The Transmasculinity of Clark Gable

"The king of Hollywood."

"Brutally masculine."

"All man... and then some."

These were all descriptions, usually in film reviews, ascribed to the legendary Hollywood film actor Clark Gable. Nowadays, we understand that most of the iconic Golden Hollywood actors were marketing brands, often with much input by the film studios. However, during the course of his life, Clark Gable was considered as naturally masculine off-screen as he was on-screen, attested by choice quotes in the press by female co-stars. The conception was that he was always that handsome, that sophisticated, that charismatic, that manly.

Of course, he wasn't actually.

Clark Gable was born William Clark Gable in Ohio in 1901. He started acting as an adult originally under the name W.C. Gable and soon afterward met Josephine Dillon. A number of years his senior, Dillon was first Gable's acting coach and then later on his first of five wives. It was Dillon who, through her experience with professional actors, reimagined and retrained W.C. into the Clark Gable that forever changed film history.

There is a choice quote in Dillon's book Modern Acting that struck me as revelatory about the process of intentional transformation. She says of her by then ex-husband:

Clark Gable had the furrowed forehead of the man who is overworked and undernourished. He had the straight-lipped, set mouth of the do-it-or-die character. He had the narrow slit-eye expression of the man who has had to fight things through alone, and who tells nothing.

This all had to be changed. He worked on these things while doing his voice [...] As the muscles of his face relaxed in the assumption of correct speech habits, the forehead smoothed, the eyes opened, the lips began to be flexible, and his now-famous smile was born. I do not mean that he learned new things. I mean that his own best way of doing things was released and freed from the interference of wrong habits. [emphasis mine]

Many transgender people over the course of their lives learn "wrong habits" as in voice, posture, and behavioral instincts according to gendered conditioning as they live as their assigned genders at birth. Although not choices, these mannerisms are protective and trans people are remarkably skilled at constructing entire personas with them. That's what makes an awakening or initial coming out very unsettling; a trans person becomes aware every moment that their persona is not their personhood. If they're fortunate, they have a Josephine Dillon or several and an archetype or role models of which they can have support to re-steer their selves.

Michael Angelo is known to say that he saw that The David was already in the marble, he just chiseled the legendary statue free from it. With Dillon's help, Clark Gable did the same for himself. It's not that he didn't have masculinity to start with; simply, that his masculinity was "incorrectly" expressed according to a certain higher class-based conception of gendered norms during his lifetime. As a result, like people today who call themselves trans masculine or "trans masc," Gable had to undergo a transition of masculinity in order to reach a more refined form.

To those who don't know: "trans masc" is an identity that is currently more often used than the older term "female-to-male" or "FTM." First, it doesn't imply that the individual was once female, which many people in this part of the gender paradigm strongly refute. Instead, it encompasses both binary transgender men and non-binary people who view themselves as moving toward masculine* gender expressions.

When I first started self-identifying as trans masc, I clarified that I was "by way of a verb." Meaning, the identity of trans masculinity encompasses a range of behaviors and alterations that a person could pick and choose. Many know that a person who is trans masc may change their name, dress in "men's" clothing, and pursue medical transition such as testosterone therapy. However, there are many of other expressions of gender that are unconsciously learned and categorized as "male" or "female" ways of being.

To start with, there are possible physical changes. Like how Dillon paid to fix Gable's teeth and hairline, trans masc people also often cut and style their hair to intentionally signal masculinity. There are vocal changes; Dillon guided Gable through increasing the resonance of his voice because:

[It] was nervous and hard in quality and much too high in pitch, as is true with many big men.

-Modern Acting by Josephine Dillon

Trans masc people—whether or not they take testosterone, which can broaden the vocal chords and lower the vocal pitch as a result—commonly seek out vocal coaching or free resources in order to deepen their voices, increase resonance, and learn how to change their pronunciation of words since cis men and women generally use different pronunciation styles.

All in all, Dillon claims that the process to turn Gable into the dashing leading man of his era took over 6 years. Fascinatingly, that's not too much longer than the amount of time it takes for a binary trans man to hit his final maturation stages for his facial structure and voice on testosterone. Especially if top surgery is performed, the individual often becomes virtually undistinguishable from a person who was born and assigned male at birth.

To wit: if Clark Gable, who is considered one of the most masculine icons in American history, had to undergo years of holistic full-body and full-behavior training in order to achieve his true self, how does that differ from transgender masculinization? I suppose cis people would argue it has to do with hormones, although today's leading men take the same medication in order to achieve otherwise impossibly fit bodies. Others may refer to the removal or alteration of body parts during gender-affirming surgeries, but similarly every Hollywood figure past or present received equally invasive cosmetic procedures.

With all that taken into consideration, there isn't much of a difference at all. In fact, I think Clark Gable had a masculine transition for the same reasons I undergo mine now. He did it for his art and a higher sense of self-satisfaction, leading toward his life purpose. I have yet to meet a trans person who has dissimilar dreams.

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Astrological note: Clark Gable's natal chart is notable in a few ways, particularly Venus at 19 degrees Capricorn tightly conjunct his Ascendant. In honor of the King of Hollywood, this blog post is published while currently transiting Venus at 19 degrees Capricorn is on the Ascendant in Ohio. Happy Venus Return, sir!

*There are probably as many ways masculinity can be defined as there are people, but I am personally satisfied with my own descriptions