Carole Lombard

American actress, particularly noted for the zaniness of her performances. Onscreen from 1927, she became top box-office material by 1937. Lombard had an affair with Clark Gable for three years before their marriage on 29 March 1939.

A funny, natural, irreverent actress, she met Gable while making their only film together, "No Man of Her Own," 1932. She was briefly married to William Powell, 26 June 1931 to 16 August 1933 and had flings with such co-stars as Gary Cooper and George Raft. The studio tried to keep her affair with Gable a secret and the news did not surface until he was taken to trial for a paternity suit. She made a sensational defense witness on the stand by declaring that he was with her at the time of the alleged affair. During their marriage they spent most of their time at their ranch in the San Fernando Valley where they were hands-on ranchers, raising livestock, riding and shooting.

While on tour with the U.S. Defense, Lombard's plane crashed outside Las Vegas on 16 January 1942 about 7:30pm, the plane having taken off at 7:07pm. Gable was inconsolable, spending months in whiskey-soaked seclusion. Despite remarrying twice following her death, Gable chose to be interred beside Lombard when he died in 1960.