Well, this week I am going to remember a star of yesteryear, and not just any old star but the one they named the King of Hollywood. I doubt younger readers will have heard of him, but from the 1930s until his death Clark Gable was one of the biggest names in Tinsel Town.

Gable grew up from a poor background and broke into movies as an extra in the 1920s. It is said in order to progress he had to endure what we used to call the casting couch, so nothing much has changed in 80 years, but that is reality.

Eventually he got his break when he was signed up by the then mighty Metro Goldwyn Mayer in the early 1930s. They set about changing his looks by having most of his teeth removed and his big ears taped back, but the latter was later ignored. His false teeth in later years caused co-star Vivien Leigh to complain about his breath and a cleaning lady at MGM in Borehamwood once told me he whipped out his false teeth and said to her: "here is the famous Gable smile" as he made fun of himself.

Back in the 1930s he did not always obey the MGM boss Louis B Mayer and in 1934 was loaned out, as punishment, to a lowly studio called Columbia to film It Happened One Night, which he did not want to make. The irony is that the role earned him an Oscar and today Sony Columbia owns the old MGM Studio.

Clark's most famous role was another he was not keen on, worrying that he could never match the public expectations. It was called Gone With The Wind and of course it became movie history. Ironically, although the film was showered with honours, he failed to win the much-expected Oscar, which went to outsider Robert Donat for his role in Goodbye Mr Chips.

Gable married five times but his most famous wife was the star Carole Lombard, who became the love of his life. Alas, he still could not resist affairs with his leading ladies. Whilst on a USA war bond tour Lombard heard rumours and decided to fly back to Hollywood, although she hated that mode of transport. Her plane hit a mountain and she and her mother were killed. Little of their bodies was recovered. Gable was devastated, signed up for the military service and came to England to make films on bombing missions. It is said Hitler offered a reward to anyone who shot him down.

By the 1950s Clark had been under contract to MGM for many years but times were changing in Hollywood and the studios wanted rid of contract stars who were a drain on their overheads. The writing was on the wall when his boss Louis B Mayer was ousted by the New York bosses. As he was leaving in a company car he was stopped at the gate by security and asked to leave it behind and wait for a taxi. When you fall in Tinsel Town it can be a long drop, even today.

For tax reasons Gable decided to serve out his time at MGM in Borehamwood. It was pretty ironic that the King of Hollywood ended his halcyon days in Hertfordshire. He made a couple of flops but then a success called Mogambo with Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner with the interiors shot here. MGM decided they might renew his contract but Gable told his agent to take them as high as you can and tell them to go to hell. He had to report to MGM in Los Angeles for a photo shoot on his final day under contract but they organised no farewell party.

Clark had one last hit in the film The Misfits, which also proved the last for his co-star Marilyn Monroe and nearly the last for the drunken, drug-ridden one-time Hollywood star Montgomery Clift. Clark was now happily married and expecting the birth of his son. However, he was a heavy drinker and smoker and the location shooting took its toll.

With filming over, he suffered a heart attack while changing a tyre at home in 1960 aged just 59. After 10 days they thought he was recovering but he died in hospital while reading a magazine. His son was born four months later. He is interred in a wall crypt in a Hollywood cemetery alongside Carole Lombard.

Until next time, you take care and with a bit of luck we can ramble together down Memory Lane in a few days. Boy do they fly past!