Air Force is a 1943 war film directed by Howard Hawks. It starred John Garfield, John Ridgely, Harry Carey, and Gig Young as crew members on a B-17 Flying Fortress named the Mary-Ann. An uncredited William Faulkner wrote the emotional deathbed scene for John Ridgely, the pilot of the bomber. Made in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, it was one of the first of the patriotic films of World War II, often characterized as a propaganda film.^{[N 1]}

Plot[link]

The film opens on December 6, 1941,^{[N 2]} at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, and follows the United States Army Air Corps B-17D bomber Mary-Ann and its crew from there.

Master Sergeant Robbie White (Harry Carey), the Mary-Ann's crew chief, is a long-time veteran in the Air Corps, whose son is an officer and pilot. The navigator, Lt. Monk Hauser Jr. (Charles Drake), is the son of a famed World War I aviation hero of the Lafayette Escadrille. The pilot is Michael Aloysius "Irish" Quincannon Sr. (John Ridgely), and the co-pilot is Bill Williams (Gig Young).

The crew also includes a disaffected gunner, Sergeant Winocki (John Garfield), who washed out of flight school at Randolph Field, Texas in 1938 as an aviation cadet after a mid-air collision in which another cadet was killed. Quincannon was the flight instructor who requested the board dismiss Winocki. Later, in the Philippines, Major Mallory recalls training Quincannon at Kelly Field, Texas. The navigator and bombardier also washed out of pilot training.

With the United States still at peace, the Mary-Ann and the rest of its squadron are ordered to fly without ammunition to Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. Before the bombers depart, Quincannon's wife arrives to give him a "good luck" gift, a toy pilot from their infant son, Michael Aloysius Quincannon, Jr. Young Private Chester asks Captain Quincannon to meet his worried mother and tell her it is a standard flight to Hawaii.

But, as it happens, Mary-Ann arrives right at the beginning of the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.^{[N 3]} In the aftermath, the beleaguered crew is taxed to the limit, as they are sent on with little rest first to Wake Island, then to Clark Field in the Philippines, with both locations under Japanese attack. (While en route, the crew listens to President Franklin D. Roosevelt ask Congress for a declaration of war.) They take along fighter pilot Lt. Thomas "Tex" Rader (James Brown) and a small dog from the Marines on Wake named Tripoli.

When they arrive in the Philippines, White receives the news that his son was killed on the first day trying to lead his squadron into the air. Quincannon has to give Robbie his son's effects. Soon after, Quincannon volunteers for a one-aircraft mission against a Japanese invasion fleet, but the Mary-Ann is attacked by enemy fighters and forced to abort. After the wounded Quincannon orders his men to bail out of the stricken bomber, he blacks out. Winocki checks up on him and manages to guide the bomber in for a belly landing. Having told the dying Quincannon Mary-Ann is ready to fly, the crew work feverishly through the night repairing the bomber, as the Japanese close in. Private Chester volunteers to fly as a gunner in a two-seat fighter aircraft. When the pilot is killed, Chester bails out of the fighter and is killed in his parachute by a Japanese fighter pilot. Winocki and White shoot down the Japanese aircraft. After the Japanese pilot emerges from his burning aircraft, an angry Winocki kills the pilot for murdering the defenseless Chester. The crew manages to finish repairs on the "Mary Ann" with the help of marines and other soldiers and the ship takes off just before the airfield is overrun.

As the Mary-Ann heads for the safety of Australia, with Tex as a reluctant bomber pilot and a wounded Williams as co-pilot, they spot a powerful Japanese fleet below. The crew radios the information to all nearby airbases and aircraft carriers, then lead the attack when reinforcements arrive. ^{[N 4]} As a mission against Tokyo is announced and the aircraft take off, President Roosevelt is heard giving a patriotic speech.

Cast[link]

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):^[2]

Production[link]

Director Howard Hawks credited the concept of the film to Lt. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, based on the experiences of a flight of B-17s that left Hamilton Field, California, on the night of December 6, 1941, and literally flew into the war the next morning at Pearl Harbor. Executive producer Jack Warner was adamant that the film be ready for release by December 7, 1942, the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. To that end, miniatures for battle sequences were filmed in May and June 1942, before completion of the script and storyline.^[1]

Although pre-production work had already taken place, the official start of the production on May 18, 1942 was tied to the War Department approving the script.^[1] Development of the film was concurrent with script-writing by Dudley Nichols, with some characters based on Air Corps personnel Hawks met while traveling to Washington, D.C. to confer with Arnold and the War Department Motion Picture Board of Review.^[1] Nichols's script, submitted June 15, was 207 pages in length (twice that of the normal feature-length film), had its initial 55 pages devoted to "character development," and was not finished.^[3]

Principal photography consisting of aerial shots and exteriors took place at Drew Army Air Field, Florida, MacDill Field, Florida; Randolph Field, Texas; and Santa Monica Bay, California, the latter for water scenes and miniatures.^[4] Shooting began June 18, 1942, using a rented mock-up of a B-17 interior, in which the 10 principal characters performed for a month. The company then moved by train to Drew Army Air Field, Florida, at the end of July, to spend the next month shooting aerial sequences coordinated by Paul Mantz, chief pilot and aerial technical coordinator ^{[N 5]} for the production.^[5] Drew was selected because of fears that use of aircraft marked as Japanese might cause panic on the West Coast.^[6]

At the end of August, Hawks returned to Hollywood and engaged William Faulkner to rewrite two scenes, including the death of the Mary-Ann's pilot. By then, the film, scheduled to be completed by September 17, was three weeks behind schedule and only half completed. Production featured a celebrated clash between producer Hall Wallis and Hawks over the latter's constant changing of dialogue as scenes were shot. Hawks was briefly replaced on October 4 by Vincent Sherman, but returned from "illness" on October 10 to take back primary direction. Sherman remained as second unit director to assist with completion of the picture, which wrapped on October 26, 1942, failing to shoot 43 pages of script and 33 days over schedule, too late to meet its December 7 release date.^[1][7]

Wallis wrote that AAF Captains Sam P. Triffy and Hewett T. Wheless were technical advisors to the film, and that Triffy in particular made significant contributions to storyline, dialogue and sets.^[8] "Shorty" Wheless had previously been a B-17 aircraft commander in the Philippines with the 19th Bomb Group and had been one of the survivors evacuated to Australia in December 1941. He was at Randolph Field, Texas, in the process of appearing as himself in the Academy Award-winning short film Beyond the Line of Duty when he assisted on Air Force.^{[N 6]}

Aircraft[link]

The US Army Air Forces provided the aircraft that appear in the film:

• Ten Boeing B-17B/C/D Flying Fortresses from Hendricks Field at Sebring, Florida, the majority of which had been B-17Bs upgraded to B-17C standards, as was the "star" of the film. The serial number 05564 is shown on the film credits for the Mary Ann.
• North American AT-6 Texans and Republic P-43 Lancers painted as Japanese fighters, and Bell P-39 Airacobras and Curtiss P-40 WarhawkCs from Drew Field.
• Six Martin B-26C Marauders from MacDill Field, painted as Japanese bombers.^[9]

The actual Mary-Ann was reported "lost in the Pacific" shortly after the production wrapped, according to information attributed to the production's technical advisor, but in actuality none of the early model Fortresses served in combat with the AAF. Another claim, attributed to a newspaper article, was that "the real Mary Ann" went on tour to promote the film, then was assigned first to Hobbs Army Air Field, New Mexico, then to Amarillo Army Air Field, where it was assigned to a ground school. Two B-17B aircraft most likely to have played the part of Mary Ann, army serial numbers 38-584 and 39-10, were reclassified as instructional airframes in late 1943, and scrapped in January 1946. ^{[N 7][10]}

Historical accuracy[link]

The basic premise of the film, that a flight of B-17s flying to reinforce the defense of the Philippines flies into the attack on Pearl Harbor, reflects actual events. From that point on, however, all of the incidents are fictitious. No B-17 reinforcements reached the Philippines, the survivors of those already based there retreated to Australia less than two weeks after the war began, and the major mission depicted at the film's climax most closely resembles the Battle of the Coral Sea five months later. Miniature shooting for its battle scenes was filmed in May and June 1942, concurrent but probably coincidental with Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.

Anti-Japanese propaganda in the film included scenes in which the crew is forced to land on Maui Island and is shot at by "local Japanese," and the assertion by the Hickam Field commander that vegetable trucks knocked off the tails of parked Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters as the attack began. As detailed in Walter Lord's book, Day of Infamy, later investigations proved no Japanese-American was involved in any sabotage during the Pearl Harbor attack.

Reception[link]

Critical acclaim followed the film's premiere as it echoed some of the emotional issues that underlied the American public psyche at the time including fears of Japanese Americans. In naming it one of the "Ten Best Films of 1943," Bosley Crowther of the The New York Times characterized the film as "...continuously fascinating, frequently thrilling and occasionally exalting..."^[11] When seen in a modern perspective, the emotional aspects of the film seem out-of-proportion and although it has been wrongly dismissed as a piece of wartime propaganda, it still represents a classic war film that can be considered a historical document.^[12]

Later reviews noted that this was a prime example of Howard Hawk's abilities; "Air Force is a model of fresh, energetic, studio-era filmmaking."^[13]

The film placed third (behind The Ox-Bow Incident and Watch on the Rhine) as the best film of 1943 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

When initially released, Air Force was one of the top three films in commercial revenue in 1943.

Awards[link]

Air Force editor George Amy won an Oscar in the 1944 Academy Awards in the category of Best Film Editing, defeating Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Five Graves to Cairo, and The Song of Bernadette. The film was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Effects, Special Effects and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Elmer Dyer, James Wong Howe and Charles Marshall were nominated for an Academy Award in the Cinematography - Black and White division.

References[link]

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links[link]

• Air Force at the Internet Movie Database
• Air Force at the TCM Movie Database
• Air Force at AllRovi

Clark Gable
Studio publicity photo
Born	William Clark Gable (1901-02-01)February 1, 1901 Cadiz, Ohio
Died	November 16, 1960(1960-11-16) (aged 59) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1923–1960
Spouse	Josephine Dillon (m.1924–1930; divorced) Maria "Ria" Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham (m.1931–1939; divorced) Carole Lombard (m.1939–1942; her death) Sylvia Ashley (m.1949–1952; divorced) Kay Williams (m.1955–1960; his death)
Children	Judy Lewis, John Gable
Signature

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960), known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh. His performance earned him his third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor; he won for It Happened One Night (1934) and was also nominated for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). Later movies included Run Silent, Run Deep, a submarine war film, and his final film, The Misfits (1961), which paired Gable with Marilyn Monroe, also in her last screen appearance. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time.^[1] He was nicknamed 'The King of Hollywood.'

Gable appeared opposite some of the most popular actresses of the time. Joan Crawford, who was his favorite actress to work with,^[2] was partnered with Gable in eight films, Myrna Loy worked with him seven times, and he was paired with Jean Harlow in six productions. He also starred with Lana Turner in four features, and with Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner in three each. In the mid-1930s, Gable was often named the top male movie star, and second only to the top box-office draw of all, Shirley Temple.

Life and career[link]

Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio to William Henry "Will" Gable, an oil-well driller,^[2][3] and Adeline (née Hershelman). He was named "William" after his father. In childhood he was almost always called "Clark"; some friends called him "Clarkie", "Billy", or "Gabe".^[4] He was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. Gable's ancestry included Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Bavarian.^[5][6][7] When he was six months old, his ill mother had him baptized Catholic. She died when he was ten months old,^{[citation needed]} possibly from a brain tumor. Following her death, Gable's father's family refused to raise him as a Catholic, provoking enmity with his mother's side of the family. The dispute was resolved when his father's family agreed to allow Gable to spend time with his uncle, Charles Hershelman, and his wife on their farm in Vernon, Pennsylvania.

In April 1903, Gable's father married Jennie Dunlap, whose family came from the small neighboring town of Hopedale. Gable was a tall, shy child with a loud voice. After his father purchased some land and built a house, the new family settled in. Jennie played the piano and gave her stepson lessons at home; later he took up brass instruments. She raised Gable to be well-dressed and well-groomed; he stood out from the other kids. Gable was very mechanically inclined and loved to strip down and repair cars with his father. At thirteen, he was the only boy in the men's town band. Even though his father insisted on Gable doing "manly" things, like hunting and hard physical work, Gable loved language. Among trusted company, he would recite Shakespeare, particularly the sonnets. Will Gable did agree to buy a seventy-two volume set of The World's Greatest Literature to improve his son's education, but claimed he never saw his son use it.^[8] In 1917, when Gable was in high school, his father had financial difficulties. Will decided to settle his debts and try his hand at farming and the family moved to Ravenna, just outside of Akron. Gable had trouble settling down in the area. Despite his father's insistence that he work the farm, Gable soon left to work in Akron's B.F. Goodrich tire factory.^{[citation needed]}

At seventeen, Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise, but he was not able to make a real start until he turned 21 and inherited some money. By then, his stepmother Jennie had died and his father moved to Tulsa to go back to the oil business. He toured in stock companies as well as working the oil fields and as a horse manager. Gable found work with several second-class theater companies and thus made his way across the Midwest to Portland, Oregon, where he then took work as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store. While there, he met Laura Hope Crews, a stage and film actress, who encouraged him to return to the stage and into another theater company. Many years later, Crews would play "Aunt Pittypat" in Gable's most famous film, Gone With the Wind (1939). His acting coach was a theater manager in Portland named Josephine Dillon, who was 17 years his senior. She paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body, and taught him better body control and posture. She spent considerable time training his naturally high-pitched voice, which Gable slowly managed to lower, and to gain better resonance and tone. As his speech habits improved, Gable's facial expressions became more natural and convincing. After the long period of rigorous training, Dillon eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career.^[9]

Stage and silent films[link]

In 1924, with Dillon's financial aid, the two went to Hollywood, where she became his manager—and first wife. He changed his stage name from W. C. Gable to Clark Gable.^[10] He found work as an extra in such silent films as Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow (1925), The Plastic Age (1925), which starred Clara Bow, Forbidden Paradise (1924) starring Pola Negri, plus a series of two-reel comedies called The Pacemakers. By coincidence he appeared as an extra in Fox's The Johnstown Flood(1926) and also appearing as an extra in the film was 17 year old Carole Lombard but they were not in the same scene and Lombard was little more than a teenager. Gable also appeared as a bit player in a series of shorts. However, he was not offered any major roles and so he returned to the stage. He became lifelong friends with Lionel Barrymore, who in spite of his bawling Gable out for amateurish acting initially, urged Gable to pursue a career on stage.^[11] During the 1927–28 theater season, Gable acted with the Laskin Brothers Stock Company in Houston, where he played many roles, gained considerable experience and became a local matinee idol. Gable then moved to New York and Dillon sought work for him on Broadway. He received good reviews in Machinal; "He's young, vigorous and brutally masculine", wrote the critic at the Morning Telegraph.^[12] The start of the Great Depression and the beginning of talking pictures caused a cancellation of many plays in the 1929–30 season and acting work became harder to get.

Early successes[link]

In 1930, after his impressive appearance as the seething and desperate character Killer Mears in the Los Angeles stage production of The Last Mile, Gable was offered a contract with MGM. His first role in a sound picture was as the unshaven villain in a low-budget William Boyd western called The Painted Desert (1931). He received a lot of fan mail as a result of his powerful voice and appearance; the studio took notice. (Robert Mitchum had an identical experience when he played an unshaven villain in a Boyd cowboy film a decade later).

In 1930, Gable and Josephine Dillon were divorced. A few days later, he married Texas socialite Maria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham, nicknamed "Ria". After moving to California, they were married again in 1931, possibly due to differences in state legal requirements.

With Jean Harlow in The Secret Six

"His ears are too big and he looks like an ape", said Warner Bros. executive Darryl F. Zanuck about Clark Gable after testing him for the lead in Warner's gangster drama Little Caesar (1931).^[13] The same year, in Night Nurse, Gable played a villainous chauffeur who was gradually starving two adorable little girls to death, then knocked Barbara Stanwyck's character unconscious with his fist, a supporting role originally slated for James Cagney until the release of The Public Enemy abruptly made Cagney a leading man. After several failed screen tests for Barrymore and Zanuck, Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. He became a client of well-connected agent Minna Wallis, sister of producer Hal Wallis and very close friend of Norma Shearer. Gable's timing in arriving in Hollywood was excellent, as MGM was looking to expand its stable of male stars and he fit the bill. Gable first worked mainly in supporting roles, often as the villain. He made two pictures in 1931 with Wallace Beery, a minor role in The Secret Six, then with his part increasing in size to almost match Beery's in the naval aviation film Hell Divers. MGM's publicity manager Howard Strickland developed Gable's studio image, playing up his he-man experiences and his 'lumberjack in evening clothes' persona.^{[citation needed]}

To bolster his rocketing popularity, MGM frequently paired him with well-established female stars. Joan Crawford asked for him as her co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931). He built his fame and public visibility in such movies as A Free Soul (1931), in which he played a gangster who shoved the character played by Norma Shearer (Gable never played a supporting role again). The Hollywood Reporter wrote "A star in the making has been made, one that, to our reckoning, will outdraw every other star... Never have we seen audiences work themselves into such enthusiasm as when Clark Gable walks on the screen".^[14] He followed that with Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931) with Greta Garbo, and Possessed (1931), in which he and Crawford (then married to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) steamed up the screen. Adela Rogers St. John later dubbed Gable and Crawford's real-life relationship as "the affair that nearly burned Hollywood down".^[15] Louis B. Mayer threatened to terminate both their contracts, and for a while they kept apart. Gable shifted his attentions to Marion Davies. On the other hand, Gable and Garbo disliked each other. She thought he was a wooden actor while he considered her a snob.

Rising star[link]

with Mary Astor in Red Dust (1932)

Gable was considered for the role of Tarzan but lost out to Johnny Weissmuller's better physique and superior swimming prowess. However Gable's unshaven lovemaking with braless Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) soon made him MGM's most important male star. After the hit Hold Your Man (1933), MGM recognized the goldmine of the Gable-Harlow pairing, putting them in two more films, China Seas (1935; with Gable and Harlow billed above Wallace Beery) and Wife vs. Secretary (1936). An enormously popular combination, on-screen and off-screen, Gable and Jean Harlow made six films together, the most notable being Red Dust (1932) and Saratoga (1937). Harlow died during production of Saratoga. Ninety percent completed, the remaining scenes were filmed with long shots or the use of doubles like Mary Dees; Gable would say that he felt as if he was "in the arms of a ghost".^[16]

According to legend, Gable was lent to Columbia Pictures, then considered a second-rate operation, as punishment for refusing roles; however, this has been refuted by more recent biographies. MGM did not have a project ready for Gable and was paying him $2000 per week, under his contract, to do nothing. Studio head Louis B. Mayer lent him to Columbia for $2500 per week, making a $500 per week profit.^[4]

Gable was not the first choice to play the lead role of Peter Warne in It Happened One Night (1934). Robert Montgomery was originally offered the role, but he felt that the script was poor.^[17] Filming began in a tense atmosphere,^[4] but both Gable and Frank Capra enjoyed making the movie, although Colbert reportedly did not. Gable and Colbert won the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Actress for their performances in the film and the movie itself won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He returned to MGM a bigger star than ever.^[18]

As Fletcher Christian in the trailer for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

The unpublished memoirs of animator Friz Freleng mention that this was one of his favorite films. It has been claimed that it helped inspire the cartoon character Bugs Bunny. Four things in the film may have coalesced to create Bugs: the personality of a minor character, Oscar Shapely and his penchant for referring to Gable's character as "Doc", an imaginary character named "Bugs Dooley" that Gable's character uses to frighten Shapely, and most of all, a scene in which Clark Gable eats carrots while talking quickly with his mouth full, as Bugs does.^[19]

Gable also earned an Academy Award nomination when he portrayed Fletcher Christian in 1935's Mutiny on the Bounty.

[edit] Gone with the Wind

Despite his reluctance to play the role, Gable is best known for his performance in Gone with the Wind (1939), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Carole Lombard may have been the first to suggest that he play Rhett Butler (and she play Scarlett) when she bought him a copy of the bestseller, which he refused to read.^[20]

As Rhett Butler in the trailer for Gone with the Wind (1939)

Butler's last line in Gone with the Wind, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", is one of the most famous lines in movie industry history.^[21]

Gable was an almost immediate favorite for the role of Rhett with both the public and producer David O. Selznick. But since Selznick had no male stars under long-term contracts, he needed to go through the process of negotiating to borrow an actor from another studio. Gary Cooper was Selznick's first choice.^[22] When Cooper turned down the role of Butler, he was quoted as saying, "Gone With the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it'll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me."^[23] By then, Selznick had become determined to hire Gable, and set about finding a way to borrow him from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Gable was wary of potentially disappointing an audience that had decided that no one else could play the part. He later conceded, "I think I know now how a fly must react after being caught in a spider's web."^[24] Gone with the Wind was Gable's first Technicolor film. Also appearing in Gone with The Wind in the role of "Aunt Pittypat" was Laura Hope Crews who had coaxed Gable back into the theater from Portland.

By all accounts, Gable got along well with his co-stars during filming.^[25] Gable was great friends with actress Hattie McDaniel, and he even slipped her a real alcoholic drink during the scene they were supposed to be celebrating the birth of Scarlett and Rhett's daughter. Gable tried to boycott the premier of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, Georgia, because the African-American McDaniel was not permitted to attend. He reportedly only went after she pleaded with him to go. Gable remained friends with McDaniel, and he always attended her Hollywood parties, especially when she was raising funds during World War II.^{[citation needed]}

Gable did not want to shed tears for the scene after Bonnie's death. Olivia de Havilland made him cry, later commenting, "... Oh, he would not do it. He would not! Victor (Fleming) tried everything with him. He tried to attack him on a professional level. We had done it without him weeping several times and then we had one last try. I said, "You can do it, I know you can do it and you will be wonderful ..." Well, by heaven, just before the cameras rolled, you could see the tears come up at his eyes and he played the scene unforgettably well. He put his whole heart into it."^[26]

Decades later, Gable said that whenever his career would start to fade, a re-release of Gone with the Wind would soon revive his popularity, and he continued as a top leading actor for the rest of his life. Thanks in part to MGM's dominance in balloting, Gable was the lead actor in three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture between 1934 and 1939. Only Dustin Hoffman has subsequently enjoyed a similar trifecta. Gone with the Wind was given theatrical re-releases in 1947, 1954, 1961, 1967 (in a widescreen version),^[27] 1971, 1989, and 1998.

Marriage to Carole Lombard[link]

With Carole Lombard after their honeymoon, 1939

Gable's marriage in 1939 to his third wife, actress Carole Lombard (1908–1942), was the happiest period of his personal life. As an independent actress, her annual income exceeded his studio salary until Gone with the Wind brought them to rough parity.^[28] From their marriage, she gained personal stability that she had lacked, and he thrived being around her with her youthful, charming, and frank personality. Lombard went hunting and fishing with Gable, and he became more sociable around her. Most of the time, she tolerated his philandering ways. He one or more times stated, "You can trust that little screwball with your life or your hopes or your weaknesses, and she wouldn't even know how to think about letting you down."^[29] The Gables purchased a ranch at Encino, California, and once Gable had become accustomed to Lombard's often blunt way of expressing herself, they found that they had much in common, despite Gable being a conservative Republican and Lombard a liberal Democrat. Their efforts to have a baby were unsuccessful. Lombard got pregnant once in 1940, but she suffered a miscarriage.

On January 16, 1942, Lombard was a passenger on Trans-World Airlines Flight 3. She had just finished her 57th movie, To Be or Not to Be, and was on her way home from a successful war bond selling tour when the flight's DC-3 airliner crashed into a mountain near Las Vegas, Nevada, killing all aboard, including Lombard, her mother, and her MGM staff publicist Otto Winkler (who had been the best man at Gable's wedding to Lombard). Gable flew to the crash site, and he saw the forest fire that had been ignited by the burning airliner. Lombard was declared to be the first war-related American female casualty of World War II, and Gable received a personal condolence note from President Roosevelt. The Civil Aeronautics Board investigation into the crash concluded that "pilot error" was its cause.^[30]

Gable returned to his and Lombard's empty house, and a month later, he returned to the studio to work with Lana Turner in the movie, Somewhere I'll Find You. Gable was devastated by the tragic death of his wife for many months afterwards, and he began to drink heavily, but carried out his performances professionally on the movie sets. Gable was seen to break down for the first time in public when Lombard's funeral request note was given to him. He resided for the rest of his life at the home in Encino which he and Lombard had purchased. He acted in twenty-seven more movies, and re-married two more times. "But he was never the same", said Esther Williams. "His heart sank a bit."^[31]

World War II[link]

Clark Gable with 8th AF B-17 in Britain, 1943

For details of Gable's combat missions, see RAF Polebrook

In 1942, following Lombard's death, Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Lombard had suggested that Gable enlist as part of the war effort, but MGM was reluctant to let him go, and he resisted the suggestion. Gable made a public statement after Lombard's death that prompted Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Henry H. Arnold to offer Gable a "special assignment" in aerial gunnery. Gable had earlier expressed an interest in officer candidate school (OCS), but he enlisted on August 12, 1942, with the intention of becoming an enlisted gunner on an air crew. MGM arranged for his studio friend, cinematographer Andrew McIntyre, to enlist with and accompany him through training.^[32]

However, shortly after his enlistment, he and McIntyre were sent to Miami Beach, Florida, where they entered USAAF OCS Class 42-E on August 17, 1942. Both completed training on October 28, 1942, commissioned as second lieutenants. His class of 2,600 fellow students (of which he ranked 700th in class standing) selected Gable as their graduation speaker, at which General Arnold presented them their commissions. Arnold then informed Gable of his special assignment: to make a recruiting film in combat with the Eighth Air Force to recruit gunners. Gable and McIntyre were immediately sent to Flexible Gunnery School at Tyndall Field, Florida, followed by a photography course at Fort George Wright, Washington and promoted to first lieutenants upon completion.^[32]

Gable reported to Biggs Army Air Base on January 27, 1943, to train with and accompany the 351st Bomb Group to England as head of a six-man motion picture unit. In addition to McIntyre, he recruited screenwriter John Lee Mahin; camera operators Sgts. Mario Toti and Robert Boles; and sound man Lt.Howard Voss to complete his crew. Gable was promoted to captain while with the 351st at Pueblo AAB, Colorado, for rank commensurate with his position as a unit commander. (As first lieutenants, he and McIntyre had equal seniority.)^[32]

With James Stewart

Gable spent most of the war in the United Kingdom at RAF Polebrook with the 351st. Gable flew five combat missions, including one to Germany, as an observer-gunner in B-17 Flying Fortresses between May 4 and September 23, 1943, earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts. During one of the missions, Gable's aircraft was damaged by flak and attacked by fighters, which knocked out one of the engines and shot up the stabilizer. In the raid on Germany, one crewman was killed and two others were wounded, and flak went through Gable's boot and narrowly missed his head. When word of this reached MGM, studio executives began to badger the U.S. Army Air Corps to reassign their most valuable screen property to non-combat duty. In November 1943, he returned to the United States to edit the film, only to find that the personnel shortage of aerial gunners had already been rectified. He was allowed to complete the film anyway, joining the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Hollywood.

In May 1944, Gable was promoted to major. He hoped for another combat assignment but, when D-Day came and passed in June without further orders, he requested and was granted a discharge. His discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan, Hollywood actor and eventual President of the United States. Gable completed editing of the film, Combat America, in September 1944, providing the narration himself and making use of numerous interviews with enlisted gunners as focus of the film.^[32]

Adolf Hitler favored Gable above all other actors; during the Second World War, Hitler offered a sizable reward to anyone who could capture and bring Gable to him unscathed.^[33]

After World War II[link]

Immediately after his discharge from the service, Gable returned to his ranch and rested. He resumed a pre-war relationship with Virginia Grey and dated other starlets. He introduced his golf caddie Robert Wagner to MGM casting. Gable's first movie after World War II was the 1945 production of Adventure, with his ill-matched co-star Greer Garson. It was a critical and commercial failure despite the famous teaser tagline "Gable's back and Garson's got him". After this film, Gable's career as a top star in Hollywood was damaged.

With Ava Gardner in The Hucksters (1947): Gardner and Gable made three films together with Lone Star and Mogambo.

After Joan Crawford's third divorce, she and Gable resumed their affair and lived together for a brief time. Gable was acclaimed for his performance in The Hucksters (1947), a satire of post-war Madison Avenue corruption and immorality. A very public and brief romance with Paulette Goddard occurred after that. In 1949, Gable married Sylvia Ashley, a British divorcée and the widow of Douglas Fairbanks. The relationship was profoundly unsuccessful; they divorced in 1952. Soon followed Never Let Me Go (1953), opposite Gene Tierney. Tierney was a favorite of Gable and he was very disappointed when she was replaced in Mogambo (due to her mental health problems) by Grace Kelly.^[34] Mogambo (1953), directed by John Ford, was a Technicolor but somewhat sanitized remake of his earlier Pre-Code film Red Dust with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor, which had been a greater success. Gable's on-location affair with Grace Kelly (1929–1982), who was young enough to be his daughter, gradually ended after filming was completed.

Gable became increasingly unhappy with what he considered mediocre roles offered him by MGM, while the studio regarded his salary as excessive. Studio head Louis B. Mayer was fired in 1951 amid slumping Hollywood production and revenue, due primarily to the rising popularity of television. Studio chiefs struggled to cut costs. Many MGM stars were fired or not renewed, including Greer Garson and Judy Garland. In 1953, Gable refused to renew his contract, and began to work independently. His first two films were Soldier of Fortune and The Tall Men, both profitable although only modest successes. In 1955, Gable married his fifth wife, Kay Spreckels (née Kathleen Williams), a thrice-married former fashion model and actress who had previously been married to sugar-refining heir Adolph B. Spreckels Jr.

With Grace Kelly in Mogambo (1953)

In 1955, Gable formed a production company with Jane Russell and her husband Bob Waterfield, and they produced The King and Four Queens, Gable's one and only production. He found producing and acting to be too taxing on his health, and he was beginning to manifest a noticeable tremor, particularly in long takes. His next project was Band of Angels, with relative newcomer Sidney Poitier and Yvonne De Carlo; it was a total disaster. Newsweek said, "Here is a movie so bad that it must be seen to be disbelieved."^[35] Next he paired with Doris Day in Teacher's Pet, shot in black and white to better hide his aging face and overweight body. The film was good enough to bring Gable more movie offers, including Run Silent, Run Deep, with co-star and producer Burt Lancaster, which featured his first on-screen death since 1937, and which garnered good reviews. Gable started to receive television offers but rejected them outright. At 57, Gable finally acknowledged, "Now it's time I acted my age".^[36] His next two films were light comedies for Paramount: But Not for Me with Carroll Baker and It Started in Naples with Sophia Loren (his last film in color). The last one, despite an icy critical reception, was a good box office success and was nominated for an Academy award and two Golden Globes.

Gable's last film was The Misfits, written by Arthur Miller, directed by John Huston, and co-starring Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Thelma Ritter. This was also the final film completed by Monroe. Many critics regard Gable's performance to be his finest, and Gable, after seeing the rough cuts, agreed.^[37]

Politics[link]

Gable was politically conservative, though he never publicly spoke about politics. His third wife, Carole Lombard, was an activist liberal Democrat, and she cajoled him into supporting Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. In 1944, he became an early member of the conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, alongside Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and other conservative actors and filmmakers. In February 1952, he attended a televised rally in New York where he enthusiastically urged General Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for President. This was when Eisenhower was still being sought by both parties as their candidate. Despite having suffered a severe coronary thrombosis, Gable still managed to vote by mail in the 1960 presidential election.

Children[link]

Gable had a daughter, Judy, the result of an affair with actress Loretta Young that began on the set of The Call of the Wild in 1934. In an elaborate scheme, Young took an extended vacation and went to Europe to hide the fact that she was pregnant. After a few months, she came back and gave birth to their child in Venice, California. Someone sent Gable, who had spent much of the pregnancy out of the country, but was in New York City, an unsigned telegram that said "the baby was born, she is beautiful, and has blonde hair." Young and her mother both denied sending the telegram, but Loretta believed that Carter Hermann (her sister Polly's husband who was also Judy's godfather) sent it.^[38]

Nineteen months after the birth, Young claimed to have adopted Judy. The child grew up to look almost exactly like Gable, including having large ears that stuck out like Gable's. She went by the name Judy Lewis after Young married Tom Lewis when Judy was four years old. According to Lewis, Gable visited her home once, when she was fifteen, asked about her life, and kissed her on her forehead upon leaving. He did not tell her that he was her biological father. Neither Gable nor Young would ever publicly acknowledge their daughter's real parentage, but many people in Hollywood and the public believed Gable was her father because of the very strong resemblance and timing of her birth. This belief was so widely known that, in Lewis' autobiography Uncommon Knowledge, she wrote that she was shocked to hear rumors of it from other children at school.

Lewis finally confronted her mother about her true parentage when she was thirty-one years old, and Gable had been dead for five years. Loretta promptly threw up and confirmed that she was her biological mother and Gable was her father. Young never officially acknowledged the fact while she was alive to the public, which she said would be the same as admitting to a "venial sin". However, Young finally gave her biographer permission to include it only on the condition that the book not be published until after her death. She died on August 12, 2000, at the age of 87 of ovarian cancer. Judy Lewis, Gable's only child while he was alive, died on November 25, 2011, of cancer.

On March 20, 1961, Kay Williams (Gable) gave birth to Gable's only son, John Clark Gable, four months after Gable's death of a heart attack at age 59. There are widespread but unconfirmed rumors that Gable was also the unacknowledged biological father of David Janssen.^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Gable died at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles on November 16, 1960, from a coronary thrombosis ten days after suffering a severe heart attack at age 59. There was much speculation that Gable's physically demanding role in The Misfits contributed to his sudden death soon after filming was completed. In an interview with Louella Parsons, published soon after Gable's death, Kay Gable was quoted as saying "It wasn't the physical exertion that killed him. It was the horrible tension, the eternal waiting, waiting, waiting. He waited around forever, for everybody. He'd get so angry that he'd just go ahead and do anything to keep occupied."^[39] Monroe said that she and Kay had become close during the filming and would refer to Clark as "Our Man",^[2] while Arthur Miller, observing Gable on location, noted that "no hint of affront ever showed on his face".^[37] Others have blamed Gable's crash diet before filming began. The 6'1" (185 cm) Gable weighed about 190 pounds (86.2 kg) at the time of Gone with the Wind, but by his late 50s, he weighed 230 pounds (104.3 kg). To get in shape for The Misfits, he dropped to 195 lbs (88 kg). In addition, Gable was in poor health from years of heavy smoking (he smoked as many as three packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day over 30 years, as well as a few cigars and typically at least two bowlfuls of pipe tobacco a day) and periodically taking amphetamines to lose weight, which gave him head tremors.^{[citation needed]}

Gable is interred in The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California beside his wife, Carole Lombard.

Quotes about Gable[link]

Gable in 1947

In a photo essay of Hollywood film stars, Life Magazine called Gable, "All man... and then some."

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."^[40]

Longtime friend, eight time co-star and on-again, off-again romance Joan Crawford concurred, stating on David Frost's TV show in 1970 that "he was a king wherever he went. He walked like one, he behaved like one, and he was the most masculine man that I have ever met in my life."

Robert Taylor said Gable "was a great, great guy and certainly one of the great stars of all times, if not the greatest. I think that I sincerely doubt that there will ever be another like Clark Gable; he was one of a kind."^[41]

Filmography[link]

Gable is known to have appeared as an extra in 13 films between 1924 and 1930. He then appeared in a total of 67 theatrically released motion pictures, as himself in 17 "short subject" films, and he narrated and appeared in a World War II propaganda film entitled Combat America, produced by the United States Army Air Forces.

In popular culture[link]

Warner Bros. cartoons sometimes caricatured Gable. Examples include Have You Got Any Castles? (in which his face appears seven times from inside the novel The House of the Seven Gables), The Coo-Coo Nut Grove (in which his ears flap on their own), Hollywood Steps Out (in which he follows an enigmatic woman), and Cats Don't Dance in which he appears on a billboard promotion for Gone With The Wind.

In the film Broadway Melody of 1938, Judy Garland (aged 15) sings "You Made Me Love You" while looking at a composite picture of Gable. The opening lines are: "Dear Mr. Gable, I am writing this to you, and I hope that you will read it so you'll know, my heart beats like a hammer, and I stutter and I stammer, every time I see you at the picture show, I guess I'm just another fan of yours, and I thought I'd write and tell you so. You made me love you, I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it..."

Bugs Bunny's nonchalant carrot-chewing standing position, as explained by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Bob Clampett, originated in a scene in the film It Happened One Night, in which Clark Gable's character leans against a fence, eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full to Claudette Colbert's character. This scene was well known while the film was popular, and viewers at the time likely recognized Bugs Bunny's behavior as satire.

In the classic 1967 Star Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever", Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) takes Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) to see a Clark Gable movie, although the episode is set in 1930, when Gable was not an A-list star yet.

The Postal Service's album Give Up (2003) features a track entitled "Clark Gable".

In the song Prince of Darkness, Big Daddy Kane uses the lyric "You'll be Gone With the Wind for messin' with Dark Gable."^[42]

rap artist Slick Rick makes reference to himself frequently as "the black clark gable of the rap game"

Portrayals[link]

• James Brolin in Gable and Lombard (1976)
• Gene Daily in The Rocketeer (1991)
• Bruce Hughes and Shayne Greenman in Blonde (2001)
• Charles Unwin in Lucy (2003)
• Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980)
• Edward Winter in Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980)
• Boyd Holister in Grace Kelly (1983)
• Gary Wayne in Malice in Wonderland (1985)

Bibliography[link]

• Harris, Warren G. (2002). Clark Gable: A Biography. New York: Harmony. ISBN 0-609-60495-3.
• Lewis, Judy. Uncommon Knowledge (book by Gable's daughter with Loretta Young). (Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster 1994), ISBN 0-671-70019-7
• Spicer, Chrystopher (2002). Clark Gable: Biography, Filmography, Bibliography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1124-4.
• Clark Gable in the 8th Air Force, Air Power History, Spring 1999
• Garceu,Jean.(1961) "Dear Mr.G-" (Four square/The new English library Ltd Barnard's INN London)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clark Gable

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Clark Gable

	Biography portal
	United States Air Force portal

• Clark Gable at the Internet Broadway Database
• Clark Gable at the Internet Movie Database
• Clark Gable at AllRovi
• Clark Gable at the TCM Movie Database
• Clark Gable at Virtual History
• Snopes on the false rumor of Gable killing a pedestrian while he was driving drunk
• Combat America at the Internet Archive:
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
• Clark Gable in Ohio Birth Records and 1910 US Census.

Glenn Close
Close in Paris at the Albert Nobbs French premiere in February 2012.
Born	(1947-03-19) March 19, 1947 (age 65)[1] Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater	College of William and Mary
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1975–present
Spouse	Cabot Wade (1969–1971) James Marlas (1984–1987) David Shaw (2006–present)
Partner	Len Cariou (1979–1983) John Starke (1987–1991; 1 child) Steve Beers (1995)

Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947)^[1] is an American film, television and stage actress. She is best known for her roles as a femme fatale—the scheming Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987)—as well as Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians (1996), and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000). She has been more recently known for her Emmy and Golden Globe winning role as Patty Hewes in the FX TV series Damages.

Consistently acclaimed for her versatility, she has been nominated six times for an Oscar (five times throughout the 1980's), three times for a Grammy Award and once for a BAFTA Film Award, and has won three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Early life and family[link]

Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter of Bettine (née Moore) and William Taliaferro Close,^[1] a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as a personal physician to Congo/Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko.^[2] Her parents came from prominent families. Her father was a descendant of the Taliaferros of Virginia; her paternal grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, a stockbroker and director of the American Hospital Association,^[3] was first married to Post Cereals' heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. Close is also a second cousin once-removed of actress Brooke Shields (Shields's great-grandmother Mary Elsie Moore was a sister of Close's maternal grandfather, Charles Arthur Moore, Jr.).^[4]

During her childhood, Close lived with her parents in a stone cottage on her maternal grandfather's estate, in Greenwich.^[5] Close has credited her early years for her acting abilities: "I have no doubt that the days I spent running free in the evocative Connecticut countryside with an unfettered imagination, playing whatever character our games demanded, is one of the reasons that acting has always seemed so natural to me."^[6] When she was seven years old, her parents joined a "cult group", the Moral Re-Armament, in which her family remained involved for fifteen years, living in communal centers. Close has stated that the family "struggled to survive the pressures of a culture that dictated everything about how we lived our lives." Close traveled for several years in the mid-to-late 1960s with an MRA singing group called "Up With People", and attended Rosemary Hall (now Choate Rosemary Hall), graduating in 1965.^[5][7] When she was 22, Close broke away from MRA, attending The College of William and Mary, and majoring in theatre. It was in the College's theatre department that she began to train as a serious actor, under Howard Scammon.^[8] She was elected to membership in the honor society of Phi Beta Kappa.^[5]

Career[link]

Film and television[link]

Glenn Close in 2009.

Close started her professional stage career in 1974, and her film work in 1982.^[5] She has been nominated for six Academy Awards, for Best Actress in Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction, and Albert Nobbs and for Best Supporting Actress in The Natural, The Big Chill and The World According to Garp (her first film).^[5] In 1984, Close starred in the critically acclaimed drama Something about Amelia, a Golden Globe-winning television movie about a family destroyed by sexual abuse. In 1987 she played the disturbed book editor Alex in Fatal Attraction, and in 1988 she played the scheming aristocrat The Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons.^[5] She played the role of Sunny von Bülow in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune to critical acclaim.

In the 1990s, she starred in the highly rated presentation of the 1991 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama Sarah, Plain and Tall (and its two sequels) and also in the made-for-TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995); from these roles, she was nominated for 8 Emmys^[9] (winning one) and 9 Golden Globes (winning one in 2005 and 2007). She also appeared in the newsroom comedy-drama The Paper (1994), and in (Steven Speilberg's) Hook she made a cameo as Gutless one the Pirates of Captain Hook's Crew who is punhished by being thrown into the Boo Box a chest filled with Scorpions for betting that Hook would not be able to bring Peter Pan back to Neverland, the alien invasion satire Mars Attacks! (1996, as The First Lady), the Disney hit 101 Dalmatians (1996, as the sinister Cruella de Vil) and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000), and the blockbuster Air Force One (1997), as the trustworthy vice-president to Harrison Ford's president. In 2001, she starred in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical South Pacific. In 2005, Close joined the FX crime series The Shield, in which she played a no-nonsense precinct captain. She starred in a series of her own for 2007, Damages (also on FX) instead of continuing her character on The Shield. Close won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series for her role in Damages.^[10] In an interview after her win, Close admitted her role of Patty Hewes in the series was the role of her life. Also in 2009, she narrated the environmental film Home. Glenn Close has hosted Saturday Night Live twice-once in 1989 and in 1992.^[11][12]

In December 2010, Close began filming Albert Nobbs in Dublin. She had previously won an Obie in 1982 for her role in the play on stage. She had been working on the film for 10 years,a film which she appeared with along side 101 Dalmatians Co Star Mark Williams and aside from starring in it, co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film.^[13][14] She stated at a press conference held on December 9, 2010 in Dublin, a couple of days before shooting began, "I believe in this story and its potential to take everyone on a sensuous, funny, heart-breaking, wildly unexpected ride".

In the film, Close played the title role of Albert Nobbs, a woman living her life as a man in 1800s Ireland after being sexually assaulted as a young girl. For the film, Close sat through hours of makeup to transform herself into a man. While the film itself received mixed reviews, Close and Janet McTeer received rave reviews for their performances. Close's performance was noted for being her most subtle and introverted performance yet and a departure from her other roles. Close received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and multiple critics nominations for her performance in Albert Nobbs. On January 24, 2012, Close received her sixth Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, for her performance. The film also received nominations for Best Supporting Actress for McTeer and Best Makeup.

Some of 2011's stand-out film actors appeared in "a video gallery of cinematic villainy" for New York Times Magazine. Close played Theda Bara, a silent film diva mostly known as the first movie "vamp".^[15]

Stage[link]

Close has had an extensive career performing in Broadway musicals. One of her most notable roles on stage was Norma Desmond in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Sunset Boulevard, for which Close won a Tony award, playing the role on Broadway in 1994.^[5] Close was also a guest star at the Andrew Lloyd Webber fiftieth birthday party celebration in the Royal Albert Hall in 1998. She appeared as Norma Desmond and performed songs from Sunset Boulevard. In addition to Sunset Boulevard, Close also won Tony Awards in 1984 for The Real Thing, and in 1992 for Death and the Maiden.^[5]

Close performed at Carnegie Hall, narrating the violin concerto The Runaway Bunny, a concerto for reader, violin and orchestra, composed and conducted by Glen Roven.

Personal life and causes[link]

Glenn Close at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

In February 2006, Close married her longtime boyfriend David E. (Evans) Shaw in Maine.^[16][17] Close was previously married to Cabot Wade (1969–1973) and James Marlas (1984–1987). She has a daughter, Annie Starke, from her previous relationship with John Starke that ended in 1991. Close is a dog lover and writes a blog for Fetchdog.com, where she interviews other famous people about their relationships with their dogs.^[18] Close announced to the public that she has had her DNA sequenced.^[19]

Close has donated money to the election campaigns of many Democratic politicians, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards and Barack Obama.^[20]

Close was a founder and is chairperson of BringChange2Mind, a US campaign to eradicate the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness, supporting her sister Jessie who has bipolar illness.^[21]

Stage productions[link]

Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals[link]

Jim Dale and Glenn Close performing Busker Alley in 2006.

• Rex (Broadway, 1976), Richard Rodgers-Sheldon Harnick musical about Henry VIII
• Barnum (Charity Barnum, Broadway, 1980), Cy Coleman musical about Phineas T. Barnum
• Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond, Broadway, November 1994), Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the classic 1950 motion picture Sunset Boulevard
• The Play What I Wrote by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben (Lyceum Theatre, 2003)
• Busker Alley (Off-Broadway, 2006, one-performance benefit concert), Sherman Brothers musical based on the 1938 movie St. Martin's Lane, directed by Tony Walton

Broadway plays[link]

• Love for Love by William Congreve (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, November 1974)
• The Rules of the Game by Luigi Pirandello (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, December 1974)
• The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, December 1974)
• The Crucifer of Blood by Paul Giovanni (Helen Hayes Theatre, September 1978)
• The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard (Plymouth Theatre, December 1983)
• Benefactors by Michael Frayn (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, December 1985)
• Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, February 1992)

Off-Broadway[link]

• The Crazy Locomotive by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (Chelsea Theater Center (February 1977)
• Uncommon Women and Others (November 1977)
• Wine Untouched (June 1979)
• The Winter Dancers (October 1979)
• The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, an adaptation of George Moore's short story directed by French director Simone Benmussa, 1982.
• For No Good Reason / Childhood (October 1985)

Los Angeles[link]

• Sunset Boulevard (musical, December 1993)

London[link]

• A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (National Theatre Lyttleton, October 2002)

Tony Awards[link]

Close at the 84th Academy Awards Red Carpet 2012.

• 1980: Best Featured Actress in a Musical – Barnum (Nomination)
• 1984: Best Actress in a Play – The Real Thing (Won)
• 1992: Best Actress in a Play – Death and the Maiden (Won)
• 1995: Best Actress in a Musical – Sunset Boulevard (Won)

Drama Desk Awards[link]

• 1992: Outstanding Actress in a Play – Death and the Maiden (Nomination)
• 1995: Outstanding Actress in a Musical – Sunset Boulevard (Won)

Obie Awards[link]

• 1982: Best Actress in a Play – The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs (Won)

Discography[link]

Close received her first Grammy nomination (shared with Jeremy Irons) in 1985 for Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for The Real Thing.^[22]

In 1988 PBS and Rabbit Ears Productions produced a multi-award-winning animated adaptation and a subsequent book depicting the Irving story The Emperor and the Nightingale. Illustrations, directing, and adaptation were done by Robert Van Nutt; music by Tim Story; and the narration by Glenn Close. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, making it Close's second nomination.^[23]

In 1989 Close narrated The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, for which Tim Story composed the music, and gave Close her third nomination.^[24]

In 1995, Glenn Close and Placido Domingo recorded a Christmas album together titled Repeat the Sounding Joy featuring The London Symphony Orchestra. The album was produced by the Hallmark company.^[25]

Filmography and awards[link]

Other awards[link]

• 1982: Rosemary Hall Alumnae Award ^[7]
• 1988: People's Choice Award: Favorite Motion Picture Actress.
• 1989: ShoWest Convention, USA: Female Star of the Year.
• 1990: Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.
• 1992: Golden Camera/ Germany: Best International Actress.
• 2001: Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards: Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.^[26]
• 2002: GLAAD Media Awards: For Excellence in Media.
• 2008: Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service: For outstanding achievements in the dramatic arts.
• 2009: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion pictures.
• 2011: The Donostia Award for San Sebastián International Film Festival.
• 2011: Hollywood Career Achievement Award 2011 from the Hollywood Film Awards 2011.
• 2012: Palm Springs International Film Festival: Career Achievement Award.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Napoleon, Davi. Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater Includes discussion of Des McAnuff's production of The Crazy Locomotive at the Chelsea Theater. Iowa State University Press.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Glenn Close

• Glenn Close at the Internet Broadway Database
• Glenn Close at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Glenn Close at the Internet Movie Database
• Glenn Close at Emmys.com

The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart, reprinted in 1992 with revisions. It is a ranking of the 100 people who, according to Hart, most influenced human history.^[1]

The first person on Hart's list is the Prophet of Islam Muhammad.^[2] Hart asserted that Muhammad was "supremely successful" in both the religious and secular realms. He also believed that Muhammad's role in the development of Islam was far more influential than Jesus' collaboration in the development of Christianity. He attributes the development of Christianity to St. Paul, who played a pivotal role in its dissemination."^[3]

The 1992 revisions included the demotion of figures associated with Communism, such as Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev. Hart took sides in the Shakespearean authorship issue and substituted Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for William Shakespeare. Hart also substituted Niels Bohr and Henri Becquerel with Ernest Rutherford, thus correcting an error in the first edition. Henry Ford was also promoted from the "Honorary Mentions" list, replacing Pablo Picasso. Finally, some of the rankings were re-ordered, although no one listed in the top ten changed position.

Hart wrote another book in 1999, entitled A View from the Year 3000,^[4] voiced in the perspective of a person from that future year and ranking the most influential people in history. Roughly half of those entries are fictional people from 2000–3000, but the remainder are actual people. These were taken mostly from the 1992 edition, with some re-ranking of order.

Hart's Top 10 (from the 1992 edition)[link]

Rank	Name	Time Frame	Image	Occupation	Influence
1	Muhammad	c. 570–632		Secular and religious leader	The central human figure of Islam, regarded by Muslims as a prophet of God and the last messenger. Active as a social reformer, diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, military leader, humanitarian, philanthropist.
2	Isaac Newton	1643–1727		Scientist	English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. His law of universal gravitation and three laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics.
3	Jesus Christ	7–2 BC – 26–36 AD		Spiritual leader	The central figure of Christianity, revered by Christians as the Son of God and the incarnation of God.
4	Buddha	563–483 BC		Spiritual leader	Spiritual teacher and philosopher from ancient India. Founder of Buddhism and is also considered an Gautama Buddha in Hinduism.
5	Confucius	551–479 BC		Philosopher	Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and Indonesian thought and life. Founded Confucianism, and influenced Neo-Confucianism and New Confucianism.
6	St. Paul	5–67 AD		Christian apostle	One of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, credited with proselytizing and spreading Christianity outside of Palestine (mainly to the Romans) and author of numerous letters of the New Testament of the Bible.
7	Cài Lún	50–121 AD		Political official in imperial China	Widely regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process.
8	Johannes Gutenberg	1398–1468		Inventor	German printer who invented the mechanical printing press.
9	Christopher Columbus	1451–1506	70px	Explorer	Italian navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages led to general European awareness of the American continents.
10	Albert Einstein	1879–1955		Scientist	German theoretical physicist, best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2.

See also[link]

• Time 100

References[link]

1. ^ Michael H. Hart The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. first published in 1978, reprinted with minor revisions 1992. ISBN 978-0-8065-1068-2
2. ^ The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Michael H. Hart, "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History", Citadel Publishing, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8065-1350-8
4. ^ Michael H. Hart. A view from the year 3000: a ranking of the 100 most influential persons of all time; first published in 1999

External links[link]

• Religious Affiliation of History's 100 Most Influential People

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The following is a list of recurring characters in the animated television series South Park. This does not include the school children, family members or the school staff.

Big Gay Al[link]

Big Gay Al (speaking voice Matt Stone, singing voice Trey Parker) is a stereotypical homosexual man known for his flamboyant and positive demeanor. For example, he almost always responds to the greeting "How are you?" with an upbeat "I'm super! Thanks for asking!" At one point in the show, he runs an animal farm for gay animals who have been rejected by homophobic pet owners. He temporarily adopted Sparky, Stan's gay dog, who had run away from home. Later on in the episode, his large shelter vanishes, but the various animals remained, and were adopted by their former owners who had missed them greatly. Ever since, he has been a particularly good friend to Stan.

He had a minor role in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, where it is revealed he is in fact a celebrity (or had become so since his appearance in his first encounter with Stan). He was the co-host and an entertainer at the troops' USO show, in which he performed his own musical number called "I'm Super".

In the episode "Cripple Fight", he is the leader of the boys' Mountain Scout troop. However, the parents of the children are uneasy about a gay scout leader, and the club fires him. The boys rally to get him back, and Gloria Allred and others lobby the Scouts to reaccept him, suing the Scouts in a Supreme Court case that they win. Al rejects this, saying that he knows the Scouts are still good men, and since the Scouts are a private club, they should have the right to exclude people if they choose to, just as he has the right to express himself as a gay man.

Big Gay Al eventually enters into a relationship with Mr. Slave, the ex-boyfriend of Mr. Garrison, whom he married in "Follow That Egg!".

Big Gay Al and Mr. Slave later appeared in an attempt to help the boys change the definition of the word fag in "The F Word".

Darryl Weathers[link]

Darryl Weathers (voiced by Trey Parker) is a worker from the Construction Workers' Union whose catchphrase consists of variations on the phrase "They took our jobs!", with "jobs" pronounced roughly "dʒɵbz" or "dʒɵ^rbz" and with the phrase's verb tense and subject and predicate number changed as appropriate for the context. His appearance, modeled on that of Jeff Foxworthy, features thick red hair and a large red mustache. His first appearance is in "Goobacks", in which he hosts a rally of many working-class men upset over losing their jobs to the Goobacks, time traveling immigrants from the future who work for next to nothing. When he appears on The O'Reilly Factor to discuss his views, he is introduced by the host as "Pissed-Off-White Trash-Redneck-Conservative", and his opponent an "aging-hippie-liberal-douche" . He and the other men decide to all "get gay" with one another, having homosexual sex in the hopes that this will prevent future generations of children that will give rise to the Goobacks. His subsequently appears briefly in the opening act of "Smug Alert!", in which he is angered at Gerald Broflovski for putting a homemade ticket on his car because of its gas consumption. His later appears in the episode "Margaritaville" in which he again loses his job, this time to economic hardships, and in "W.T.F.", in which he becomes a fan of the W.T.F wrestling league and repeats his catchphrase with many variations like "They Broke His Jaw".

Dr. Alphonse Mephesto and Kevin[link]

Dr. Alphonse Mephesto (also spelled and pronounced Mephisto^[1] while once referenced as "Alfonz Mephesto";^[2] voiced by Trey Parker) is a mad scientist who specializes in genetic engineering, and has a son named Terrance (not to be confused with Terrance from Terrance and Phillip). The character is an extended reference to Marlon Brando's portrayal of Dr. Moreau in the 1996 film version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.^[3] He always tries to help those who require his talents, but his experiments sometimes go wrong and put the whole town in danger.

Like Dr. Moreau, Dr. Mephesto creates strange creatures with his talents, such as animals with multiple buttocks. Mephesto believes it is for the good of the Earth, and that one-assed animals are useless and must be destroyed. In "Spontaneous Combustion", he even goes as far as presenting a "seven-assed Galapagos Turtle" in an attempt to win a Nobel Prize, but loses to Randy Marsh's "Unified Theory of Fart Thing." He genetically splices a squirrel with provolone cheese in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA". He also performs experiments ranging from simple DNA tests to creating a genetic clone of Stan Marsh for his son's science project. Mephesto also provides normal genetic testing services, as when Cartman has him determine who was his father in "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut". Mephesto has a brother who attempts to kill him every month for unrevealed reasons, as mentioned in the aforementioned episode. However, in the episode 201, it is revealed that his brother actually shot him in an attempt to keep Cartman's father from being revealed. Playing on his real-world origins, he is a member of the National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes, a group not fond of "that other NAMBLA", as seen in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA".

Kevin is Dr. Mephesto's silent companion, described as "that little monkey guy". He is a small creature who dresses like Dr. Mephesto and is based on Majai, a character created for the 1996 film adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau. While Kevin's exact nature is never addressed on the show, his story is told in the song "Mephesto and Kevin" by Primus from Chef Aid: The South Park Album. He was apparently a failed attempt to create a perfect pop singer, a test tube baby created from Michael Jackson's sperm and the egg of an unspecified, musically talented female donor, brought to term inside the womb of a llama.

In "200", Cartman's DNA paternity test from "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" was revisited. Cartman learns that results he was given, which indicated that his mother, Lianne Cartman, was really his hermaphroditic father, were tampered with. In the next episode, "201", Cartman goes to Dr. Mephesto to learn who is truly his father, and learns his real father is Jack Tenorman.

Dr. Doctor[link]

Dr. Doctor is a South Park doctor seen during scenes set at Hells Pass Hospital, known for making unusual medical diagnoses, including instances in which he reifies abstract or metaphorical ideas as actual diseases or injuries. In "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", after Cartman is admitted to the hospital following his possession by the soul of his deceased friend, Kenny McCormick, the Doctor's diagnosis is "his time is running out", and uses that phrase as if it were a literal medical diagnosis, explaining if he does not get a "time transplant", he will die. In the episode "You Got F'd in the A", which is a spoof of the film You Got Served, the Doctor treats Randy Marsh after Randy is "served" (slang term for being defeated in a dance competition) by a group of street dancers, as if "being served" constitutes an actual physical transgression that incurs major injuries. In "Pre-School", he treats the kids of South Park after bullying, even though they were merely the victim of mild abuse such as the "second-degree titty twister." In "Cartman's Incredible Gift", after Cartman is hospitalized following an attempt to fly by jumping off a roof with cardboard wings, the Doctor tells his mother that he is "incredibly stupid" and that the stupidity caused the fall. He continues to appear occasionally, including in "Medicinal Fried Chicken" where his actions and mistaken research lead to the return of KFCs and re-illegalization of marijuana.

In the series, he has been voiced by Trey Parker since 1997, though he was voiced by George Clooney in the 1999 feature film South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, in which his character was called Dr. Gouache. Although he wears a name tag also identifying him as "Dr. Doctor", he was called "Doctor Gouache" in "Cartman's Incredible Gift".

Father Maxi[link]

Father Maxi (aka Priest Maxi^[4]) (voiced by Matt Stone) is a Catholic priest. His name is a play on the name of reggae star Maxi Priest. He first appeared in the first season episode "Damien". In the episode "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery", Maxi, in his hatred of Halloween, kills many South Park citizens in order to convince people that Halloween is evil. In "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?", he claims that Timmy will go to Hell, since Timmy's mental disabilities make it impossible for him to confess his sins.

Though Father Maxi is a priest and required to be celibate, he does not seem to regularly practice this. Like most of the adults in South Park, he has had sex with Mrs. Cartman at some point in his life, and was caught having sex with a "Mrs. Donovan". In "Cripple Fight", he admitted to having gone through a homosexual phase in his youth, but claims to be reformed. However, he apparently once had a relationship with a man named Peterson whom he was supposed to be reforming of homosexuality.

In "Red Hot Catholic Love", he pursues Catholic sex abuse cases as the only uncorrupted priest in the episode, and espouses a version of liberal Christianity in saying that the Bible is a collection of moral parables meant to act as an ethical guide, and not be taken literally. In "Follow That Egg", he officiates Big Gay Al and Mr. Slave's wedding, despite his earlier stand against homosexuality. In "The F Word", he is seen outside his chapel displaying a "God Hates Fags" sign towards an obnoxious gang of Harley-Davidson riders, who have been deemed as "fags" under city ordinance.

God[link]

God is portrayed on South Park as a composite of several animals. His first appearance was in "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus". He can be summoned in Heaven when his name is spoken, and sometimes on Earth, where he appears as beams of light with a deep voice. God is a Buddhist, although only people of the Mormon faith are allowed in Heaven. As the population of Heaven began to dwindle, and the population of Hell rose, as told in "Best Friends Forever", God started to allow others into Heaven. This was an attempt to build up Heaven's army to protect God's Kingdom from the increasingly larger Army of Satan. It is said that the PlayStation Portable was created by God to help find the human who could lead his army, which turned out to be Kenny. Every 2000 years, he comes to Earth to answer one question. He is included as a figure with the South Park series 3 Jesus action figure by Mezco. He is voiced by Trey Parker.

Jesus[link]

Jesus (voiced by Matt Stone) is a character based on the biblical Jesus. On South Park, Jesus had his own public-access television cable TV show called Jesus and Pals. He was killed while fighting Iraqis during an attempt to rescue Santa on Christmas Eve in the episode "Red Sleigh Down." This was his last major role on the show until he was resurrected five years later in the eleventh season episode "Fantastic Easter Special".

He is portrayed as represented in Christian thought—i.e., he is the Son of God, has numerous miraculous powers (including prophecy, healing and resurrection), as well as the ability to fly and expert carpentry skills. He tells people to do good things and they will go to heaven but many church people go to Hell making Jesus moot. The exact nature of his abilities varies from episode to episode—for example, "Super Best Friends" portrays some of his most famous miracles as farces, despite still having basic powers, while in "Fantastic Easter Special," he claims to only have his powers after being killed and resurrected, so he makes Kyle kill him so he can save the Easter bunny.

Jesus is usually portrayed as being calm and self-assured, being kind and peaceable to everyone; nevertheless, he often acts more typical of South Park characters. He is often seen, for example, fighting villains, and while inept at it in "Damien", he later is shown ("Red Sleigh Down," "Fantastic Easter Special" and "Imaginationland Episode III") as being very skilled with guns, swords and a glaive (in "Imaginationland III" he leads the charge of the good imaginary characters into battle.) He makes a cameo as a soldier in South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, implying that he's on the American side. He is also a member of the Super Best Friends, a group of religious figures who fight against the forces of evil (except for Buddha, who doesn't believe in evil).

In the Jesus vs. Frosty short which started South Park, the boys make a snowman which comes to life after they put a hat on him. The snowman kills Cartman and Kenny and even poses as Santa. Stan and Kyle are the only ones left and seek help from a baby Jesus who comes alive from a Nativity Scene and knocks Frosty's hat off. In Jesus vs. Santa, Jesus arrives from Heaven to seek retribution. He wants to get rid of Santa once and for all since people don't see Christmas as Jesus's birthday anymore. With help from Brian Boitano, the boys tell Jesus that Santa is keeping his birthday alive and they tell Santa if it wasn't for Jesus there wouldn't be a Christmas. At that point, both Santa and Jesus apologized to each other, and Jesus decided to offer Santa an orange smoothie, which Santa likes. Some footage from this short was used in the episode "A Very Crappy Christmas".

Before his second death, Jesus hosted a television talk show called Jesus and Pals on South Park public-access television cable TV. Jesus would often receive on-air calls from guests, and would be depicted as reluctant to respond to questions regarding issues such as homosexuality, euthanasia and his own crucifixion. In the episode "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka", Jesus's show entered a ratings war with Jimbo Kern and Ned Gerblansky's hunting program Huntin' and Killin'. The show's producer, in an attempt to increase ratings, fabricates controversy between guests, and Jesus and Pals turns into a Jerry Springer-style farce. During live production of the face-off between Ned and Jimbo vs. the children on Jesus and Pals, the guests and audience breakout into a brawl. It led to a huge fight until Jesus discovered what happened, and sent his producer to Hell. In Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut, when Mr. Garrison asks "who here hasn't had sex with Mrs. Cartman," Jesus and Priest Maxi exchange uncomfortable glances, implying that he, like most everyone else in South Park, has at some point had a relationship with Cartman's mother.

In the Imaginationland-trilogy he is depicted as "one of the most revered fictional characters". To add to the confusion: in previous "South Park" episodes Jesus interacted in real life with other South Park citizens, just like Santa Claus who is also shown in the "Imaginationland" episodes as a fictional character. Other famous religious icons such as Moses, Ganesha, Buddha, Joseph Smith and God are also shown as citizens of Imaginationland.^[5]

Despite the subject material, the South Park iteration of Jesus was absent from the episode "The Passion of the Jew," an eighth season episode dealing with Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ and the various responses to the film from the four principal characters as well as the rest of the town itself.

Joseph Smith[link]

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, made his first appearance in "Super Best Friends" in which he depicted as a member of a superhero group composed of the central figures of many of Earth's religions. He later appeared in "All About Mormons", which depicts the events in his life that led to the founding of Mormonism, and in the two-part episodes "200" and "201".

Loogie[link]

Loogie (or Luigi) made his first appearance in "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000". When the boys try to make money by snatching tooth fairy money left underneath other boys' pillows, they encounter another set of boys trying to do the same thing. These rivals bring the boys back to Loogie, whereupon they learn that the Tooth Fairy business is actually a crime syndicate, with Loogie being portrayed as a youth Mafia kingpin. He wears a zoot suit and his headquarters is a basement Italian restaurant. Instead of merely dressing up like the Tooth Fairy and procuring the money, he has an entire assembly line of employees who procure the teeth and inspect them for quality. When the boys attempt to break off into their own independent syndicate, Loogie intervenes and targets Kenny to teach them a lesson (which is a spoof on common Mafia practices). He is voiced primarily by Richard Belzer, although the final recordings were performed by Trey Parker.^[6] He made another cameo appearance in "Professor Chaos", where he was one of twenty candidates to replace the then-deceased Kenny in the boys' group. He survived the first round to become a semi-finalist but was one of four boys cut in the second round. In this episode, when his name was called out to advance to the next round, he was referred to as "Luigi".

To date, the show has not specified whether the character's name is actually Loogie, such that the "Luigi" reference is a "nod" or "nonce usage", or whether instead his given name is Luigi and the appellation "Loogie" is a (likely pejorative) nickname.

Mayor McDaniels[link]

Mayor McDaniels is the mayor of South Park. In one episode, she is discovered ordering Officer Barbrady to perform oral sex on her, and in another, she indicates obliquely that they have had dealings with the Japanese mafia.^{[citation needed]} Her civic ideas for the city are often made without regard for future consequences, which are usually disastrous. In "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", she tries to resolve offended feelings towards the public school Christmas play by having a play created that makes no references to any religion or religious holiday, resulting in an esoteric production that all the townspeople loathe. In "Summer Sucks", after all fireworks are declared illegal with the exception of snakes, the town is endangered by a giant snake she arranges to have set off. She attempts suicide in "Die Hippie, Die", after a hippie music festival she signs the permit for has deleterious effects on the town. In "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut", when Garrison asks the question of who has not slept with Mrs. Cartman, she exchanges uncomfortable glances with Principal Victoria, implying that she, like most everyone else in South Park, has at some point been involved with Cartman's mother.

McDaniels was conceived because Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted the mayor to be someone more sophisticated than other South Park residents and believed she was better than the rest of the town.^[7]

Mechanic[link]

Mechanic is a nameless character who wears a wide-brimmed fedora and overalls, and speaks with a heavy Maine accent. He resembles Fred Gwynne's portrayal of the character Jud Crandall in the 1989 film adaption of Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary. He first appears in "Butters' Very Own Episode", in which he directs Butters down a dark road to South Park giving the horrific history of the road to him, ending his speech with "Yah, lotta history down that road." He appears again in "Asspen" when he tries to talk Stan out of racing down the K-13 while giving the terrible history about the run and the lives lost on it, ending his speech with "Yah, a lotta history on that ski run." A more direct parody of Pet Sematary is made in "Marjorine" when he tries to talk Mr. Stotch out of burying what he believes to be Butter's body on the Indian burial ground, saying, "Don't bury your son's body at the Indian burial ground, Stotch! The one that's right up over there, behind the Andersons' bar.", closing with Crandall's signature line "Sometimes... dead is better."

Moses[link]

Moses, the Jewish prophet, appears in "Jewbilee" as the focus of a ritual in which Jews make macaroni pictures, popcorn necklaces and soap carvings at a Jewish scout camp. His appearance is patterned after the Master Control Program from the film Tron and a large glowing spinning dreidel.^[8] The episode's antisemitic antagonist, Garth, captures him in a conch shell before calling upon the Biblical character Haman. Kenny McCormick, who had been banished from the camp by Moses for not being Jewish, saves the camp by breaking the conch shell open with his head. Moses also appears in the episode "Super Best Friends", in which he acts as the computer at the Super Best Friends headquarters, and demonstrates the ability to play a tape by having it inserted through a port in his front. Additionally, Moses appears at the Hall of the Super Best Friends in the episode "200", where he offers the opinion that it will be okay for the prophet Muhammad to appear in Southpark in a U-Haul, if the U-Haul has no windows.

Mr. Hankey[link]

Mr. Hankey the "Christmas Poo", voiced by Trey Parker, is a talking piece of feces. He first appeared in the first season episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo". He emerges from the toilet bowl on Christmas Eve and brings presents to good boys and girls whose diets have been high in fibre. He is especially close to Kyle, consoling him during his Christmas-Hanukkah depression and generally appears to help the boys out with something or gives them advice. Mr. Hankey has appeared in various Christmas episodes, and inspired an actual retail CD Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics in which he has his own theme song. In his first appearance, he appeared anthropomorphic only to Kyle and Chef, although he often leaves a trail behind that is attributed by the adults to antisocial behavior by Kyle. Due to his physical state, he can only emerge from the sewers during the Christmas season or he will dry up and die.

The Mr. Hankey character was based on an idea Trey Parker's father created when he was potty-training Trey as a child.^[9] Parker said he refused to flush the toilet at age three or four, so his father told him if he did not flush the stool, whom he called "Mr. Hankey", it would come to life and kill him.^[10] Parker said he planned to incorporate Mr. Hankey into South Park, but did not decide right away to make him a Christmas figure; previously, Parker envisioned the character simply as a talking stool and drew him with a sailor's hat, not a Christmas hat.^[11] John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show, claimed Mr. Hankey concept was stolen from Kricfalusi's cartoon short, "Nutty the Friendly Dump",^[9] and even discussed taking legal action against the show.^[12] Parker and Stone denied the allegation and said they were not fans of Ren & Stimpy.^[13]

Mr. Kitty[link]

Mr. Kitty is a grey housecat owned by Cartman, prone to showing interest in Cartman's food, to which Cartman usually responds, "No, Mr. Kitty, that's mine! That's a bad kitty!" His first appearance was in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". In the episode "Spookyfish", a kindhearted and generous Cartman from a parallel universe arrives and is friendly to Kitty, much to our universe's Cartman's irritation. Kitty's most prominent role was in the season 3 episode "Cat Orgy". Mr. Kitty was mentioned in "The Death of Eric Cartman" as being part of the list of beings to whom Cartman needed to apologize in order to reach Heaven. Although Mr. Kitty is indicated to be female there are examples of where he's portrayed as a male in "Cat Orgy", in the season 12 episode "Major Boobage", the children experiment with Mr. Kitty's urine after learning that the urine of male cats can cause intoxication, indicating that Mr. Kitty is actually male. Another example is when Cartman says "Mum! Mr Kitty's being a dildo!" to which Mrs Cartman responds "Well I know whose sleeping with mummy tonight!"

Ned Gerblansky[link]

Ned Gerblansky (voiced by Trey Parker) and his best friend Jimbo Kern represent South Park's large population of stereotypical "rednecks". They are obsessed with large trucks, beer, guns, explosions, and killing animals. They detest "liberals" and circumvent hunting regulations, which they refer to as anti-hunting laws, by yelling, "it's coming right for us!" before shooting any animal, thereby justifying the kill as self-defense. After a court ruling, they are seen shooting animals so as to "thin out their numbers", despite the fact that they are shown shooting at endangered species while shouting, "it's coming right for us!"