LONG LIVE THE KING: A Biography of Clark Gable

by Lyn Tornabene ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 1976

Uncommonly insightful and one of the more engrossing movie bios. The style is well above the cloying archness of fan magazines, a hard job considering the scope of Gable's womanizing. His roles, aside from Rhett Butler and Gay Langland (The Misfits), don't allow for much interpretation, and few get it. He was a pro and a giant personality, with a good grounding in stage acting. Work and manly pursuits (duck shooting, salmon fishing, etc.) came before women, or wives, and only with Carole Lombard did he find the complete mother and dirty-talking, beautiful screwball pal he needed. Tornabene makes much of his mother's death when he was ten months old and the immense shock this was to his being. After Lombard's early death, he became a heavy drinker and a palsy set in that plagued him until death. Often greatly overweight, he supposedly died from the effects of his last diet for The Misfits, as well as from the terrific strain of roping mustangs and being dragged along the ground for the final scenes (actually the diet may have lengthened his life). A big, big man who filled every room he entered, his egoism and energy glow from these pages. . .a charm, frankly, that will not fade.

Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION