1. He wasn’t sure about Rhett Butler
Gable resisted playing the dashing hero of Gone With the Wind until the studio made him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood at the time.

2. Ears That Nearly Ended a Career
Early on, MGM thought his ears stuck out too much for a leading man. Lighting tricks and charm  turned the “flaw” into a trademark.

3. He won an Oscar for a comedy
Before his Civil War swagger, Gable took home an Academy Award for It Happened One Night (1934), where he made hitchhiking and donut-dipping look irresistible.

4. One scene that changed men's fashion
In that same film, his character, Peter Warne, is in a shabby motel room and revealed he wasn’t wearing an undershirt. Sales of undershirts in America promptly collapsed.

5. He earned the title “The King of Hollywood.”
By the late 1930s, Gable was the top box-office draw in the world, admired as much off-screen as on.

6. A Hollywood love story cut short
In 1939, Gable married Carole Lombard, widely considered the great love of his life. After she was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1942, he was devastated, and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces.

7. Flying into danger
Gable didn’t just pose for photos in uniform. He flew several combat missions in B-17 Flying Fortresses over Europe during World War II.

8. A swan song with Marilyn Monroe
His last film, The Misfits (1961), paired him with Marilyn Monroe in what became a haunting swan song for them both.

9. Nobody’s perfect.
Behind the polished image, Gable wore dentures and wrestled with dental woes. Even Hollywood’s ‘King’ wasn’t immune to whispers about bad breath.

10. Forever in pop culture.
From Bugs Bunny cartoons to modern homages, Gable’s grin, mustache, and drawled “Frankly, my dear…” remain Hollywood shorthand for classic leading man.