Clark Gable was a Golden Age actor so successful
that he was dubbed “the King of Hollywood” during the height of his career. The actor was married five times over the
course of his lifetime and was romantically involved with many more women than just his
five wives. Amongst the innumerable women that Clark hooked
up with over the course of his life, the woman that that actor went to his deathbed claiming
was the love of his life was third wife Carole Lombard, whom Clark ended up being buried
alongside in the wake of his 1960 death. Join Facts Verse as we explore how Clark Gable’s
gravesite proves he never recovered from the tragic accident that killed third wife Carole
Lombard. The Old Hollywood Pairing of Clark and Carole
If you’re a fan of real-life Old Hollywood romances, you’re likely no stranger to the
pairing of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Carole was Clark’s third wife out of five
that the star attracted over the course of his lifetime. Though Clark married twice following his marriage
to Carole, he went to his deathbed believing that the actress had been the love of his
life and was buried alongside her upon his passing. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were both huge
stars at the time that their marriage was initiated, and they made a perfect pair. The two met in the 1920s, while they were
both fledgling stars. They met while working as extras on the film
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Several years later, when they had both begun
making their respective waves in the industry, the pair met again during the filming of the
movie No Man of Her Own. The film was released in 1932 and featured
the two stars as its romantic leads. Despite the fact that romance blossomed between
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard on the screen in 1932’s No Man of Her Own, the two stars
didn’t actually hit it off very much during the picture’s filming. It wouldn’t be until several years later
that the two would end up becoming romantically involved. At the time of No Man of Her Own’s filming,
Clark was married to his much older second wife. Meanwhile, Carole was married to second husband
William Powell. Clark and Carole Tied the Knot in 1939
Real-life romance wasn’t to develop between Clark and Carole during the filming of No
Man of Her Own, but that didn’t mean that the pair’s relationship wasn’t meant to
be. Several years later, the pair met up again
at a party. Carole had divorced from William Powell in
1933, while Clark was separated from his second wife. As a result, the pair was finally allowed
the chance to see that they had a good deal of romantic chemistry together outside of
the screen. Both Clark and Carole knew that there was
something more to their romance, though Clark’s wife was trying as hard as she could not let
her husband divorce her. Clark eventually managed to convince his second
wife to make their separation official, and Clark and Carole were free to get married
by 1939. The two tied the knot while Clark was on a
break from filming Gone with the Wind, which would be released later that year and make
Clark a gigantic star. Clark Gable was already a major star before
the release of Gone with the Wind, which was how he got the lead role! However, the release of the film, with its
massive critical and commercial success, solidified Clark’s status as “the King of Hollywood”. Clark and Carole were head over heels in love,
but their marriage sadly wouldn’t last for very many years. World War II Ended Clark and Carole’s Marriage
Towards the end of 1941, only a little over two years after the marriage of Clark Gable
and Carole Lombard, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and America entered into World War
II. As one of the biggest female stars of the
time, Carole was greatly encouraged by the American government to go on a war-bond tour. Not wanting to let her country down, Carole
willfully agreed to do what she could. Regrettably, tragedy would strike during the
tour. The American government preferred that its
touring war-bond stars travel by train. However, by the end of her tour, Carole was
so anxious to reunite with Clark that she demanded she returns home by plane. This demand ended up proving disastrous for
the actress, as the plane that she was riding hit the side of a mountain during its flight. All of the passengers, including Carole, were
killed upon impact. As soon as he heard the news of the tragedy
that had befallen his wife’s flight, Clark Gable rushed to her location and hoped for
the best. Clark prayed for a miracle that his wife had
somehow survived, but no such miracle proved to have occurred. Instead, Clark was forced to accept that he
had lost the love of his life. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be
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like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way! Clark Claimed Carole Was the Love of His Life
Though Clark Gable had been married twice previously before tying the knot with Carole
Lombard and would remarry twice after the actress’s tragic 1942 death, the actor went
to his deathbed firmly believing that Carole was the love of his life. This is why the actor chose to be buried alongside
Carole upon his passing instead of the woman that he was currently married to and who had
recently born him a son. Both of the marriages that Clark had maintained
before marrying Carole were completely loveless, and the star only entered into them as a way
to further his Hollywood career. Clark Gable was born at the turn of the 20th
century and didn’t decide that he wanted to become a movie star until his coming of
age. The epiphany came when the 17-year-old future
celebrity was watching a stage production. The young man began performing odd jobs while
moonlighting as an aspiring actor. Clark could be seen in stage productions across
Middle America. During these years, he fell in love with a
fellow aspiring star by the name of Franz Dorfler. Clark and Franz got engaged in the early 1920s,
but the actress’s parents advised her against marrying the poor actor. As a result, Franz pushed Clark to find more
work so that he could start receiving a more stable income and become a more suitable beau
in her parents’ eyes. This pushing from his fiancée led Clark into
the hands of a famed Broadway acting coach by the name of Josephine Dillon, who was attempting
to start up a new theatrical troupe. Clark Gable and His Sugar Mamas
Franz wanted Clark to impress Josephine Dillon and get a spot in her new troupe. The actor certainly did impress the notable
acting coach, so much so that the much older woman ended up falling in love with him! Josephine was over 10 years Clark’s senior,
but Clark knew that entering into a relationship with the older woman could be a great move
for his career. Clark passed along the regrettable news to
his fiancée that their marriage wasn’t meant to be, and subsequently tied the knot
with Josephine. Thus, Josephine Dillon became Clark Gable’s
first wife, even though Clark went to his deathbed claiming they never had sex. Franz Dorfler never moved on from Clark Gable,
but Clark Gable certainly moved on from her. Clark also eventually moved on from first
wife Josephine Dillon after finding a wealthier, older, and more influential figure that he
could coast off of. In 1930, Clark divorced Josephine Dillon so
that he could enter into a relationship with a wealthy Texas socialite by the name of Maria
Langham. Clark made no qualms about the fact that he
was simply moving onto Maria because she had more money and influence than Josephine. The power and influence of Clark’s wealthy
second wife certainly opened up more doors than ever for the burgeoning star, and he
went on to become the face of Hollywood over the course of the 1930s. Of course, this culminated in the actor achieving
superstardom with his turn in the aforementioned Gone with the Wind at the end of the decade. After achieving fame and fortune, Clark was
finally free to break away from the loveless marriage that he had maintained with his wealthy
second wife and find someone that he actually cared for to spend the rest of his life with. Clark Finally Finds Love… and Loses It
Whereas Clark hadn’t loved either of his previous spouses, he fell head over heels
for Carole Lombard. Perhaps Carole being taken away from the actor
so early into their marriage was karmic retribution for the actor having taken advantage of so
many old ladies early in his career! The years that Clark spent with Carole were
the happiest of the actor’s life, and her aforementioned tragic death dealt a serious
blow. Clark was in the middle of filming 1942’s
Somewhere I’ll Find You alongside Lana Turner when he got the news that his wife had been
in a tragic accident. Oddly, despite the fact that he was supposedly
so in love with Carole, Clark had entered into an extramarital affair with Lana Turner
during the picture’s filming. This fact likely exacerbated the guilt that
the actor felt when his third wife was announced dead. Clark Gable entered into a period of binge
drinking and isolation before returning to film the remainder of Somewhere I’ll Find
You. While the actor remarried twice after the
tragic dissolution of his third marriage, he never truly moved on from Carole Lombard. When Clark died in 1960 at the age of 59,
he was buried alongside her. Though Clark Gable’s marriage to Carole
Lombard only lasted for a couple of years, the actor went to his deathbed claiming that
the actress had been the love of his life and was buried alongside her instead of his
wife. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you
know that Clark Gable got his footing in Hollywood by whoring himself out to influential women
and that he chose to be buried alongside third wife Carole Lombard instead of the wife that
he was married to at the time of his passing and who birthed his last child? As always, like this video to show your support,
subscribe, and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know
when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
