Editing Clark Gable (section)

=== Marriages and children ===
[[File:Confidential Magazine cover July 1957.jpg|thumb|left|190px|1957 Confidential Magazine with article about Gable's first wife Josephine Dillon]]
Gable married five times and was linked romantically to many other women. His first engagement was to actress Franz Dorfler when he was about 21. Dorfler introduced Gable to Josephine Dillon, who would become his acting coach, manager, and then his wife. When Gable and Dillon married on December 13, 1924, in California, Gable was 23 and Dillon was 40; the couple divorced in 1930.<ref name="latimes.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-clark-gable-19601117-story.html|title=From the Archives: Clark Gable Dies at 59|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=November 17, 1960}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/entertainment/tn-gnp-me-yamada-20180906-story.html|title=Verdugo Views: Clark Gable's first wife helped launch his career|date=September 6, 2018|website=Glendale News-Press|language=en-US|access-date=October 19, 2019}}</ref> His second wife was Texas [[socialite]] Maria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham Gable (nicknamed "Ria"). The couple married on June 19, 1931, in California and divorced on March 7, 1939.<ref name="latimes.com"/> Thirteen days after his divorce from Maria, Gable married actress [[Carole Lombard]] during a production break on ''Gone with the Wind''.<ref name="harris" />{{Rp|200–201}}

''' Carole Lombard '''
[[File:Gable-Lombard-39.jpg|thumb|Gable with his third wife Carole Lombard after their 1939 honeymoon]]
Gable's relationship with and marriage in 1939 to his third wife, actress [[Carole Lombard]] (1908–1942), was one of the happiest periods of his personal life.<ref name="spicer"/>{{Rp|189–201}} They met while filming 1932's ''[[No Man of Her Own (1932 film)|No Man of Her Own]]'', when Lombard was still married to actor [[William Powell]]. A Gable and Lombard romance did not take off until 1936,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoQTDQAAQBAJ&q=william+powell+carole+lombard+divorce&pg=PT208|title=Carole Lombard: Twentieth-Century Star|last=Morgan|first=Michelle|date=October 5, 2016|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-0-7509-6939-0|language=en}}</ref> after becoming reacquainted at a party. They were soon inseparable, with fan magazines and tabloids citing them as an official couple.

Gable thrived being around Lombard's youthful, charming, and frank personality, once stating: {{blockquote|You can trust that little screwball with your life or your hopes or your weaknesses, and she wouldn't even know how to think about letting you down.<ref name="harris" />{{Rp|182}}}}
[[File:Clark Gable with Carole Lombard.jpg|left|thumb|alt=A happy couple laughing and walking on their ranch as both carry two chickens in their arms.|"Ma and Pa" as they affectionately called each other, at their Encino, California, ranch]]

Gable was still legally married, having prolonged an expensive divorce from his second wife, Ria Langham, until his salary from ''Gone with the Wind'' enabled him to reach a divorce settlement with her on March 7, 1939. On March 29, during a production break on ''Gone with the Wind'', Gable and Lombard were married in [[Kingman, Arizona]],<ref name="harris" />{{Rp|200–201}} and honeymooned in room 1201 of the [[Arizona Biltmore Hotel]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.arizonabiltmore.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Arizona-Biltmore-Landmark-Resort-2014.pdf |title=The Landmark 'Jewel of the Desert' |access-date=December 24, 2018 |archive-date=April 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418210921/http://www.arizonabiltmore.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Arizona-Biltmore-Landmark-Resort-2014.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> They purchased a [[ranch]] previously owned by director [[Raoul Walsh]] in [[Encino, California]], for $50,000 making it their home.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/clark-gable-carole-lombard-ranch-home-california|title=Tour Clark Gable and Carole Lombard's Ranch Home in California|website=Architectural Digest|date=August 30, 2016|language=en|access-date=September 25, 2019}}</ref> The couple, who lovingly referred to each other as "Ma and Pa",<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoQTDQAAQBAJ&q=clark+gable+carole+lombard+ma+and+pa&pg=PT137|title=Carole Lombard: Twentieth-Century Star|last=Morgan|first=Michelle|date=October 5, 2016|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-0-7509-6939-0|language=en}}</ref> owned a menagerie of animals and raised chickens and horses there.

With the bombing of [[Pearl Harbor]] many Hollywood stars joined the war effort, some such as [[James Stewart]] signing up for active duty. Carole Lombard sent a [[telegram]] to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]] on behalf of Gable expressing his interest in doing so, but F.D.R. thought the 41-year-old actor could best serve by increased patriotic roles in movies and bond drives, which Lombard tirelessly began.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fireball:Carole Lombard and The Mystery of Flight 3|last=Matzen|first=Robert|publisher=GoodNight Books|year=2014|isbn=978-0-9885025-1-2|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|pages=145–146}}</ref>

On January 16, 1942, Lombard was a passenger on [[TWA Flight 3|Transcontinental and Western Air Flight 3]] with her mother and press agent Otto Winkler. She had just finished her 57th movie, ''[[To Be or Not to Be (1942 film)|To Be or Not to Be]]'', and was on her way home from a successful [[war bond]] selling tour when the flight's [[Douglas DC-3]] airliner crashed into [[Potosi Mountain (Nevada)|Potosi Mountain]] near [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], killing all 22 passengers aboard, including 15 servicemen en route to training in California. Gable flew to the crash site to claim the bodies of his wife, mother-in-law, and Winkler, who had been the best man at Gable and Lombard's wedding. Lombard was declared to be the first war-related American female casualty of World War II, and Gable received a personal note of condolence from President Roosevelt. The [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] investigation into the crash concluded that [[pilot error]] was its cause.<ref name="harris" />{{Rp|250–251}}

Gable returned to their Encino ranch and carried out her funeral wishes as she had requested in her will. A month later, he returned to the studio to work with [[Lana Turner]] in their second movie together, ''[[Somewhere I'll Find You]]''. Having lost {{convert|20|lbs}} since the tragedy, Gable evidently was emotionally and physically devastated, but Turner stated that Gable remained a "consummate professional" for the duration of filming.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csMDnRXe4vMC&q=lana+turner+clark+gable&pg=PA309|title=Clark Gable: Biography, Filmography, Bibliography|last=Spicer|first=Chrystopher J.|date=January 15, 2002|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-1124-5|language=en}}</ref> He acted in 27 more films, and remarried twice more. "But he was never the same", according to [[Esther Williams]]. "He had been devastated by Carole's death."<ref name="WEE" />
[[File:Sylvia with Clark Gable.jpg|thumb|190px|With fourth wife [[Sylvia Ashley]]]]
''' Sylvia Ashley '''

In 1949, Gable married [[Sylvia Ashley]], an English model and actress who was the widow of [[Douglas Fairbanks]]; the couple divorced in 1952.<ref name="latimes.com"/>

''' Kay Spreckels '''

In 1955, Gable married [[Kay Williams|Kay Spreckels]] (née Kathleen Williams),<ref name="latimes.com"/> a thrice-married former fashion [[model (person)|model]] and actress who had previously been married to [[Sugar refinery|sugar-refining]] heir Adolph B. Spreckels Jr.

Four months after his 1960 death, Kay Gable gave birth to his only biological son, John Clark Gable.<ref name="marilyn1961">{{Citation|last=Marilyn Monroe Rare Footage 1961|title=Marilyn Monroe @ Clark Gable son christening|date=May 5, 2010|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROqR7p0K-9E| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/ROqR7p0K-9E| archive-date=2021-10-28|access-date=January 17, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> John Clark raced cars and trucks most notably in the Baja 500 and 1000,<ref>{{cite web|last=Glick|first=Shav |date=June 2, 2000|title=Clark Gable's Son Blazing His Own Trail Off-Road|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jun-02-sp-36750-story.html|access-date=October 8, 2020|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> turning down Hollywood offers to act until ''Bad Jim'' (1990)'','' a straight-to-video film''.'' By 1999, his work with the Clark Gable Foundation helped restore the house in which his father was born in Cadiz, Ohio, and open it as a museum.<ref name="harris"/>{{Rp|380–383}} John Clark had two children: Kayley Gable (born 1986) and [[Clark James Gable]] (1988–2019). Kayley is an actress, while Clark James was the host of two seasons of the nationally syndicated reality show ''[[Cheaters (American TV series)|Cheaters]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cheaters.com/clark-gable-biography/|title=Clark Gable Biography|publisher=Cheaters|date=September 20, 1988|access-date=August 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010161508/http://www.cheaters.com/clark-gable-biography/|archive-date=October 10, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Clark James died of a drug overdose at age 30 on February 22, 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.thewrap.com/clark-james-gable-former-cheaters-host-dies-at-30/|title = Clark James Gable, Former 'Cheaters' Host, Dies at 30|work = [[TheWrap]]|last = Nakamura|first = Reid|date = February 22, 2019|access-date = February 22, 2019}}</ref>

''' Relationship with Loretta Young '''

During the filming of ''[[The Call of the Wild (1935 film)|The Call of the Wild]]'' in early 1935, the film's lead actress, [[Loretta Young]], became pregnant with Gable's child. Clark Gable had allegedly slept with Young while on an overnight train from a studio location to Hollywood.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/sexual-abuse-in-old-hollywood-mgm-stag-party|title = How Classic Hollywood's Party Culture Turned Women into Prey| date=May 5, 2023 }}</ref> Their daughter, [[Judy Lewis]], was born on November 6, 1935, in [[Venice, California]].<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/arts/television/judy-lewis-secret-daughter-of-hollywood-dies-at-76.html|title=Judy Lewis, Secret Daughter of Hollywood, Dies at 76|date=November 30, 2011|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Downey|first=Sally A.|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20111130_Judy_Lewis__daughter_of_Loretta_Young_and_Clark_Gable_dies.html |title=Judy Lewis, daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, dies |publisher=Philly.com |date=November 30, 2011 |access-date=November 30, 2011}}</ref> Young hid her pregnancy in an elaborate scheme. Nineteen months after the birth, she claimed to have adopted the baby.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Most in Hollywood (and some in the general public) believed Gable was Lewis' father because of their strong resemblance and the timing of her birth.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Vitello|first=Paul|date=November 30, 2011|title=Judy Lewis, Secret Daughter of Hollywood, Dies at 76|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/arts/television/judy-lewis-secret-daughter-of-hollywood-dies-at-76.html|access-date=September 28, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1950, Gable came to her mother's house to visit her briefly. Gable asked Lewis about her life and then, upon leaving, kissed her on her forehead. It was the only time that Lewis ever spoke to Gable and, at the time, she had no idea that he was her father.

As an adult, Lewis spoke of the confusion, isolation and alienation she felt within her own family while growing up.<ref>Elaine Woo. Judy Lewis, daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, dies at 76. ''Washington Post'', Dec. 1, 2011.</ref> Five years after Gable's death, when confronted by Judy Lewis, Loretta Young said that she was Lewis' biological mother and that Gable was her father by an affair.<ref name="people1">{{cite web|url=https://people.com/archive/daughter-of-deception-vol-41-no-14/|title=Daughter of Deception|website=People}}</ref> Young died on August 12, 2000;<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/849409.stm|title=Elegant Beauty Loretta Young Dies|date=August 12, 2000|publisher=BBC|access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref> her autobiography, published posthumously, confirmed that Gable was indeed Lewis' father.<ref name="nytimes.com" /> Judy Lewis died of cancer at age 76 on November 25, 2011.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/01/local/la-me-judy-lewis-20111201|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211005631/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/01/local/la-me-judy-lewis-20111201|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 11, 2011|title=Judy Lewis dies at 76; daughter of stars Loretta Young and Clark Gable|last=Woo|first=Elaine|date=December 1, 2011|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 17, 2018|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> In 2015, Young's daughter-in-law alleged that Young had said in 1998 that Judy Lewis was conceived by date rape. Young had previously admitted to an affair with Gable, which was a known secret in Hollywood at the time. Young's family had chosen to remain silent about the information until both Young and Lewis were deceased; they went public with the information four years after Lewis' death.<ref name="clark gable accused">{{cite web|last=Petersen|first=Anne Helen|date=July 12, 2014|title=Clark Gable Accused Of Raping Co-Star|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/loretta-young|access-date=September 30, 2015|publisher=BuzzFeed}}</ref>