If you've ever wondered why Rhett Butler didn't "give a damn" for Scarlet O'Hara the answer may be found a new book, which claims one of Hollywood's biggest stars had gay affairs.
In his book, Clark Gable: Tormented Star, David Bret claims the matinee idol of Hollywood's Golden Age regularly spent his early years playing "gay for pay".
Suggesting Gable was a "hypocrite", who ranted against homosexuals in public but bedded them in private, Bret alleges Gable would regularly prostitute himself to men and would 'out' others in order to deter suspicions about his own same-sex liaisons.
The book claims Gable's wife, Carole Lombard, turned a blind eye to Gable's many manly affairs, including a liaison with her own close friend, the former silent star William Haines.
Other male partners cited in the book include "slab of beefcake" Rod La Rocque and Broadway actor Earle Larimore.
It also alleges Gable used "a device to prolong erections" and would sometimes "scrub his penis til it bled".
The book has not been warmly received.
The New York Times called it "breathtakingly trashy", "Hollywood Babylon lite" and "painfully unsexy".
Bret has previously 'outed' stars such as Errol Flynn and Valentino in a string of biographies.
If you've ever wondered why Rhett Butler didn't "give a damn" for Scarlet O'Hara the answer may be found a new book, which claims one of Hollywood's biggest stars had gay affairs.
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