Product Description

Clark Gable arrived in Hollywood 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, including the great love of his life, Carole Lombard.

In this well-researched and revealing biography, Warren G. Harris gives an exceptionally acute portrait of one of the most memorable actors in the history of motion pictures—whose intimates included such legends as Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, David O. Selznick, Jean Harlow, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, and Grace Kelly—as well as a vivid sense of the glamour and excess of mid-century Hollywood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54764 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-25
• Released on: 2005-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780307237149
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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.

From Booklist
From the popular author of several Hollywood biographies (of, among others, Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren) comes this informative life story of an actor who has remained a household name decades after his death. Readers will enjoy the mixture of anecdotal and documentary information, the informal writing style, and especially the refreshing honesty: unlike many biographers, if Harris isn't sure about something, he doesn't conceal the fact. The author also applies commonsense reasoning to several psychological theories often bandied about to explain Gable's behavior. Is it likely, he asks, that Gable spent his life looking for a substitute for his dead mother, as many so-called experts have alleged, when Gable was only an infant when she died? In a genre in which biographers often draw wildly unsupportable conclusions from the flimsiest of evidence, Harris' evenhanded approach provides a welcome breath of fresh air. Readers familiar with the author's earlier Gable and Lombard (1974) may experience a little deja vu from time to time, but there is more detail here. A definite cut above most Hollywood biographies. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Long Live The King!
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.

How did this get published?
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.

Competent Biography
This new biography of Clark Gable by Warren G. Harris (who also wrote "Gable and Lombard") is a highly entertaining if not particularly incisive read. Farm boy Billy from Cadiz, Ohio transforms into suave Clark Gable during the course of this book, not above using attentive women like his first two wives. Josephine Dillon and Ria Langham were older women who were not terribly attractive, but between the two of them helped to manufacture the "vibrantly masculine" King of Hollywood. Gable's father considered acting a "sissy occupation," and throughout his life seemingly in reaction, Gable exuded a palpable machismo - often to the detriment of relationship with co-stars. Myrna Loy (Queen of Hollywood to Clark's King) was not receptive to Gable's overtures and consequently was given the cold shoulder by him. She perceptively observed, "Clark suffered so much from the macho thing."

Not in the least deterred by his macho image was screen lovely Carole Lombard. She and Gable were perfectly matched; though it would take several years from the first meeting for the sparks to ignite. Gable was devastated by her death, commenting, "Let's face it; there's a hole in me now that will never be filled up." Indeed, this book illustrates how Gable lost his interest in much of life after Carole died.

Also trotted out here are the relationships with (among others) Joan Crawford, Merle Oberon, Jean Harlow, and Grace Kelly. Gable had virtually nothing to do with Judy Lewis, the child born of his "Call of the Wild" affair with the ostensibly virtuous Loretta Young. One wonders why, but there is no illumination here.

Harris does not shrink from revealing the negative aspects of Gable's personality, like his homophobia, alcoholism, and miserliness. Jewel-maven Paulette Goddard, he relates, was disappointed not to receive sparkly baubles from Gable during their liaison; predictably, it didn't last long. Upset by the homosexuality of director George Cukor during the filming of "Gone With The Wind," Gable complained until L.B. Mayer switched Cukor to the more appropriate bitch-fest, The Women."

This book does provide a superficial glimpse of the Hollywood of the 30s, and provides gossipy tidbits I didn't know, like the lesbianism of Claudette Colbert. I recommend it, but not as an in-depth look at Gable's acting abilities, which are barely touched on. The Oscar he won for "It Happened One Night", seemed mainly given to applaud his overwhelming popularity. I san see Rhett Butler smirking now!