Gossip Friday: Praise From Roz

From July 1941:

“[Clark Gable] never once–literally or figuratively–stepped on my toes in the midst of a key scene,” said Miss Russell [of working with Clark in “They Met in Bombay”], “He never tried to ‘throw’ me by altering his actions or his voice unexpectedly. And he never once gave me that superior ‘down the nose’ delivery calculated to unbalance a player opposite. I’ve encountered that elsewhere too.”

Miss Russell further explained that Gable never sought to maneuver her into ungraceful or disadvantageous positions–position which would give the audience an uninterrupted view of the back or her neck while she was speaking her best lines!

“On the contrary,” she said, “Gable pointedly gave me every break, and once halted production to demand a change in the script so that certain ‘business’ involved in his contributions to the scene would not detract from interest in mine.”

…

“Yes,” Miss Russell summed up, “definitely I like working with Clark Gable.”