Gone with the Wind, motion-picture epic about a tempestuous Southern belle and the changes in her life due to the American Civil War (1861-1865), based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Mitchell. Released in 1939, this film won eight Academy Awards and was one of the biggest production events in film history. The story involves Scarlett O'Hara (played by Vivien Leigh), the beautiful and difficult daughter of a large plantation owner. O'Hara is hopelessly infatuated with Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), but becomes distraught when Wilkes becomes engaged to Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). In the midst of a tantrum over this news she meets the rakish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). The two Southerners form a fiery romance and then endure hardship and loss in the Civil War, including the famous burning of Atlanta, Georgia.
Directors
Victor Fleming
George Cukor
Sam Wood
William Cameron Menzies
Sidney Franklin
Cast
Fred Crane (Brent Tarleton)
George Reeves (Stuart Tarleton)
Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara)
Hattie McDaniel (Mammy)
Everett Brown (Big Sam)
Zack Williams (Elijah)
Thomas Mitchell (Gerald O'Hara)
Oscar Polk (Pork)
Barbara O'Neil (Ellen O'Hara)
Victor Jory (Jonas Wilkerson)
Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O'Hara)
Ann Rutherford (Careen O'Hara)
Butterfly McQueen (Prissy)
Tom Seidel (Guest)
Howard Hickman (John Wilkes)
Alicia Rhett (India Wilkes)
Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes)
Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton)
Rand Brooks (Charles Hamilton)
Carroll Nye (Frank Kennedy)
Marcella Martin (Cathleen Calvert)
Clark Gable (Rhett Butler)
James Bush (Gentleman)
Marjorie Reynolds (Gossip)
Ralph Brooks (Gentleman)
Philip Trent (Gentleman, later bearded Confederate on steps at Tara)
Laura Hope Crews (Aunt Pittypat Hamilton)
Harry Davenport (Dr. Meade)
Leona Roberts (Mrs. Caroline Meade)
Jane Darwell (Dolly Merriwether)
Alberto Morin (Rene Picard)
Mary Anderson (Maybelle Merriwether)
Terry Shero (Fanny Elsing)
William McClain (Old Levi)
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (Uncle Peter)
Jackie Moran (Phil Meade)
Tommy Kelly (Boy)
Cliff Edwards (Reminiscent soldier)
Ona Munson (Bell Watling)
Eddy Chandler (Sergeant)
George Hackathorne (Wounded soldier)
Roscoe Ates (Convalescent soldier)
John Arledge (Dying soldier)
Eric Linden (An amputation case)
Guy Wilkerson (Wounded card player)
Tom Tyler (Commanding officer)
Frank Faylen (Soldier aiding Dr. Meade)
Frank Coghlan, Jr. (Exhausted boy)
William Bakewell (Mounted officer)
Lee Phelps (Bartender)
Paul Hurst (Yankee deserter)
Ernest Whitman (Carpetbagger's friend)
William Stelling (Returning veteran)
Louis Jean Heydt (Hungry soldier)
Isabel Jewell (Emmy Slattery)
William Stack (Minister)
Robert Elliott (Yankee major)
George Meeker, Wallis Clark (His poker-playing captains)
Irving Bacon (Corporal)
Adrian Morris (Carpetbagger orator)
J. M. Kerrigan (Johnny Gallagher)
Olin Howlin (Yankee businessman)
Yakima Canutt (Renegade)
Blue Washington (His companion)
Ward Bond (Yankee captain Tom)
Cammie King (Bonnie Blue Butler)
Mickey Kuhn (Beau Wilkes)
Lillian Kemble-Cooper (Bonnie's nurse)
Si Jenks (Yankee on street)
Harry Strang (Tom's aide)
Awards
Honorary Academy Award For Outstanding Achievement in the Use of Color for the Enhancement of Dramatic Mood in the Production of Gone With The Wind (1939): William Cameron Menzies
Academy Award for Best Picture (1939): David O. Selznick—Producer
Academy Award for Best Actress (1939): Vivien Leigh
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (1939): Hattie McDaniel
Academy Award for Best Director (1939): Victor Fleming
Academy Award for Best Writing—Screenplay (1939): Sidney Howard
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (1939): Lyle Wheeler—Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Cinematography—Color (1939): Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan
Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1939): Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom
Trivia
The filmmakers interviewed 1400 actors for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara, and 400 of them were asked back to do readings. Actor Bette Davis turned down the role, thinking she would be working with Errol Flynn, whom she disliked.
The first scene shot during production was the burning of Atlanta. Some of the buildings in the fire were actually old Hollywood sets, such as the gigantic gate featured in King Kong (1933). The filmmakers shot 113 minutes of footage, and the resulting fire was so intense that the citizens of Culver City, California, thought the MGM studio was burning down.
Vivien Leigh worked for 125 days on the production and received about $25,000. Clark Gable's compensation for 71 days of work was more than $120,000.
Quotes
Prissy (panicking during Melanie's birth labor): “Miss Scarlett, I don't know nothing about birthing no babies!”
Scarlett: “Rhett … If you go … where shall I go? What shall I do?”
Rhett: “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.”
Scarlett: “Sir, you are no gentleman.”
Rhett: “And you, Miss, are no lady!”
Scarlett (digging for turnips): “And God is my witness, I will never be hungry again!”
Scarlett (final line in the film): “After all … tomorrow is another day.”
Scene from Gone With the Wind
Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) don't see eye to eye in this scene from Gone With the Wind (1939), one of the most famous films of all time.
Culver Pictures/ 1939 Turner Entertainment Co. All Rights Reserved