 His father, William Henry Gable, worked as an oil driller and farmer. Sadly, Clark's mother, Adlin, died when he was just 10 months old. As a child, his father remarried a woman named Jenny, who encouraged Clark's artistic interests, while his father pushed more traditionally masculine pursuits. As a teen, Gable dropped out of school to work in a tire factory, and at 17 he was inspired to act after seeing a play called The Bird of Paradise, but he couldn't pursue it until inheriting some money at 21. Gable then toured with small theater companies, eventually making it out west. In Portland, actress Laura Hope Cruz saw his potential.