This is the Biography of the man they called, "The King of Hollywood." I got interested in reading about him after watching a few of his movies and his last film, The Misfits.

He will always be remembered as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind, one of the most successful movies of all time. He also made a lot of great other ones like It Happened One Night and Red Dust, China Seas and San Francisco.

He was a master of the screwball comedy and always brought out the best in his co-stars. The book I read about Spencer Tracy said they were better friends then this book allows.

His life is an interesting one. He married two older women to get ahead and then married someone he loved, Carole Lombard. Lombard died in a tragin plane crash on a mission to sell War Bonds for President Roosevelt. The loss of Carole changed him forever, but he married twice more.

He enlisted and participated in bombing raids over Berlin during World War II. He is a fun actor to watch in movies - a lot like George Clooney. He always was Clark Gable, no matter what part he played, but it seemed to fit.

I admire him for his friendship with Jean Harlow and for how he tried to save her. Jean Harlow is one of my favorite actors and his pairings with her are very frequent and memorable. Most of Hollywood called her "The Baby", but Gable called her "Sis". She collapsed in his arms on the set and he tried to get medical help for her to no avail. She died at the age of 26.

This book gave me good insight into his life and premature death at 59. He died within 12 days of completing his scenes with Marilyn Monroe on The Misfits. She aggravated him with her late, unprofessional behavior - so much so that she never got over the guilt and died within a year and a half or so.

anyone interested in finding out about movies in the 1930's and beyond. This is a fascinating tale about the Studio System at MGM and how actors were cheated out of money by the big studios.

the references to Jean Harlow and their relationship. This is the only place I ever read that there was more to it than friendship. I am not sure how the writer would know that.

the way he used older women in his early days. He was pretty much a cad to his first two wives. One had the money to handle it and the other didn't.

watch more of his movies like No Man of Her Own, Hold Your Man and Teacher's Pet. Those are 3 on my "must see" list.

like I got to know Clark Gable a lot better and that I understand him now. He was a mystery to me before.

does a good job with the research.

it was one I read steadily for a few days. That means it held my interest pretty well. It made me want to see some more movies.

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Created Jan 27, 2014 at 10:03am • Submit your own review...