Name at birth: William Clark Gable

Clark Gable was a popular leading man in the movies for nearly thirty years. His big ears and cocky grin helped define his screen persona as a rascal, most famously in It Happened One Night (1934, directed by Frank Capra). His stature as a romantic hero was cemented as Rhett Butler, opposite Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind (1939). Off-screen, he had a famous tragic romance with actress Carole Lombard, who was killed in a plane wreck in 1942. At the age of 41 Gable enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving in World War II and eventually reaching the rank of Major.