In 1956 I was a theatre major at LSU.  It just so happened that Clark Gable and Yvonne de Carlo were making the movie Band of Angels in and around Baton Rouge.I was living in West Hall and students kept coming in telling me and my best friend, who was also a theatre major, that they saw Clark Gable at some of the local restaurants.  We were envious so we concocted a plan.  We would go out to the motel where he was staying and wait in the parking lot until he walked by.  We went out to the motel and sat. A couple of men walked out of the office and I said, “They look like they are from Hollywood.  Let’s ask them if they know where Gable’s room is.”

 

We called them over to the car and we told them we were theatre majors and we would really like Clark Gable’s autograph and we would really like to get onto the set to watch the movie being made. They laughed and as it turned out, one of the men was Gable’s stand-in. He said come with me; I will write you a note to get you onto the set. We followed him and he went into his room, while we stayed outside, and he wrote us a note. He said, “Now don’t bring all your sorority sisters with you.  This is just for three of you. The next day, it was very cold as it was in January, we hopped in the car and drove across the river to the River Boat they were using. When we got there we found out that Clark Gable was not on the set and it was iffy if they would be shooting that day. It was pretty overcast and cold. We took a tour of the river boat and ran into some other theatre majors who were extras. All of a sudden we heard people shouting, “Here comes Clark Gable!”  We ran outside and there in a big black sedan was Clark Gable and the two fellows we had met the day before. We ran up to the car and knocked on the window. Gable rolled down the window and said, “Yes?” I thrust a piece of paper at him and asked if we could have his autograph.  He smiled and said, “Of course.” Then we got an extra autograph for a friend who couldn’t come with us.

 

He was very gracious and we were so excited. That was not the end of the story though. They were not going to film that day because of the weather so he left in his car. We decided to follow him back to the motel.  When we reached the motel they parked and we parked.  We ran out to greet him.  I shouted, “Mr. Gable!”   He turned around and smiled and again said, “Yes?”  At that point I wasn’t sure what to say so I just blurted out, “Could we shake your hand?”  He smiled that gorgeous smile and said, “Certainly.”  We stood there in a line and he gently took our hands.  When he took mine, he said, “Your hand is quite cold.”  All I could think of to say was, “I know.” Then he turned around and said, “You girls better get in out of this cold now.”  We just smiled and thanked him.

 

After that we went to several places where they were filming and watched. Gable made just one more film after that one, The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe and he passed away. I will always remember that day and what a thrill it was to meet Clark Gable