Clark Gable & Carole Lombard’s Secret Wedding That Shocked Hollywood

10th February 1939: US film actors Clark Gable(1901 - 1960) and Carole Lombard after their elopement. — Keystone/Getty Images

What To Know

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s romance began in earnest in 1936, culminating in a secret elopement.
The couple’s rumored honeymoon at the Oatman Hotel became a part of Hollywood legend.
Their marriage ended tragically when Lombard died in a 1942 plane crash.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s marriage on March 29, 1939, was shrouded in secrecy, and it has always carried a certain mystique, partly because of how unexpectedly it came together and how quickly it changed both of their lives. When Lombard and Gable first worked together on No Man of Her Own in 1932, there was no sign of romantic interest. Both were married, and Lombard later recalled that despite filming romantic scenes, she “never got any kind of tremble out of him at all.”

Their story really begins four years later, at a Hollywood party in 1936. This time, the chemistry was immediate, and by most accounts, undeniable. According to reports from the period, the two spent much of the evening together, even sharing a “close dance” before leaving the event, despite the complicated fact that Gable was still legally married. From that night forward, they were rarely apart, with one account noting that the longest they went without seeing each other was just six days.

NO MAN OF HER OWN, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, 1932

Everett Collection

Still, there was an obstacle standing between them and anything official. Gable’s divorce from Ria Langham dragged on until early 1939, finally resolved on March 7 after he secured enough income from Gone with the Wind to settle it. Just a few weeks later, on March 29, the two slipped away to Kingman, Arizona, and quietly eloped during a break in filming Gone With the Wind.

The pair were rumored to have honeymooned in Oatman, Arizona, at the Durlin Hotel, now known as the Oatman Motel. However, legend has it that it was all a ruse to escape the press as they drove back to Los Angeles that night. The hotel, built in 1902 in an old mining town and later becoming a stop on the famed Route 66, showcases the rumored honeymoon suite as an attraction to the museum, restaurant, and gift shop, which still operate today. It is also rumored to be haunted by both of their spirits. Gable loved playing poker there with the resident miners.

Clark Gable & Carole Lombard Honeymoon suite at the Oatman Hotel in Oatman, Arizona.

Credit: Karen Ruud, ReMIND Staff

Clark Gable & Carole Lombard Marriage Certicicate copy at the Oatman Hotel in Oatman, Arizona.

Credit: Karen Ruud, ReMIND Staff

The nature-loving couple settled on a ranch in Encino a year after their marriage, raising animals and leaning into a more grounded routine filled with lots of laughter, according to Country Living.

Sadly, at the same time, their relationship wasn’t without tension. Lombard struggled with infertility, seeking medical answers that never came, and there were persistent rumors about Gable’s fidelity. What is clear is that their bond, however complicated, remained deeply significant to both of them. In early 1942, Lombard left California on a war bond tour, throwing herself into the effort. After successfully raising millions in bonds, she boarded a return flight home, determined to get back to Gable. Sadly, that flight never made it home. On January 16, 1942, the plane crashed into Potosi Mountain in Nevada, killing everyone on board. Gable was devastated and reportedly never recovered from his grief.

Those who knew him said he was never the same afterward. He returned to work, continued acting, and lived many more years, but something had shifted forever. Lombard’s biographer would later write that she “died racing to get back to Gable: the man she loved but could not trust.” The marriage itself lasted less than three years, yet it remains one of the most enduring relationships in Hollywood history.