So, get this. Back in the 1940s, Hitler was obsessed with Clark Gable—a teen girl looking at a Rob Lowe poster in 1986 kind of obsessed.
See, Hitler, being a real home and hearth type, enjoyed movie nights at home (Eva would pop the corn, of course).
The majority of these movies featured the legendary actor and “King of Hollywood” Clark Gable.
We get it, they are great films, and Gable was a great actor, but Hitler’s admiration was, shall we say, a little more intense.
Being a huge fan, Hitler decided that the appropriate thing to do at that point was to put a bounty on Clark Gable.
And he did.
A reward of $5000 ($104,000 today) was offered to anyone who could kidnap the “Gone with the Wind” star and bring him unharmed to the notorious dictator.
And then it got weirder.
In 1942, Gable enlisted in the Army Air Corps following a personal tragedy and flew many missions over Germany.
Hitler’s infatuation with film only grew, but it took on a significant amount of malice. Upon Gable’s induction, the German dictator changed the conditions of the bounty to “dead or alive.“
Gable himself was a bit concerned and was quoted at the time saying “If Hitler catches me, the son of a bleep will put me in a cage like a gorilla and send me on a tour of Germany.”
Knowing that if he were indeed shot down in battle, his identity and fate would be sealed, saying at the time, “How could I hide this face? If the plane goes, I’ll just go with the son of a bleep!”
But Gable was not shot down. He flew many successful missions and returned home a hero. Gable was relieved of duty on June 12, 1944, at the rank of Major at his request.
And nothing more was ever heard from Hitler about his obsession-like desire for bromance again.
Check out this cool video of Gable in the Army Air Corps.
