Gable died in Los Angeles, California on November 16, 1960, the result of a fourth heart attack. There was much speculation that Gable’s physically demanding Misfits role, which required yanking on and being dragged by horses, contributed to his sudden death soon after filming was completed. In a widely reported quote, Gable’s wife Kay blamed it on stress caused by “the endless waiting… waiting (for Monroe)”. Monroe, on the other hand, claimed that she and Kay had become close during the filming and would refer to Clark as “Our Man”. Arthur Miller, observing Gable on location, noted that “no hint of affront ever showed on his face”. Monroe’s claim is supported by her being specifically invited by Kay to Gable’s funeral, where contemporary newsreels showed the two of them sitting together in the church.
Others have blamed Gable’s crash diet before filming began. The 6′1″ (185 cm) Gable weighed about 190 pounds (86 kg) at the time of Gone with the Wind, but by his late 50s, he weighed 230 pounds (104 kg). To get in shape for The Misfits, he dropped to 195 lbs (88 kg). For years, Gable’s hand would sometimes shake from the diet pills he would take to shed pounds before making a film, leading to rumors he had Parkinson’s disease. In addition, Gable was in poor health from years of heavy smoking (three packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day over thirty years, as well as cigars and at least two bowlfuls of pipe tobacco a day. He is still known for his pipe smoking and even has pipes named after him.) and drinking (he liked whiskey), and in the previous decade, had suffered two seizures which may have been heart attacks.
Gable is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, beside Carole Lombard.
Doris Day summed up Gable’s unique personality, “He was as masculine as any man I’ve ever known, and as much a little boy as a grown man could be–it was this combination that had such a devastating effect on women”.
