Scarlett O’Hara loves Tara, her family’s plantation. Her father drove it into her that land is the only thing that lasts. When Tara is neglected during the Civil War, Scarlett comes back to her home to rebuild it to its former glory.
Rhett Butler is a scoundrel and everyone knows it. Scarlett could never fall for a man like that, especially while her heart is wrapped around a man like Ashley Wilkes.
Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to be nominated and win an Academy Award. She won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Gone With The Wind was the first color film to win the Best Picture Oscar, and it was the longest film of all Best Picture Oscar winners. Besides the eight Oscars presented for work on Gone With The Wind, two more special awards were given. One was an honorary award given to William Cameron Menzies “for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone With The Wind.”
Neither Vivien Leigh nor Clark Gable was the first actor considered for the roles of Scarlett or Rhett. Gary Cooper turned down the male lead thinking the film had no chance of success. For the role of Scarlett, thirty-two screen tests were studied, but Vivien Leigh found success. Even though she won the Best Actress Oscar, she created quite a stir for being a British actress in a role many thought should go to an American.
Thomas Mitchell, who played Scarlett’s father, Gerald O’Hara, acted in three of the ten films nominated for Best Picture in 1939. Of his 103 acting credits, five of them were from 1939. George Reeves who played Stuart Tarleton, one of Scarlet’s boyfriends, became better known when he starred as Superman in the 1950s TV series. Cammie King Conlon played Bonnie Blue Butler, Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter. Conlon later worked as the voice of Young Faline in Bambi in 1942 and retired from acting at age 5.
