Clark Gable's Granddaughter Pays Tribute
Memories of the Gone with the Wind Star
As the granddaughter of film legend Clark Gable, I’m considered “Hollywood royalty,” but aside from starring recently in Paris Hilton's My New BFF I’ve kept a low profile until now.
My father is Clark Gable's son. My grandfather died November, 1960, and my dad was born March of 1961. Marilyn Monroe held my dad at his christening.
Everyone blamed Marilyn for my grandfather's death because of the stress he endured while filming The Misfits, in which she and my grandfather both starred. Marilyn’s behavior grew increasingly erratic during the shoot and my grandfather had a heart attack shortly after the film’s wrap. That August Marilyn passed away too.
It wasn’t a perfect Hollywood life growing up. My parents kept me out of the limelight as a child and divorced when I was three. About the same time I saw Gone With The Wind. I felt my grandfather around me and would look at old photos and smell tobacco and cologne I knew were his. I just felt his presence always, and still do to this day.
He had worked his way from being a lumberjack in Ohio to being one of the biggest movie stars that ever lived. Anita Paige, who is still alive and who I met, said to me, “Your grandfather was a tease!” He was crowned the King of Hollywood, but who is ‘Hollywood royalty’ now? The class, the style - it’s a bygone era.
I appeared on MTV's Paris Hilton’s My New BFF so drunk that I've turned it around and am now 30 days clean. I didn’t inherit money. I’ve worked all my life and made my own way since I was kicked out at 17.
More Entertainment Articles
- Kaufman's Directorial Debut In New YorkFirst Film is a Giant Synecdoche.
- Human Unworthiness in World MythsThe Metaphysical Fall from Grace
- Alfred Hitchcock's Legacy Lives OnThe Arts, the Foundation, and the Pinot Noir
- The Innocent Mage Fantasy SeriesA Duology by Karen Miller
- Edward M. Kennedy's AutobiographyTrue Compass Memoir Covers Family and Senate
Toolbar
Need a short url to tell a friend or add to twitter
http://orato.com/9de5
Comments
Don't you think that if you want to be your "own person" so badly, you should pursue a career outside of acting, since it is clearly not your calling? Or, if you believe that it is, and are insistent on following this path, then wouldn't it be advisable to change your name and not tag "Gable" on to the end? That way you won't be accused of riding the wave of your grandfather's fame or considering yourself to be something special when, in reality, you were simply born at the right place at the right time.
I'm sorry that you have an alcohol problem but I do wonder how much of it is self-inflicted - I appreciate that you suffered your parents going through a divorce and moving around a lot, but so do a great many children. I suspect that you consider yourself more prone to substance abuse because of who you are related to, which is odd. Stop thinking of yourself as "Hollywood royalty", because you're not - your grandfather might have been, but this is no reflection on you. Good luck overcoming your addiction, I do wish you well, but I also hope that you will pursue a career which is what you want to do and not what you think you ought to do. You're not famous (you said so yourself) and you shouldn't aspire to be by joining in with a programme as atrocious and talentless as Paris Hilton's BFF. Fame is nothing - and even when it's something, it's usually negative. You can't deliberately put yourself into this path and then wonder why it all went wrong.
Please Login or Register to post a comment on this article