon in 1930, Gable wed Texas socialite Ria Langham a few days later. Although their marriage seemed to have ended in 1936, they divorced in 1939. Gable and Carole Lombard first crossed paths in 1933 while filming No Man of Her Own, but they didn’t start dating until 1936. Three weeks after Gable’s divorce from Langham, they got married in 1939. While performing a war bond tour in 1942, Carole Lombard perished in a plane accident. Despite being saddened, Gable went back to work for Someday I’ll Find You a month later. He was forever changed by the passing of Lombard.
He wed Lady Sylvia Ashley in 1949, the widow of Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and they divorced in 1952. In 1955, he tied the knot with socialite Kay Spreckles for the last time.
While on location doing The Call of the Wild in 1935, Gable and costar Loretta Young had an affair which produced a daughter, Judy Lewis according to ABC. Young claimed that Judy was adopted, though others told her that Gable was her father. Lewis met Gable in 1950, but he never admitted their connection.
Kay Gable gave birth to John Clark Gable four months after Gable’s death, on March 20, 1961.
Summing-Up
As one of the most famous actors in history, Clark Gable established a lasting legacy of excellent movies, portraying characters who embodied a hard-nosed, no-nonsense persona. Clark Gable had an estimated net worth of $100 million at the time of his passing in 1960. Rhett Butler personified this persona, yet even when he was dancing in Idiot’s Delight to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Clark Gable had an obviously powerful and alluring presence.
