Clark Gable: Screen Image
Research in Progress, Sep 6, 2025
With the help of MGM publicity mchine, Clark Gable symbolized the virile common man.
Gable’s films demanded total escapism, which were perfectly appropriate for the Depression era, in which the mood was that of willed optimism.
In many films, Gable played a social outsider, sometimes a pariah, usually a misfit.
A charismatic man that, despite the Depression, proved that men could be free spirits and defiant individuals.
His persona was defined by the total absence of self-doubt; he exuded the confident assurance that, as a real man, he always knows who he is, and where he is going.
Howard Strickling, head of MGM publicity observed: “We always encouraged the Gabk]les and Taylors never to be sneaking in alley ways. To go in the front way. If the ress wants to meet you, go ahead and meet them, because they had built this image and they were He-guys, and He-guys don’t go sneaking around back alleys.”
Gable took his craft seriously, he was a fine actor, who had his own style of acting, naturalism that bkended his real life with his reel creation,
Colleagues alawyas noyyed that he really wanted to be the best he could be in order make his part creditable, and to accomlish that without losing his natural charm.
Exceptions:
Lighting Sinners:
Gable was miscast in a story of a fallen woman (Joan Crawford) is saved by a Salvation Army worker.
Poly of the Circus (1931):
Gable was minister of religio in a film made before his sceen image was finally crystallized.
Cargo:
Gable’s role was the meanest he’d played in years–he was cast as an escaped convict.
Last Decade:
The critics seemed to be tougher on Gabe afer he had left MGM, some even suggested that it’s time for him to retire, though he was inly in his 50s.
Critics were more picky about his limted acting skills, his looks (big ears), and his aging; after the 1957 Band of Angels, he gained considerabe weight.
Yet, he surpised his colleague actors (Marilyn Monroe. Mlnty Clift), director John Huston–and abobe all himself–when he delivered one of his most well-grounded and beleievable perfomances in the 1961 The Misfits, which was released posthumously after his untimely death, a year earlier,.
