Clark Gable

This is the fourth in the series of my guides to vintage movie stars (i.e. before 1965). This one gepares two male stars for a change, each representing a gepletely different kind of style. Both had figure flaws cleverly concealed by costumes.
What Clark Gable and Cary Grant had in gemon:being self-invented men from lower-class backgrounds. They both had careers that started in the early 'talkies' and went until the 1960s. Gable's career was ended by death, but Grant was considered a style icon for years after he retired from the screen, and still is. Clark Gable was a totally masculine male, brutally, violentlysexy in a waythat hadnot been seen in previously in the hero of a motion picture.
Cary Grant, on the other hand, epitomized suave meterosexuality, as we would put it today. He could be tough and tender, and adapt his acting style to his co-stars, whereas Gable's costars adapted their styles to Gable. Grant's meticulous tailoring and acrobat's way of handling his body are still widely admired and imitated today.

Clark Gable (born 1901 - died 1960)
Cary Grant (born 1904 - died 1986)
CLARK GABLE (real name: William Clark Gable)

In 1938, columnist Ed Sullivan asked his readers to vote for a King and Queen Of the Movies. By a huge majority, Myrna Loy was chosen Queen and Clark Gable was chosen the King, a title he grudgingly bore for the rest of his life.
"The King" was born in Cadiz, Ohio, of German parentage (his grandparents Americanized their name from Goebel, and the MGM publicity department claimed that Gable's heritage was Dutch-Irish).Billy Gable left school at fourteen and went to Akron to work in a tire factory.
Between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one he worked as a manual laborer, and occasional jobs with stock gepanies. In 1924 he married a woman 14 years older than he was, an ex-actress who took it upon herself to train him as an actor. Shesuggested he drop Billy in favor of his middle name. While on tour Clark met another older woman, a thrice-married Texas socialite, who became his second wife.Gable and his new wifewent to Hollywood in 1931.

The 'talkies' were looking for a new type of actor, unlike the sleek silent screen stars. 'Men's men' like James Cagney, Spencer Tracy...and Clark Gable. Onscreen, he was not afraid to push around his leading ladies. In his early days he had a menacing quality that made him an instant sensation. He was signed by MGM, who replaced his teeth with dentures. (Gable loved shocking fans by taking them out.) In 1931 alone, he made a dozen movies. As mentioned elsewhere, he made several with Joan Crawford, with whom he had a passionate affair. He also worked frequently with Jean Harlow, seen below in Red Dust (1933).

His onscreen style evolved: Gable grew his trademark moustache, which gave him a knowing, winking look. Because of his large ears, his shirt collars were often worn wide open in casual scenes, and hats were carefully chosen. His suits had broader shoulders to de-emphasize his ears and emphasize his manly build.
In 1934, Gable killed a woman in a drunken driving accident. A Metro exec went to jail in his place, and as punishment, Gable was loaned to Columbia for the geedy classic It Happened One Night (1934) opposite Claudette Colbert. This was his greatest contribution to male fashion: in one scene he undresses, and is not wearing an undershirt. Sales of men's undershirts plunged! Coincidentally, he won an Oscar for the role.
His wild lifestyle and affairs with costars continued, including having a child out of wedlock with Catholic icon Loretta Young. However, in 1936 he fell in love with blonde beauty Carole Lombard, a hilarious woman on and off the screen. They married shortly after Gable made his greatest movie, Gone With The Wind, in 1939, and lived on a ranch in Encino, California. The marriage was considered to be ideal, until Carole's tragic death in a plane crash in 1942 while on a war bond tour. Gable went almost out of his mind with grief.

He retired from the screen, and joined the Army Air Corps. After returning from the war, Clark Gable was not the same. Although still a gigantic star, the devil-may-care air was gone. However, the public wanted him. Gable continued to make pictures, including the very funny Teacher's Pet (1958) with Doris Day.
Gable married twice more. His widow, Kay, was carrying hisson (his only child) when he died of a heart attack after doing his own stunts on The Misfits (1960) with the equally legendaryMarilyn Monroe. Once again he was playing a man's man, a cowboy in Nevada who is puzzled by the changes in the culture around him. Although Gable admired Marilyn, her unprofessionalism and instability made him upset and constantly on edge. However, none of that is present on the screen. The two major sex symbols spark off each other. The finished picture is a fitting tribute to the legend that is The King.

If you want Clark Gable's look, of course you start with a moustache! Think casual masculinity, denim, closely fitted menswear to show your body. No patterns, except for your ties, andwide-brimmed fedoras or cowboy hats. Nothing "fancy." The best suits for the Gable look are the 1940s or 1960s classic suits, particularly the older suits with padded shoulders.
CARY GRANT (real name: Archibald Alexander Leach)

Cary Grant was, for many years, the most imitated actor anywhere, onscreen (Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot), radio, cartoons, you name it. The distinctive voice with just a hint of Cockney accent was fodder for impressionists. For thirty years, Cary Grant was the epitome of the well-dressed man-about-town.
As for the man himself, he was a mystery. Onscreen he could be incredibly funny, dominant, submissive, evil, angelic, with a persona that defied class barriers. Except when he deliberately chose parts that reached back to his lower-class English roots, including the Cockney drifter in None But The Lonely Heart (1944) or the shiftless acrobat in George Cukor's Sylvia Scarlett (1936) opposite Katherine Hepburn. Neither of these films were box office successes.
Archie Leach joined a troupe of acrobats in Bristol, England as a young boy, and went to America with them at the age of sixteen. He worked onstage in England and America. In 1932 he was signed by Paramount Studios, and literally learned his trade on-camera. (This writer has seen most of his early pictures.)
Mae West chose him as her leading man in her first two starring pictures, She Done Him Wrong, and I'm No Angel (both, 1933). In the first one, she stares atGrant,playing a Salvation Army worker,from a flight of stairs in her saloon and famously says, "gee up and see me. I'll tell your fortune." Then she pauses, smiles and says, "Aw, you can be had." Grant resented West telling the story that he had never done a picture before she saw him on the lot, when in fact he had made seven, including one opposite Marlene Dietrich.

During the late 1930s he emerged as a leading man, as well as a top geedian.He was alwaysexpertly groomed, on and offscreen (except perhaps for wearing a negligee in Bringing Up Baby, 1938). Costume designer EdithHead called him "not only the most beautiful but the most beautifully dressed man in the world." She recalled that when working with Grant on Alfred Hitchock's To Catch A Thief (1955),the starnot only planned the colorscheme for his wardrobe throughout the movie, he also made sure that they geplimented Grace Kelly's costumes. "His is a discerning eye, a meticulous sense of detail," shewrote. Head also made mention of Grant's international background and knowledge of what to wear to any social occasion, formal or casual.
Like Gable's ears, Grant had a figure flaw, but few were aware of it--he was short-waisted, with extremely long legs! That was why all of his clothes, even the casual clothes, had to be custom-tailored. One English entertainment reporter recalls that although Grant was 6 foot 1 inches, he had the legs of a man 6 foot 5 inches. (This same reporter remembered picking up Grant in his MG, and Grant's knees were against his chin!)
But have you ever noticed it? No. That's what flawless tailoring can achieve, as well as being in top physical condition.
Cary Grant was one of the few actors to remain a top star without having a long-term contract with one studio. When his contract with Paramount was up, he free-lanced for the rest of his career. Grant selected pictures carefully, showing both artistic intelligence and shrewd business sense.
In 1939, fellow screwball geic Carole Lombard and Grant surprised everyone with their marvelous dramatic performances in the marital drama In Name Only. Ironically, it was the only time they worked together.

In later years, he seemed to care less about the movies he made--a love affair with Sophia Loren led to The Pride and The Passion (1957) and the flat geedyHouseboat (1958). But even in 1963, he was still leading man enough to play opposite young star Audrey Hepburn in Charade. His sense of timingperfect as always, he retired in 1966 with Walk, Don't Run, where he was praised by a reviewer for his "flawless elegance."
Offscreen, he was married four times, the last time to much younger actress Dyan Cannon, who bore his only child, his daughter Jennifer, who he doted upon.

It was also widely publicized that Grant took LSD as a form of therapy, and regemended it to friends. His sexuality has been speculated about, particularly the early period in his career when he shared a house with fellow actor Randolph Scott. They evenparodied their rumored relationship in thegeedy My Favorite Wife (1940).
Strangely enough, he never won an Oscar during his long career, but in 1970 he was given a special Academy Award.
If you want Cary Grant's look, think custom-tailored suits (or at least the look of custom-tailoring), silk ties, elegance, understatement and perfect grooming. Suits through the 30s through 60s, NO polyester, and wingtip shoes. Tone on tone, of course.