Clark Gable was a historical figure in Earth history. He was an actor in 20th century movies.
Edith Keeler mentioned him to both James Kirk and Leonard McCoy during their visit to Earth, in the year 1930, saying that one of his movies was playing at the Orpheum. Both men knew nothing of the actor, a fact Keeler considered extraordinary – and that inadvertently led to their reunion, and Keeler's death. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")
At the time Keeler mentioned Gable to Kirk, he was considered a bit player. It was not until 1932 that he performed a role that garnered him any significant recognition. This, however, might indicate a point where Star Trek history varied from our reality. Incidentally, the final shooting draft reflected this, with Richard Dix in place of Gable.
In an alternate 2374, when the USS Voyager was severely damaged by the Krenim, B'Elanna Torres wrongly assumed she had seen Gable starring in the 1955 movie To Catch a Thief twice, when in fact it had been Cary Grant. Harry Kim believed that this mistake came from the identical initials of the two, C.G. (VOY: "Year of Hell")
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 290, the birth and death years of Clark Gable were 1901 and 1960, respectively. He played romantic lead characters in films.
During his long film career, Gable worked together with a number of Star Trek performers and production staff members. Most notably, he starred in the 1958 film Run Silent, Run Deep directed by Star Trek: The Motion Picture director Robert Wise. Also, his best known film, 1939's Gone With the Wind was photographed by Ernest Haller and featured Phyllis Douglas. He further starred as Fletcher Christian in the 1935 film Mutiny on the Bounty, co-starring Ian Wolfe, and also of which the HMS Bounty was later mentioned in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
External links[]
- Clark Gable at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Clark Gable at Wikipedia
- Clark Gable at TriviaTribute.com