Clark Gable: A Biography [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Warren G. Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2002

There really was a Hollywood, a place of fashionable men and gorgeous women and the all-powerful studio system that allowed them to defy the conventions that governed the rest of the country. Clark Gable arrived there after a rough-and-tumble youth, and his breezy, big-boned, everyman persona quickly made him the town’s “King.” He was a gambler among gamblers, a heavy drinker in the days when everyone drank seemingly all the time, and a lover to legions of the most attractive women in the most glamorous business in the world.

In this well-researched and revealing biography, Warren G. Harris gives us an exceptionally acute portrait of one of the most memorable actors in the history of motion pictures, as well as a sure sense of the milieu and the times of mid-century Hollywood. More than anything else, one is struck by the romance of the era—the glamour and the excess, the playfulness and the lust. The people who were Gable’s intimates are legends in their own right: Loretta Young, Marion Davies, David O. Selznick, Jean Harlow, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, Grace Kelly, and the list goes on and on.

Clark Gable reveals newly uncovered information about Gable’s illegitimate daughter, his relationship with Joan Crawford, and his great love for Carole Lombard, his third wife.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While throngs of female fans may have worshiped Gable, Harris illustrates that the "King of Hollywood" 's true self was barely visible beyond the camera's glare. Born in 1901 in rural Ohio to a "wildcatter" father and a mother who died not a year after he was born, Gable seemed more suited to becoming an oilrig operator than a movie star. But by the early 1920s, he had found his road to the big time: women. Harris pulls no punches in describing how the man who would become the "King" used many a queen including his first two wives to reach the status of celebrity. From Gable's early days with traveling stage shows to his fast climb up the Hollywood ladder, Harris (Gable and Lombard) presents a not-so-attractive side of Gable to combat his romanticized star image. His never-ending womanizing, utter denial of an illegitimate daughter and his insecurity over his acting abilities are qualities never before so illustrated in print. To most, Clark Gable stood alone atop the motion-picture world in 1939. He'd won an Oscar for his performance in It Happened One Night, had just completed his role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind and had finally settled down with actor Carole Lombard, his third and he was sure would be final wife. Three years later, Lombard died in a plane crash. Her death changed everything. While Harris never says so explicitly, his description of Gable's string of box-office bombs, increased appetite for Scotch, and bitterness toward MGM executives make it plain that Gable had lost his one true love and his vigor for life. Those who wish to keep Gable on the pedestal Hollywood built for him should beware. Harris isn't as kind as Hollywood. Agents, Dan Strone and Owen Laster.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A recent trend in Hollywood biographies is to abandon the tabloid style in favor of a more scholarly approach. These two new biographies on Clark Gable follow this trend. Harris (Gable and Lombard) has produced a thoroughly researched account of Gable, complete with facts on the writers, producers, studios, costars, and Gable's many lovers. The biography also offers a history of how Hollywood moguls controlled every aspect of a star's creation. The most appealing chapters are on the Gable-Lombard romance, which tragically ended when Lombard perished in a plane crash. Spicer, who teaches professional writing at Victoria University, Australia, offers a take on Gable that is close to Harris's in style and content, sometimes even using the same quotes and description of events. Factual inconsistencies do exist e.g., Harris states that Gable's best friend, Eddie Mannix, called him with the news of Lombard's death, while Spicer has the call coming from Gable's publicist, Larry Barbier. But both bios follow the same format and progression of Gable's life and career, and both offer new information not found in what are at least 15 previous biographies on Gable, one of the best being Lyn Tornabene's 1976 Long Live the King. There are, however, differences between the two books. Harris used his previous research, which includes mostly firsthand accounts from Gable's associates, while Spicer relied heavily on secondary sources that include newspaper and magazine articles as well as Harris's Gable and Lombard. Harris's filmography is more detailed, and he includes an eight-page photo spread, while Spicer's book features photos throughout. Finally, Harris's style is crisper, faster paced, and more interesting; Spicer adds too many little details and becomes too wordy. Both books are recommended, but considering writing style, content, accuracy, and price, Harris's work should be first choice. Rosalind Dayen, Broward Cty. South Regional Lib., FL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1st edition (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609604953
• ISBN-13: 978-0609604953
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Live The King!, March 27, 2002

By 

Gail K. Powers "Abra" (Harbor Country, Mi,N. Naples, FL, Chicago area) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Clark Gable: A Biography (Hardcover)

Warren G. Harris has put together a very readable book which devotes itself almost exclusively to Gable (his previous book Gable and Lombard basically chronicled the relationship of Gable and third wife Carole Lombard). While there is still a lot of information about the spectacular Lombard in this book, the thrust of this book concentrates on the time before CL and after CL.
In spite of the fact that Gable has been dead for over forty years (and you might have figured that there is nothing more to say about Gable), this book still covers a lot of material that I was not aware of. Author Harris has dispelled rumors that Gable killed a woman in an auto accident which was covered up by his studio MGM. Harris also provides a lot of information regarding Gable's three failed marriages which ended in divorce, the inner-workings of the studio system and MGM's publicity department.
This book is extremely well written and very difficult to put down. It is the compelling story of a man who quickly overcame a humble midwestern upbringing to meteorically rise through the ranks to genuine super stardom. Along the way, Harris also allows us to glimpse at the personalities that Gable knew and interacted with. The book is rich with anecdotes about some of stars of Hollywood's Golden Age and leaves one with the feeling that you actually knew these people.
In spite of the time which has passed since Gable's somewhat premature death, his charisma still grabbed this reader. To me, no one that I can think of in terms of today's cinema even comes close to grabbing the title "KING". This book secures his reputation and legend.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How did this get published?, June 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Clark Gable: A Biography (Hardcover)

This simplistic, underwritten bio of one of the great Hollywood icons is surprising only if you wonder how it got published at all. Did anyone at the publishing house actually read this awful book about Gable?

If you compare, simply on journalistic terms, the weight and writing style of Mr. Harris to, for example, A. Scott Berg's recent treatment of Charles Lindbergh, it's astonishing that Mr. Harris got his material published. As you read through the Gable biography, not only are you annoyed at the carping comments of the author, you begin to doubt the actual facts in the book. And the author's penchant of asking rhetorical questions is not only annoying, it has no place in a biography where the author's job is to find out as much important detail as possible. Instead of a mature, thoughtful attempt to define Gable as an actor and inform the reader about his life, Mr. Harris peppers his writing with unanswerable and unimportant questions which rate below the "E Entertainment" level of discussion.

Mr. Gable deserved much better that what Mr. Harris delivers.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Surely the King Deserves Better Than This..., January 7, 2006

By 

Harlow Fan "Bre" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clark Gable: A Biography (Hardcover)

"Clark Gable : A Biography" by Warren G. Harris offers a readable yet incomplete glimpse into the life and career of the undisputed King of Hollywood, the late Clark Gable.

At no point does this biography bore the reader. On the contrary, it is packed with gossip about Gable's affairs with such actresses as Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Merle Oberon and Grace Kelly while also giving us a glimpse of his professional relationships with fellow actors like Spencer Tracy and John Barrymore. Also highly enjoyable were the chapters alluding to Clark's marriage with beautiful Carole Lombard.

However, these interesting passages hardly manage to fill in the voids in this bio caused by the author's apparent ignorance as to Clark Gable's real personality and by the author's limited vocabulary. (He seemed to have a passion for calling any event that ever occured throughout Gable's life as 'ironic'. One felt like handing the man a dictionary, as he clearly had no idea of what the word actually means.)

I myself am a huge Gable fan and therefore was shocked at the way he was presented in this book. Even though there were certain passages refering to his nice personality, for the most part he was portrayed as an impatient and grouchy old man. Perhaps these negative things about Gable are true, but it is highly probable that many positive things were omitted from the book in order to make for a more interesting or controversial read.

When summarizing the movies Gable made, the author tended to misquote characters from the movie and even wrongly sum up the plots. I had to ask myself if he had even watched these movies.

I was also angered by a passage in the last chapter in which "The Misfits", Gable's last film, was described as one of the biggest failures in Clark's career, calling his performance 'tired' and zombie-like. At no point does the author bother to make reference to the fact that the reviews for this movie were highly favourable, even if it made poor box-office. Many regarded it as Gable's greatest accomplishment and Clark himself was very pleased with his last film.

The author no doubt had every intention of writing a good book, but his lack of real facts was somewhat disconcerting and the the final product is no more than a biography based entirely on word of mouth, on rumour and on heresay. At no point do you get the sense that you are even close to understanding the man behind that wicked, dimpled smile.