Editing Clark Gable (section)

=== 1936–1939: Tracy collaborations and ''Gone with the Wind'' ===
[[File:Test Pilot 4 1938.jpg|thumb|240px|right|[[Lobby card]] for ''[[Test Pilot (film)|Test Pilot]]'' (1938)]]
Gable made three pictures with [[Spencer Tracy]], which boosted Tracy's career and permanently cemented them in the public mind as a team. ''[[San Francisco (1936 film)|San Francisco]]'' (1936), with [[Jeanette MacDonald]], featured Tracy for only 17 minutes in an [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Oscar]]-nominated portrayal of a Catholic priest who knocks Gable down in a boxing ring.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/06/27/archives/san-francisco-at-the-capitol-is-a-stirring-film-of-the-barbary.html|title=' San Francisco', at the Capitol, Is a Stirring Film of the Barbary Coast – Other New Pictures.|last=Nugent|first=Frank S.|date=June 27, 1936|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 20, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Leslie|first=Roger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7UsDwAAQBAJ&q=san+francisco+film+tracy+nomination&pg=PA154|title=Oscar's Favorite Actors: The Winningest Stars (and More Who Should Be)|date=June 26, 2017|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-6956-4|language=en}}</ref> The film was a box office hit and remains the third-highest-grossing film of Gable's career. Their next film together was the Academy Award–nominated box office success ''[[Test Pilot (film)|Test Pilot]]'' (1938), with Myrna Loy, who made seven pictures with Gable. He plays Jim Lane, the test pilot of the title; Tracy is his [[sidekick]] mechanic, Gunner Morse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1937/film/reviews/test-pilot-1200411578/|title=Test Pilot|date=January 1, 1938|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=November 17, 2019}}</ref>

For their final film, 1940's ''[[Boom Town (film)|Boom Town]]'', Tracy would play a larger role, with billing directly under Gable and above Claudette Colbert and [[Hedy Lamarr]]. The picture, a lavish epic about two oil wildcatters who become partners then rivals, was a box office success, earning $5&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GJRDwAAQBAJ&q=boom+town+1940+a+huge+hit&pg=PP154|title=MGM|last=Balio|first=Tino|date=March 14, 2018|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-42967-8|language=en}}</ref> Gable and Tracy were off-screen friends; Tracy was one of the few Hollywood industry luminaries who attended Lombard's private funeral.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrsDia1T8WIC&q=clark+gable+sylvia+ashley+unhappy+marriage&pg=PA209|title=Katharine Hepburn: A Remarkable Woman|last=Edwards|first=Anne|date=April 8, 2000|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-20656-7|language=en}}</ref> After ''Boom Town'' no more Gable-Tracy partnerships were possible; Tracy's success led to a new contract and both stars had conflicting stipulations requiring top billing in MGM movie credits and on promotional posters.<ref name="Shipman, David 1979"/>{{Rp|224}}

{{multiple image
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| image1    = Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh - Wind.jpg
| caption1  = Gable and [[Vivien Leigh]] in ''[[Gone With the Wind (film)|Gone With the Wind]]'' (1939)
| image2    = Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind trailer.jpg
| caption2  = {{center|Gable as Rhett Butler}}
| image3    = Gable-Leigh GWTW-b.jpg
| alt3  = a man and woman in profile are in a passionate embrace as if about to kiss
| caption3  = Gable and Vivien Leigh strike an amorous pose in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939)
}}
Despite his reluctance to play the role, Gable is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in the Academy Award-winning best picture ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939). [[Carole Lombard]] may have been the first to suggest that he play [[Rhett Butler]] (and she play [[Scarlett O'Hara|Scarlett]]) when she bought him a copy of the best-seller, which he refused to read.<ref name="harris"/>{{Rp|164}} His total salary was $117,917 for the film (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|117917|1939|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}{{inflation-fn|US}}).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heller |first1=Corinne |title=Celeb Salaries, Then and Now: Kaley Cuoco's $900k Payday Could Have Been Just $1,500 in the '60s |url=https://www.eonline.com/news/846787/celebrity-salaries-then-and-now-includes-kaley-cuoco-and-jennifer-lawrence |website=eonline |date=April 28, 2017 |publisher=ENews |access-date=26 June 2023}}</ref>

Butler's last line in ''Gone with the Wind'', "[[Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn]]", is one of the most famous lines in movie history.<ref name=APC /> Gable was an almost immediate favorite for the role of Rhett with both the public and producer [[David O. Selznick]]. Since Selznick had no male stars under long-term contract, he needed to negotiate with another studio to borrow an actor. [[Gary Cooper]] was Selznick's first choice.<ref name="DOS" /> When Cooper turned down the role of Butler, he was quoted as saying, "''Gone With the Wind'' is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling flat on his nose, not me."<ref name="DPF" /> By then, Selznick had become determined to hire Gable, and set about finding a way to borrow him from MGM. Gable was wary of potentially disappointing an audience that had decided that no one else could play the part. He later conceded, "I think I know now how a fly must react after being caught in a spider's web."<ref name="harris" />{{Rp|189}}

According to Lennie Bluett, an extra in the film, Gable almost walked off the set when he discovered the studio facilities were segregated and signage posted "White" and "Colored".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/stormyweatherlif00gavi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/stormyweatherlif00gavi/page/100 100]|quote=clark gable gone with the wind.|title=Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne|last=Gavin|first=James|date=June 23, 2009|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4391-6425-9|language=en}}</ref> Gable phoned the film's director [[Victor Fleming]] and told him, "If you don't get those signs down, you won't get your Rhett Butler." The signs were then taken down.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4MtDwAAQBAJ&q=clark+gable+gone+with+the+wind+whites+only+signs&pg=PT43|title=Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present And Future Of Women Working In Film|last=Malone|first=Alicia|date=August 15, 2017|publisher=Mango Media Inc.|isbn=978-1-63353-618-0|language=en}}</ref> Gable tried to boycott the ''Gone with the Wind'' premiere in segregated [[Atlanta]], because African American actors [[Hattie McDaniel]] and [[Butterfly McQueen]] were not permitted to attend. He reportedly only went after McDaniel pleaded with him to go.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/oscars-first-black-winner-accepted-774335|title=Oscar's First Black Winner Accepted Her Honor in a Segregated 'No Blacks' Hotel in L.A.|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=February 19, 2015|access-date=December 21, 2019}}</ref> They appeared in several more films, remaining life-long friends and he always attended her Hollywood parties.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Philip C. DiMare|title=Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia|isbn=978-1-59884-297-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qUJ-JuSPdQC&q=clark%20gable%20McDaniel%20hollywood%20parties&pg=PA740|access-date=June 2, 2017|date=June 17, 2011|publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref>

Gable did not want to shed tears for the scene after Rhett inadvertently causes Scarlett to miscarry their second child.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/73mar/wind3.htm|title=Gone With the Wind – 73.03 (Part Three)|website=www.theatlantic.com|access-date=November 28, 2019}}</ref> [[Olivia de Havilland]] made him cry, later commenting, "Oh, he would not do it. He would not! Victor (Fleming) tried everything with him. He tried to attack him on a professional level. We had done it without him weeping several times and then we had one last try. I said, 'You can do it, I know you can do it, and you will be wonderful{{nbsp}}...' Well, by heaven, just before the cameras rolled, you could see the tears come up at his eyes and he played the scene unforgettably well. He put his whole heart into it."<ref name="BAL" /> The role was one of Gable's most layered performances and partially based on the personality of director and friend Fleming.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/25/the-real-rhett-butler|title=The Real Rhett Butler|last=Denby|first=David|magazine=The New Yorker|date=May 18, 2009|access-date=October 19, 2019|issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

Years later, Gable said that whenever his career would start to fade, a re-release of ''Gone with the Wind'' would soon revive his popularity, and he continued as a top leading actor for the rest of his life. One reissue publicized "Clark Gable never tires of holding Vivien Leigh".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ug3MDAAAQBAJ&q=variety+movie+grosses&pg=PA364|title=Coming Back to a Theater Near You: A History of Hollywood Reissues, 1914–2014|last=Hannan|first=Brian|date=May 25, 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9813-0|language=en}}</ref>