Gable co-starred in "Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)" (1931) with Greta Garbo, and in "Possessed" (1931), a film about an illicit romantic affair, with Joan Crawford (who was then married to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.). Adela Rogers St. Johns later dubbed Gable and Crawford's real-life relationship as "the affair that nearly burned Hollywood down". Louis B. Mayer threatened to terminate both their contracts, and for a while, they kept apart when Gable shifted his attentions to Marion Davies as he costarred with her in "Polly of the Circus" (1932). Gable was considered for the role of Tarzan in "Tarzan the Ape Man", but lost out to Johnny Weissmuller's more imposing physique and superior swimming prowess. Gable then starred as the romantic lead in "Strange Interlude" (1932), again teaming with Shearer, the second of three films they would make together for MGM.