Born William Clark Gable in Ohio, Clark Gable (1901-1960) was among the most consistent box-office draws in Hollywood history. Inspired to pursue an acting career while working in his father’s oil-drilling business, Gable knocked around stock theater companies and Hollywood in the silent era before catching on in the early 1930s, winning an Oscar for one of his earliest successes with It Happened One Night. The blockbuster success of Gone With the Wind was a high point in his career, but he was devastated by the death of his wife Carole Lombard in a plane crash and joined the U.S. Army Air Force, flying numerous combat missions in World War II and rising to the rank of major. While his films after the war did not receive the acclaim of his earlier career, they continued to make money. He died of a heart attack.
