Gable was born to a farmer in 1901, in Ohio, and began working at a tire factory when he was just 14. He clearly loved theatre though, and joined a travelling troupe by the time he turned 21. After marrying the head of the troupe -- who was 14 years his senior -- he moved to Hollywood in an attempt to make it as an actor. After failing time and again, his marriage failed.

Finally, with The Painted Desert in 1931, he began to get attention. By the time A Free Soul hit screens, he was a star. In 1934, he won an Oscar for It Happened One Night. His greatest role came five years later.

Three years after it was released, however, his wife, actress Carole Lombard, was killed in a plane crash. Gable promptly gave up acting and joined the air force, where he rose to the rank of major. He returned to Hollywood in 1945's Adventure, but never regained the levels of stardom he was previously accustomed to.

He died of a heart attack in 1960.

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