Clark Gable's molded image as a great lover wasn't entirely true. For one thing, he didn't show puppy-love affection for girls in his early years. His first marraige was more teacher and student than husband and wife. He didn't spend all his free time off screen with women because the outdoor life he favored so much didn't meet their fancy. So gossip columns, both from the past and present, have a rather silly conglomeration of women that Clark has seduced. (Or the other way around.) Many columnists took advantage of the fact Clark seldom gave interviews to make up names of girlfriends he had as a child. I am one of the few reviewers of his life who can look at him as a person and respect him for what he did in his lifetime, not what he didn't do. So here's an honest-to-goodness listing of his women, so to speak-the lucky dames from his films first. :)
- Helen Twelvetrees
- Constance Bennett (2 movies together between 1931 and 1935)
- Jean Harlow (6 movies together between 1931 and 1937)
- Fay Wray
- Joan Crawford (8 movies together between 1931 and 1940)
- Norma Shearer (3 movies together between 1931 and 1939)
- Barbara Stanwyk (2 movies together between 1931 and 1950)
- Madge Evans
- Greta Garbo
- Dorothy Jordan
- Marion Davies (2 movies together between 1932 and 1936)
- Carole Lombard
- Helen Hayes (2 movies together in 1933)
- Claudette Colbert (2 movies together between 1934 and 1940)
- Myrna Loy (7 movies together between 1933 and 1938)
- Loretta Young (2 movies together between 1935 and 1950)
- Movita
- Jeanette MacDonald
- Vivien Leigh
- Hedy Lamarr (2 movies together in 1940)
- Rosalind Russel (2 movies together between 1935 and 1941)
- Lana Turner (4 movies together between 1941 and 1954)
- Greer Garson
- Deborah Kerr
- Alexis Smith
- Maria Elena Marques
- Dorothy McGuire
- Ava Gardner (3 movies together between 1947 and 1953)
- Gene Tierney
- Susan Hayward
- Jane Russel
- Eleanor Parker
- Yvonne DeCarlo
- Mary Laroche
- Doris Day
- Lili Palmer
- Sophia Loren
- Marilyn Monroe
If you counted right, that's thirty eight actresses. Out of them, he was in multiple films with thirteen of them. Out of all of these, he had affairs with at least four of them-Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, Carole Lombard, and Claudette Colbert. He tended to go with women whom he wouldn't "get in trouble" with, which often included women that weren't only older than him, but ugly beyond belief. Film extras were favorites of his, as were writers. It has been said that his bedroom tactics were pathetic, but to this, Clark would say with a grin: "I guess that means I'll have to do a whole lotta practicin'!" Another woman that he had a fling with was Merle Oberon, actress under contract to United Artists. He once tried to have a go with Mary Pickford recently after her divorce to Dougie Fairbanks, but she rejected him, something she later regretted. Prior to his death, Dougie was married to social butterfly Lady Sylvia Ashley. Ten years after his 1939 death, she married Clark Gable and became his fourth wife. In 1952, she also became his third divorcee. Some might wonder if he seduced Vivien Leigh, his costar in Gone With the Wind. He didn't. He couldn't. And he didn't want to. For one thing, he had just married Carole Lombard, who censored his preferance for other women even before they married. For another thing, Vivien was engaged to Laurence Olivier. For another thing, Clark and Vivien showed no affection and little intrest in each other. Some people have also wondered if he bedded Hedy Lamarr or Lana Turner. Both cases turned out to be false. I don't know too much on this topic for obvious reasons, but I can tell you that though it's not really anybody's business, it's kind of interesting to know what was going on behind the scenes in Clark's life. Some actors who have had reams written on who they've been in love with are Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper, Rudolph Valentino, and John Gilbert.
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