In 1942 Carole Lombard was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, famed for her legendary parties and whacky sense of humour; she was also Mrs Clark Gable, making her part of one of the most beloved couples in entertainment history. However, the fairy tale would come to an end one dark January evening, when Carole Lombard’s light was extinguished from the screen and the world forever.
Born Jane Alice Peters on 6 October 1908, she was raised for her first six years with her brothers, Stuart and Fred, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. However, the divorce of her parents prompted her mother, Elizabeth (Beth), to take her children away from their hometown and to move west in order to settle in Los Angeles, California.
Jane was a popular student who enjoyed acting and sports. She was an outdoor kind of girl who revelled in tomboy activities and adventures. However, acting was not far away from her mind and she made her screen debut aged twelve, when she worked in the 1921 movie, A Perfect Crime. She then went on to work for a time under both the names Jane Peters and Carol Lombard, before finally opting for the more permanent Carole Lombard.
With her star quickly rising, Carole had the world at her feet, but it all threatened to come crashing down in 1926 when she was involved in a terrible car accident that saw the actress’s cheek being sliced to such a degree that she required plastic surgery. As if this wasn’t bad enough, it was agreed that in order to avoid a huge scar, the procedure should be carried out without anaesthetic. Carole agreed and the operation was a success, though the scar can still be seen in her later movies. It did not, however, detract from her amazing beauty, and it is safe to say that during the 1930s Carole Lombard was one of the most – if not the most – beautiful actresses working in Hollywood at that time.
After taking some time off following the car accident, the young Carole was finally able to resume her career and her love life, dating several actors and marrying actor William Powell in 1931. Although the pair were later to divorce, they stayed the best of friends and even worked together later in their careers. Powell also went on to have a relationship with Jean Harlow, whom Carole knew well and she totally approved of the romance. It seemed that while the two had been unable to sustain their own relationship, they made very good friends and were very happy to remain this way until the end.
After the failure of her marriage, Carole concentrated on her career and her star continued to rise. She had made a smooth transition from silent movies to talkies, and in the early 1930s the upcoming star was showcased in a variety of movies including 1932’s No Man of Her Own (where she met Clark Gable), Bolero (1934) and We’re Not Dressing (1934). Later films included My Man Godfrey (1936), in which she played opposite her ex-husband William Powell, and Hands Across the Table, which teamed her up with tragic star Marie Prevost.
Romance was also back on the cards when Carole met “crooner” Russ Columbo. Russ was a very popular musical artist who had hundreds of women swooning whenever he opened his mouth to sing. However, it was Carole who won his heart and it was rumoured that the two would marry, though both played down the relationship, assuring the press that they were “just good friends”. However, the rumours continued and everyone expected to hear wedding bells that would lead the beautiful Lombard to the altar for the second time.
Tragically, the romance came to a shocking end when Russ Columbo was shot dead in an accidental shooting in 1934, the details of which are covered in a separate chapter within this book. Carole Lombard was absolutely devastated with the loss of her partner and some say that she never fully got over his death.
Moving on from the loss of Russ Columbo, Carole slowly but surely rebuilt her life and, after becoming reacquainted with Clark Gable at a party, the two became inseparable. Just as she had done as a child, Carole loved to be in the great outdoors, and it was that, combined with a magnificent sense of humour, that made her all the more attractive to Mr Gable. He was known as something of a “he-man” and despite being married to the much older Ria Langham, Gable began an affair with Lombard which quickly became public knowledge and the talk of the town.
By the time Ria agreed to a divorce, Gable was involved in the making of the 1939 movie, Gone with the Wind. Taking a break from the production, he quietly married Carole on 29 March 1939 and the two settled down to life in their Encino ranch. The couple were quickly dubbed the happiest couple in Hollywood and became famous for snubbing glamorous award shows in favour of road trips, fishing, shooting and camping, capturing some of these activities on their home movie camera. In fact, they loved their trips so much that at one point they were even reported missing in the countryside, feared dead. The couple eventually appeared again, however, laughingly telling reporters that the only reason they had gone missing was because their car had broken down; nothing more, nothing less.
But while their joint public persona was one of constant happiness, there were various problems within the marriage, such as the couple’s fruitless desire to have children and the rumours of Gable’s wandering eye. He had long since been legendary for his love of female co-stars, and while it cannot be confirmed either way, there have been rumours over the years that despite his love for Carole, he never did give up his dalliances with other actresses. Added to that, there was the knowledge that before Gable had swept her off her feet, the real love of Carole’s life had been Russ Columbo. Clark was well aware of this fact and became so paranoid that he is said to have banned all mention of him from his house during the course of the couple’s marriage.
In January 1942, just after the United States had entered World War II, Carole took on the role of Defence Bond saleswoman, and travelled to Indiana with her mother Beth and Gable’s press agent, Otto Winkler. The tour was an almighty success with Carole raising over $2 million in just one evening. However, while she was happy to take part in the fundraising, the actress was also concerned at leaving her husband alone at home. He was busy making Somewhere I’ll Find You with Lana Turner, and Lombard was afraid that his wandering eye would meander in the actress’s direction. With this in mind, she suggested to her mother that they should fly home instead of taking the train as originally planned.
Lombard’s mother, a keen numerologist, was completely against altering their plans and was overheard talking to her daughter at Indianapolis Municipal Airport.
“Carole, don’t take that plane,” she said, though her daughter was determined to have her way. Eventually the actress decided to settle the decision on the toss of a coin, and after winning the bet she was happy to be flying back to California. The party – including Carole’s unhappy mother – settled into a flight which was to take them from Indiana to Las Vegas, and then finally back to Los Angeles. Tragically, however, the plane was never to make it home.
After stopping to refuel in Las Vegas, the TWA aircraft took off for the last part of the trip, but shortly after the plane had left the runway, it plummeted head first into Mount Potosi, killing everyone on board, including Carole Lombard, her mother, and twenty-two passengers and crew. The pilot, Wayne Williams, had last reported from the aircraft at 7.07 p.m., but nothing was then heard until local residents reported to police that they had heard an almighty explosion and had spotted fire in the mountains. These residents are reported to have included silent-screen star Clara Bow, who is said to have seen a huge light in the sky as the plane burned, some ninety miles away from her ranch.
Back in Los Angeles, a devastated Clark Gable was informed of the crash, just as he was waiting for his wife to return home. He immediately chartered a plane to Las Vegas in order to help with the search, though once there, was ultimately stopped from going up the mountain by friends, who were concerned that he would find Carole’s body in a distressing state.
As the search crew gathered at the mountain base, it soon became apparent that this was not going to be an easy rescue. The terrain was so tough that the search was considered impossible until the following morning when daylight came and the crew could finally climb the mountain. Even then, the journey was intense and very few of the party made it up to the wreckage at first and reported that even when they did arrive, there was virtually nothing left of the aircraft at all. Debris had been thrown for 500 yards on every side, and had fallen 45 feet to the slopes below, with clothes and personal items settling on the ground, trees and bushes. To make things worse, the mountain was covered in snow – some of it waist deep – hampering the search.
Searchers reported that six bodies had been thrown from the wreckage while the others were either burned or mutilated inside the cabin. The only thing that made the knowledge of their deaths bearable was the fact that it would have been extremely unlikely that they knew anything about the crash at all. The plane had gone head first into the mountain in the dark and while the pilot probably knew at the last moment what was coming, everyone else would have likely been oblivious.
Finally, after much time and effort in the rugged mountain area, the body of Carole Lombard was found and brought back down to the land below. Gable was waiting at his hotel for news, which was broken to him by Don McElwaine from MGM, who had received a heart-breaking note from the searchers.
“Is it bad news?” asked the actor.
“I’m afraid it looks hopeless,” replied McElwaine, after which Gable was heard tearfully whispering, “Oh God,” and collapsed his head into his hands.
Still, as there had been only a tentative identification of the actress from a piece of uncharred hair and some scorched documents found near to her body, there was still some hope in Gable’s mind that Carole would be found alive. However, formal identification eventually came when dental records were flown from Hollywood to Las Vegas, and Gable was absolutely devastated.
Several days later, after the formal identification of Carole’s mother, the two bodies were taken home by Clark Gable and given a private and very simple funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. This had been Carole’s wish after seeing the huge spectacle of Jean Harlow’s funeral just a few years before. Everyone in Hollywood was devastated at the loss of the blonde star, and even President Roosevelt sent a telegram to Clark Gable, which was released to the worldwide press:
Mrs Roosevelt and I are deeply distressed . . . She brought great joy to all who knew her and to the millions who knew her only as a great artist. She gave unselfishly of her time and talent to serve her government in peace and war. She loved her country. She is and always will be a star, one we shall never forget nor cease to be grateful to.
Clark Gable never really recovered from the death of his wife, and very rarely spoke of her in the years after. The marriage may not have been the absolutely perfect one they had wanted it to be, but he had loved her dearly and had many regrets about her death. Gable sank into a deep depression for a long time after her death, and although he was by this time in his forties, he decide to sign up to the war effort, telling friends that he did not care if he ever came home again. He did eventually return, of course, though he was never quite the same again.
Although married twice more, when he died towards the end of 1960, Clark Gable was buried next to his beloved Carole, the woman he never forgot or stopped loving. As for the wreckage, much of it still sits in the mountains above Las Vegas, though ambitious explorers have taken most of the smaller items as morbid souvenirs. But the bigger parts of the aircraft – the engines and landing craft – are still there, where they will probably lie forever, a tragically sad reminder of what occurred one dark, winter’s night over seventy years ago.