JOAN CRAWFORD & CLARK GABLE Inside Their Forbidden Love Affair

THEIR UNBRIDLED PASSION NEARLY RUINED THEIR CAREERS, BUT THEIR FRIENDSHIP LASTED A LIFETIME

- LOUISE A. BARILE

In the February 1932 issue of Modern Screen, Joan Crawford dismissed the rumors of her love affair with Clark Gable as just good acting. "I am supposed to be madly in love with a certain other actor in Hollywood," she said coyly. "Before the camera, we were in love. Now that the picture is over, we are merely good friends!"

Of course, she wasn't telling the truth. In the early 1930s, Joan and Clark did begin an affair so torrid and gossiped about that MGM Studios' brass stepped in and forced them apart. But even Hollywood's power brokers couldn't destroy their strong connection, which lasted nearly 30 years. Later in life, Joan even came to Clark's rescue just when he needed her most. "We had an affair - a glorious affair - and it lasted longer than anybody knows," Joan confessed in 1968.

The two legendary performers had a lot in common. Both had escaped humble backgrounds and dysfunctional families to become stars in the make-believe world of Hollywood. Gossip magazines breathlessly speculated about their private lives. Clark was said to have seduced all of his costars, while Joan was famed for using her allure to get what she wanted. "She has slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie," her nemesis, Bette Davis, once sniped. But Joan and Clark were both the marrying kind, too. She tallied up four husbands, while he was wed five times.