Clark Gable^†

The gangster who shoved Norma Shearer onscreen in A Free Soul wasn't supposed to be a star. Clark Gable failed his first MGM screen test. Producers said his ears were too big for a leading man. But that 1931 shove generated more fan mail than the studio knew what to do with, and he never played a supporting role again. When MGM wanted to punish him for being difficult, they loaned him to low-prestige Columbia Pictures to make a romantic comedy about a bus trip. It Happened One Night swept all five major Oscar categories. The punishment became his peak.

More than six decades after his death, he still holds the title nobody campaigned for. In 1938, Ed Sullivan polled over 20 million newspaper readers and declared him King of Hollywood, the only time that crown was decided by popular vote. His Oscar for It Happened One Night has its own subplot: he gave it away to a child who admired it, it fell into private hands, and Steven Spielberg anonymously purchased it in 1996 to return it to the Academy.

After Carole Lombard died in a 1942 plane crash, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces at age 41, then flew five combat missions over Nazi Germany in B-17s. He was there to film a training documentary but took a gunnery position and fired at enemy aircraft anyway. Hermann Goering reportedly placed a death warrant on him. He wore a locket containing shards of Lombard's jewelry and strands of her hair throughout his service. His discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan.

The Misfits premiered February 1, 1961, what would have been his 60th birthday. Pallbearers at his November 19 funeral included Jimmy Stewart and Spencer Tracy. His widow Kay Williams, visibly pregnant at the service, told Louella Parsons that Marilyn Monroe's chronic tardiness had contributed to his death; Monroe reportedly began daily sessions with her psychoanalyst. His son John Clark Gable was born four months after the funeral.