There’s a new biography of Clark Gable out, and at first glance I thought it was about Clark Gable:Adult Film Star rather than Clark Gable:Academy Award winning actor. From what I understand the book deals only with Gable’s sexual history.

The author tags virtually everyone who shows up here as straight, gay or bisexual, the majority falling into the latter two categories. Like previous accounts, this one alleges that early in his career Gable was “gay for pay” and for career advancement.

He squired older women, some of them perhaps closet lesbians, and had close personal, possibly sexual relationships with a number of openly gay men. He was, as well, a serial seducer of women.

Bret’s sourcing is unclear throughout; he qualifies most assertions about Gable’s sexuality with phrases like “it could be” and “it was alleged.” As for insight into the star’s films and acting, look for it elsewhere. The author lavishes far more care on the details of Hollywood’s sexual roundelays than on his flat summaries of Gable’s films, including eight unnecessary pages on the plot of “Gone With the Wind.”

Washington Post

Gable also apparently had bad breath and was unable to draw his foreskin back. This obviously didn’t affect his ability to pull the ladies. Or the men.

Fortunately, his bad breath didn’t make Vivian Leigh draw back in horror as he breathed into her face “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Otherwise this classic movie moment just wouldn’t have been so romantic.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Here are a bunch of pictures of Clarke Gable, including some with leading ladies Claudette Colbert (in the header), Vivian Leigh (inset), Myrna Loy (below) and his second third wife and co-star, Carole Lombard, (below) who died tragically in a plane crash. He was married four five times. (Thanks lucielesueur for the correction.)