William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901, in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. His mother passed away when he was just seven months old, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania until he was two.
He then returned to Cadiz to live with his father. At 16, Gable quit high school and went to work in an Akron, Ohio, tire factory. He later decided to become an actor after seeing the play "The Bird of Paradise." He toured in stock companies, worked in oil fields, and sold ties.
In December 1924, Gable married his acting coach, Josephine Dillon, who was 15 years his senior. They moved to Hollywood so that Gable could focus on his acting career. However, they divorced in April 1930 and Gable married Maria Langham, who was also 17 years older than him, a year later.
Gable's early career was marked by several failed screen tests, but he eventually signed with MGM's Irving Thalberg in 1930. He had small roles in several films, including "The Painted Desert" and "Dance, Fools, Dance," before his breakthrough performance in "Red Dust" in 1932.
Gable's success in "Red Dust" made him MGM's most important star, and he went on to star in several films, including "It Happened One Night" in 1934, which won him an Academy Award, and "Mutiny on the Bounty" in 1935.
Gable married Carole Lombard in March 1939, but tragedy struck when she and her mother were killed in a plane crash in January 1942. Gable joined the US Army Air Force and flew combat missions in Europe before returning to Hollywood.
After the war, Gable's career began to decline, and he freelanced in several films before marrying Sylvia Ashley in 1949. However, this marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1952. Gable married Kathleen Williams Spreckles in July 1955 and became stepfather to her two children.
Gable became a grandfather in 1959 when his daughter with Loretta Young gave birth to a daughter. In 1960, Gable's wife discovered she was pregnant with their first child. However, Gable died of a heart attack on November 16, 1960, at the age of 59.
