The King Had Everything
Clark Gable was Hollywood royalty. He had the face, the swagger, the Oscar, and eventually one of the most famous movie roles ever put on film. But the part of his life that mattered most happened far away from a movie set. And one night in January 1942, everything changed.
John Kobal Foundation, Getty Images
Hollywood Wasn't Always Convinced
It seems ridiculous now, but Gable did not arrive in Hollywood looking like an obvious movie star. Early critics of his appearance reportedly thought his ears were too large, and his road to leading-man status included stage work, bit parts, and years of learning how to command a room. Hollywood eventually figured it out.
Los Angeles Daily News, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Then Came "It Happened One Night"
In 1934, Gable starred opposite Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night, and suddenly there was no arguing about his place in Hollywood. The romantic comedy became the first movie to sweep the five major Academy Awards. Gable took home Best Actor. He would never win another Oscar.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
The King Of Hollywood
By the middle of the 30s, Gable wasn't merely famous. He had become "The King of Hollywood," a nickname that somehow didn't sound ridiculous when attached to him. Movies like Mutiny on the Bounty kept him near the top of the business. Then Gone with the Wind turned Rhett Butler into something close to immortal.
Trailer screenshot, Wikimedia Commons
But Someone Wasn't Particularly Impressed
Her name was Carole Lombard. Gable and Lombard had already worked together in the 1932 romantic comedy No Man of Her Own. Looking back, you'd expect fireworks, violins, and studio executives immediately planning the wedding. Apparently, not so much.
New York Sunday News, Wikimedia Commons
Their First Movie Didn't Start A Romance
Whatever chemistry audiences saw on-screen did not immediately follow them home. Both actors were married to other people at the time, and later accounts suggest their working relationship was more professional than romantic. They finished No Man of Her Own and went their separate ways. Remarkably, it would remain the only movie Gable and Lombard ever made together. For a while, that seemed to be that.
Paramount Pictures Studio, Wikimedia Commons
Four Years Changed Everything
Gable and Lombard crossed paths again in 1936 at Hollywood's Mayfair Ball. This time, something clicked. Lombard was divorced from actor William Powell by then. Gable was separated from his second wife, Maria "Ria" Langham. Before long, two of Hollywood's biggest stars were seeing an awful lot of each other.
dearmrgable.com, Wikimedia Commons
Carole Could Handle The King
Part of Lombard's appeal was that she seemingly had little interest in treating Clark Gable like royalty. She was quick, funny, outspoken, and famous for practical jokes. Gable's carefully cultivated tough-guy image didn't intimidate her much. If anything, she seemed to enjoy poking holes in it.
Universal Pictures, Wikimedia Commons
Suddenly Clark Gable Looked Different
Biographers have often described Gable as more relaxed around Lombard. Their relationship had an almost playful quality that contrasted sharply with his movie-star image. The famously cool leading man had apparently met someone who could make him laugh at himself. There was just one rather large complication.
Photograph by Paul Hesse (1896 – 1973), Wikimedia Commons
Gable Was Still Married
Although Gable and Ria had separated, they were still legally husband and wife. That left Gable and Lombard in an awkward position while their romance became one of Hollywood's worst-kept secrets. A wedding couldn't happen until the existing marriage was officially over. That finally happened in March 1939.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wikimedia Commons
They Didn't Waste Much Time
Gable's divorce became final on March 7, 1939. Twenty-two days later, he and Lombard slipped away to Kingman, Arizona, and got married in a tiny ceremony. There were no giant Hollywood crowds, no red carpet, and no elaborate studio spectacle. For two enormous stars, it was surprisingly simple.
Meanwhile, Gable Was Making Movie History
The timing was almost absurd. Gable married Lombard while he was in the middle of making Gone with the Wind. So while audiences would soon watch Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara become one of cinema's most famous couples, Gable was beginning a very different love story in real life.
Screenshot from Gone with the Wind, Warner Bros. Pictures (1939)
They Escaped Hollywood
The newlyweds settled on a roughly 20-acre ranch in Encino, California. There were fields, horses, chickens, barns, and enough space to make Hollywood feel farther away than it really was. Gable could disappear into the outdoor life he loved, while Lombard enthusiastically joined in. It wasn't exactly Beverly Hills.
"Ma" And "Pa"
Gable and Lombard reportedly called each other "Ma" and "Pa," which is somehow both incredibly sweet and not remotely what you'd expect from two glamorous movie stars. Their home life became part ranch, part comedy routine. They teased each other, exchanged ridiculous gifts, tended animals, and tried to live like ordinary people. Or Hollywood's version of ordinary people.
Acme News Photos, Wikimedia Commons
Carole Was Hardly Mrs. Clark Gable
It would be easy to reduce Lombard to "the woman Clark Gable loved," but she was a major star long before their wedding. She became one of Hollywood's great screwball comedy performers, earned an Oscar nomination for My Man Godfrey, and was among the industry's highest-paid actresses. Gable hadn't married a supporting character.
Paramount Studio, Wikimedia Commons
They Wanted More
Gable and Lombard hoped to have children together, but it never happened. Their inability to start the family they wanted became one of the disappointments beneath an otherwise enviable life. On the surface, however, they had something few Hollywood couples seemed able to manage. They genuinely appeared to enjoy being together.
It Wasn't A Fairy Tale
Their marriage wasn't perfect, and later biographers have written about arguments, jealousy, and Gable's complicated reputation with women. But reducing their relationship to gossip misses what came afterward. Because when Lombard suddenly disappeared from Gable's life, the people around him saw just how deeply she had mattered.
Then America Changed
After Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Hollywood stars began looking for ways to support the national effort. Lombard threw herself into it. In January 1942, she traveled to her home state of Indiana with her mother, Elizabeth Peters, and MGM publicist Otto Winkler, who worked closely with Gable. The trip was enormously successful.
Imperial Japanese Navy, Wikimedia Commons
Carole Raised A Fortune
Lombard's Indianapolis appearance was billed as the first major American war-bond rally of World War II. The Treasury had hoped to sell about $500,000 in bonds. Instead, Lombard helped push sales past $2 million. She gave speeches, posed for photographs, encouraged crowds, and used exactly what Hollywood had given her: fame. Then the job was finished. And Carole wanted to get home.
Metro-Goldwy-Mayer, Wikimedia Commons
She Could Have Taken The Train
Lombard had been encouraged to make the return journey by rail. She didn't want to spend several days getting back to California. Flying would get her home much faster, and Gable was waiting there. So Lombard, her mother, and Winkler boarded a commercial flight heading west. It was TWA Flight 3.
Studio publicity photo Uploaded by Wikiwatcher1 at en.wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
One Last Stop
Flight 3 made several stops as it traveled toward California, including Las Vegas. At 7:07 p.m. on January 16, 1942, the Douglas DC-3 departed Las Vegas for Burbank. The weather was considered satisfactory. The aircraft itself showed no evidence of mechanical failure. About 15 minutes later, the flight vanished.
William E. Thomas, Wikimedia Commons
It Hit Potosi Mountain
The aircraft struck the side of Potosi Mountain southwest of Las Vegas at an elevation of roughly 7,770 feet. There was no chance of rescue. All 22 people aboard were lost, including Lombard, her mother, Winkler, the crew, and 15 U.S. Army servicemen traveling aboard the flight. Carole Lombard was 33 years old.
United News, Wikimedia Commons
Rumors Started Almost Immediately
The timing inevitably produced speculation. America had entered a frightening new era, and Lombard had just completed a highly publicized bond campaign. Was sabotage involved? Had something failed aboard the airplane? The official investigation eventually produced a far less mysterious explanation. And in some ways, that made it worse.
United News, Wikimedia Commons
Investigators Found A Navigation Error
The Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the captain failed to follow the proper course using the navigational facilities available to him. An erroneous compass course, the wartime blackout of most nearby beacons, and failure to follow a TWA navigation directive all contributed. The weather was satisfactory, and investigators found no evidence of structural, control-system, engine, or propeller failure.
Acme Telephoto, Wikimedia Commons
Gable Went To Nevada
When word reached Gable, he traveled to Nevada while authorities worked to reach the remote crash site. There would be no last conversation. No hospital bedside. No chance to tell Lombard something he'd forgotten to say before she left. The woman who had gone away for only a few days wasn't coming home.
Associated Press, Wikimedia Commons
Hollywood Saw A Different Clark Gable
Gable had built his career playing men who rarely seemed rattled by anything. This was different. MGM publicity chief Howard Strickling, who knew him closely, later described Lombard as the source of the greatest happiness Gable had known. Suddenly the man nicknamed the King of Hollywood looked painfully human.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
The Funeral Was Kept Simple
Lombard and her mother were laid to rest after a small service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. There were famous faces in attendance, but this was not designed as a Hollywood spectacle. The service reflected Lombard's wishes for something simple. Gable left without the woman who had called him "Pa."
Seven Months Later, He Enlisted
On August 12, 1942, 41-year-old Clark Gable enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a private. He had been beyond the draft age when the United States entered World War II, and he could easily have remained one of Hollywood's most useful civilian celebrities. Instead, Gable asked to serve. And he didn't settle for posing in uniform.
AnonymousUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
The King Became An Airman
Gable completed officer training, became a second lieutenant, trained in aerial gunnery, and eventually traveled to England with the 351st Bomb Group. His assignment involved producing a film about aerial gunners, but Gable went up in B-17s on operational missions to capture footage himself. This wasn't a movie set anymore.
A Ship Carried Her Name
Two years after Lombard's loss, her name went back into service. On January 15, 1944, the Liberty ship SS Carole Lombard was launched in California in her honor. Actress Irene Dunne christened the vessel, and Clark Gable attended the ceremony in uniform. Even with Gable's own military service underway, Lombard's contribution hadn't been forgotten.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
He Eventually Came Home
Gable returned to the United States in 1943 and left active duty as a major in 1944. Then came the strange task of becoming Clark Gable again. He returned to movies. He returned to the Encino ranch. He remained one of Hollywood's biggest stars. But the ranch wasn't the same place anymore.
![Collectie / Archief : Fotocollectie Anefo
Reportage / Serie : [ onbekend ]
Beschrijving : Clark Gable in Nederland, met echtgenote Kay Williams Gable
Datum : 4 juli 1959
Trefwoorden : acteurs, filmsterren, gezinnen, groepsportretten
Persoonsnaam : Gable C](https://www.factinate.com/storage/app/media/theshot/2026/8/22/1787431758c89fae7ab197797a1ebc051ab1994fa3a61b87dc.jpg)
Herbert Behrens / Anefo, Wikimedia Commons
Life Kept Moving Anyway
Gable eventually married twice more. In 1949, he married Sylvia Ashley, although the marriage ended in divorce. In 1955, he married Kay Williams, who remained his wife for the rest of his life. Still, Lombard's place in his story never really disappeared. And Gable rarely invited anyone to discuss it.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
He Kept One Part Of Himself Private
In a 1957 interview, Gable addressed Lombard with unusual restraint. "I have great respect for Carole and the place she had in my life. I want to keep that to myself." For a man whose romances had filled magazines for decades, it may have been the most revealing answer he could have given.
my own screen capture, Wikimedia Commons
The King Got One Final Reunion
Clark Gable passed away in November 1960 at the age of 59, shortly after completing The Misfits. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. Beside Carole Lombard. Nearly 19 years had passed since she boarded that flight home. Gable had continued working, remarried, and remained one of Hollywood's defining stars. But in the end, the King was laid to rest beside his "Ma."
Macfadden Publications New York, publisher of Radio-TV Mirror, Wikimedia Commons
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