On This Day in 1935: Clark Gable Won an Oscar He Gave Away to a Child Teach Them a Life Lesson
Oscar-winning actor Clark Gable earned the name of “The King of Hollywood” thanks to his expansive career that spanned more than three decades and several genres. He wasn’t shy when it came to winning an award, but he also had a refreshingly unique take on the meaning behind such an accomplishment. Gable gave away the only Oscar he ever won to a child to teach them a lesson.
Clark Gable won an Oscar for ‘It Happened One Night’
Gable won his first, and only, Oscar for the romantic comedy called It Happened One Night. The Frank Capra-directed film hit theaters in 1934, which was written by Robert Riskin based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story.
The story follows a spoiled young woman named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who suddenly marries a sketchy King Westley. In response, her father (Walter Connolly) sends her away on his yacht, but she escapes to seek out her new husband. A newspaper reporter named Peter Warne (Gable) agrees to help in return for a story, but he starts to fall in love with her.
It Happened One Night set a record at the Academy Awards for sweeping the top five categories: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, and Best Writing, Adaptation.
Clark Gable gave his Oscar away to a child to teach him a lesson about winning
Colbert and Gable both experienced strange circumstances when it came to their major Oscar wins. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she didn’t show up to the Academy Awards because she thought that she would lose the award to write-in nominee Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage.
Meanwhile, Gable didn’t even hold onto his Oscar for himself. Medium wrote that the actor gave away his statuette to a kid who called it “pretty” to look at. The actor explained to the child that the hard work and the title of winning are all that were important, not the physical award.
After Gable died from a heart attack in 1960, the Oscar found its way back to his widow. However, IMDb noted that the parties involved “commercially exploited” the award. As a result, Steven Spielberg himself anonymously bought the Oscar in 1996 and donated it to the Academy of Motion PIcture Arts and Sciences to give it a permanent home that will properly care for it.
Clark Gable earned another 2 Oscar nominations
Gable never managed to score another Oscar over the course of his career, even despite starring in some truly iconic pieces of cinema. Nevertheless, he went down as one of the greatest actors ever to grace the silver screen.
He earned his second Academy Award nomination the following year for Mutiny on the Bounty, where he performed alongside Charles Laughton. The actor lost the win to Victor McLaglen in The Informer.
Gable’s final Oscar nomination was for 1939’s Gone with the Wind, where the world swooned for his performance alongside Vivien Leigh. Robert Donat’s performance in Goodbye, Mr. Chips took home the gold against Gable, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington‘s James Stewart, Babes in Arms‘ Mickey Rooney, and Wuthering Heights‘ Laurence Olivier.
