24 Vintage Portraits of a Handsome Clark Gable in the 1940s_Au Memories

 

His most iconic role was that of Rhett Butler in the 1930 epic film, Gone With the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh. In 1934, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in It Happened One Night also starring Claudette Colbert (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress).

 

At the peak of his career, his wife, actress Carole Lombard (described as the “love of his life”) was killed in a small plane crash while touring America to sell War Bonds at the onset of World War II. Although devastated, Gable himself enlisted in the U.S. Air Force for the remainder of the war.

 

Gable died of a heart attack shortly after completing filming on The Misfits, (1961) a critically acclaimed film which co-starred Marilyn Monroe (it was also her final film). His premature death was partly blamed on the rigors of filming a western which was both psychologically and physically taxing. In this film Gable, who upheld the image of a virulent male until the end of his career, proved that he could bring depth and sensitivity to a characterization, reflecting both his love for literature and theater.