{"id":415459,"date":"2026-01-15T21:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/415459\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:31:11","slug":"today-in-history-january-16-hollywoods-biggest-star-settled-lawsuit-over-wifes-death-for-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/415459\/","title":{"rendered":"Today in History – January 16: Hollywood’s biggest star settled lawsuit over wife’s death for $10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lombard and her entourage were asked to give up their seats for a group of Army Air Force personnel.<\/p>\n

But arguing that because of her war bond efforts she was essential to the trip, she was allowed to reboard.<\/p>\n

\"JanuaryHollywood actress Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash. (Public Domain)<\/p>\n

Renowned Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti was removed instead.<\/p>\n

Soon after a refuelling stop in Las Vegas<\/a>, the plane crashed straight into a near-vertical cliff.<\/p>\n

All 22 people on board the flight were killed, including Lombard and her mother.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The crash killed all 22 people on board. (The Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives)<\/p>\n

At the time of her death Lombard was one of Hollywood’s biggest actresses, known for her leading roles in screwball comedies.<\/p>\n

Lombard’s final film To Be or Not To Be was in post-production when she died.<\/p>\n

Released a month after her death, the film has become regarded as a classic comedy.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Lombard’s final film To Be or Not To Be was released posthumously. (United Artists)<\/p>\n

The film’s producers reportedly cut a line from her performance in which she remarked, “What can happen on a plane?”<\/p>\n

It turned out what had happened was a simple navigation error. Because airway light beacons had been largely turned off during World War II<\/a>, the pilots were using a compass heading.<\/p>\n

But at some point they had gone slightly off course and the pilot thought they were somewhere else entirely.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Clark Gable was distraught after the death of his wife. (Selznick International Pictures)Lombard’s widower Clark Gable<\/a> was in a strong legal position to sue the airline for a substantial payout.<\/p>\n

But too grief-stricken to go through a court case, he settled his claim for just $10.<\/p>\n

The biggest star in the world at the time, Gable would leave his acting career behind to join the US Army Air Forces.<\/p>\n

He flew on five combat missions, including one where flak went through his boot and narrowly missed his head.<\/p>\n

A favourite actor of Adolf Hitler<\/a>, the German leader offered a sizable reward for his capture.<\/p>\n

Despite marrying twice more in his life, Gable would be buried next to Lombard.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Clark Gable in Gone With The Wind. (MGM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lombard and her entourage were asked to give up their seats for a group of Army Air Force…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-415459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}