Facts > Films > Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (1939) Facts
| Director(s) | Victor Fleming, George Cukor (uncredited), Sam Wood (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | David O. Selznick |
| Featured Cast | Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford |
| Total Facts | 150 |
Judy Garland was the leading contender for the role of Scarlett's sister Carreen before her "Andy Hardy" series co-star Ann Rutherford was cast, but she was tied up with commitments to another film directed by Victor Fleming: The Wizard of Oz. Ironically, Fleming would replace George Cukor on both The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
Ann Rutherford got the call at 3:00am to be on location to pick cotton for a scene. She was licking the blood off her fingers when picking the cotton. David O. Selznick came by to check on her. She showed him the blood. He said, "Good! Good!".
Barbara O'Neil was only 28 when she appeared as Ellen O'Hara (Scarlett's mother). Vivien Leigh was 25 when she appeared as Scarlett, who is only 16 at the beginning of the film.
Ona Munson - who played brothel madame Belle Watling - considered the film a curse as she was continually typecast afterwards.
David O. Selznick always wanted Leslie Howard to play Ashley. He was so certain Howard was right for the part that he never auditioned him but only screen tested him solely to see if he would photograph well in color without recording any audio. The footage of this screen test can be seen on the 80th anniversary box set along with copies of memos sent by Selznick throughout the studio advocating Howard for the role.
David O. Selznick asked Alfred Hitchcock for help with the scene in which the women wait for the men from the raid on Shantytown and Melanie reads "David Copperfield". Hitchcock delivered a precise treatment, complete with descriptions of shots and camera angles. Hitchcock wanted to show Rhett, Ashley, etc. outside the house, dodging the Union soldiers. He also wanted an exchange of meaningful glances between Melanie and Rhett inside the house. Virtually nothing of this treatment was used.
David O. Selznick begged Margaret Mitchell, author of the novel, to critique every aspect of the production. An intensely private person, Mrs. Mitchell gave one criticism of the facade of the design for Tara, which was ignored. Afterward, she refused to comment on any aspect of the film during production.
David O. Selznick bought the rights to the best selling novel for $50,000. Louis B. Mayer, Selznick's father-in-law and head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, was determined to make Gone with the Wind an MGM film. Mayer initially offered to buy Selznick out at a handsome profit. Warner Bros. offered Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and advantageous financing. Selznick's own distributor United Artists showed interest in providing a production financing package. However, none of them had an actor capable of portraying Rhett Butler except MGM, which offered a deal that included Clark Gable. After much vacillating on Selznick's part, a deal was struck with MGM on January 19, 1938 that gave Selznick Clark Gable and $1.25 million toward production costs, in return for giving MGM distribution rights and 50% of the profits, which were further reduced by Loew's Inc.'s 15% interest and a requirement to pay Gable's $4,500 per week salary and one-third of Gable's $50,000 loan-out bonus. "GWTW" was, of course, a box office triumph, grossing over $20 million during its initial release alone. Selznick eventually earned $4 million on
David O. Selznick originally wanted Lionel Barrymore to play Dr Meade but Barrymore's severe arthritis had just confined him to a wheelchair and was unable to take on so physical a part.
David O. Selznick traveled to Bermuda in September 1938 to finalize the script. He reportedly brought four suitcases full of drafts with him.
David O. Selznick was required to give MGM the distribution rights in exchange for the use of Clark Gable and $1,250,000 in financing.
David O. Selznick, in a memo from October 1939, about the movie's writing credits: " You can say frankly that of the comparatively small amount of material in the picture which is not from the book, most is my own personally, and the only original lines of dialog which are not my own are a few from Sidney Howard and a few from Ben Hecht and a couple more from John Van Druten. Offhand I doubt that there are ten original words of Oliver Garrett's in the whole script. As to construction, this is about eighty per cent my own, and the rest divided between Jo Swerling and Sidney Howard, with Hecht having contributed materially to the construction of one sequence."
Olivia de Havilland always meticulously researched her roles. As she had not yet had a baby in real life, she visited a maternity hospital to study how various women coped with the stresses of childbirth for the scene where Melanie has her baby. Off-camera, the scene's director, George Cukor, would occasionally pinch her toes to make her feel pain.
Olivia de Havilland was a contract player at Warner Brothers when MGM made the call to her for the part of Melanie. De Havilland was very keen to take the part and managed to convince her boss Jack L. Warner to let her out of her contract, mainly by getting his wife to exert her influence.
Olivia de Havilland was a contract player at Warner Brothers when MGM made the call to her for the part of Melanie. De Havilland was very keen to take the part and managed to convince her boss Jack L. Warner to let her out of her contract, mainly by getting his wife to exert her influence.
Olivia de Havilland was a contract player at Warner Brothers when MGM made the call to her for the part of Melanie. De Havilland was very keen to take the part and managed to convince her boss Jack L. Warner to let her out of her contract, mainly by getting his wife to exert her influence.
Olivia de Havilland who has been the lone survivor of the four principal leads since the death of Vivien Leigh in 1967, was the only major cast member to live to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the picture's premiere on December 15 2009.
Priscilla Lane was considered for the role of Melanie Wilkes.
Lillian Gish had originally been approached to take on the part of Scarlett's mother.
Clark Gable disliked this, his most famous film, which he regarded as "a woman's picture."
Clark Gable was so distressed over the requirement that he cry on film (during the scene where Melanie is comforting Rhett after Scarlett's miscarriage) that he almost quit. Olivia de Havilland convinced him to stay.
Billie Burke (best remembered today as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz) was considered for Aunt Pittypat Hamilton, but the producers thought she was too young (she was 54).
Vivien Leigh wasn't happy with Victor Fleming's brusque style after the careful nurturing she had enjoyed with George Cukor. When she asked him for direction in one scene, he told her "Ham it up". On another occasion when she asked for his constructive advice, he told her to "take the script and stick it up her royal British ass". After Cukor's departure, Leigh had to fight hard to keep the movie's Scarlett true to her view. Fleming's interpretation of her was that she was an out-and-out bitch as in the novel and that he had no desire to create any sympathy or insight for her.
Vivien Leigh worked for 125 days and received about $25,000. Clark Gable worked for 71 days and received over $120,000.
Vivien Leigh worked for 125 days and received about $25,000. Clark Gable worked for 71 days and received over $120,000.
Vivien Leigh's daughter was attending private school in Vancouver, BC when the movie premiered there on February 16, 1940. She was at the Vancouver premiere, though unannounced, at her mother's insistence.
Vivien Leigh's daughter was attending private school in Vancouver, BC when the movie premiered there on February 16, 1940. She was at the Vancouver premiere, though unannounced, at her mother's insistence.
Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award.
Hattie McDaniel met with David O. Selznick in full costume in a successful effort to beat her main rival Louise Beavers to the part.
Hattie McDaniel was cast as Mammy after Louise Beavers, Etta McDaniel, Ruby Dandridge, and Hattie Noel were briefly considered.
Mickey Kuhn, who played Vivien Leigh's nephew Beau Wilkes, also played the young sailor who helps her onto the streetcar in A Streetcar Named Desire. When Kuhn mentioned to someone else on the set that he had acted with Leigh as a child, word got back to her and she called him into her dressing room for a half-hour chat. In an interview in his seventies, Kuhn stated that Leigh was extremely kind to him and "one of the loveliest ladies he had ever met."
Vincent Price and Melvyn Douglas tested for the part of Ashley.
Fred Crane's first filmed acting role. He spoke the first line in the movie.
Melvyn Douglas, Robert Young, 'Douglas Fairbanks Jr', Lew Ayres and Ray Milland all auditioned for the part of Ashley Wilkes.
Leslie Howard privately felt that he was much too old to play Ashley Wilkes (the character was supposed to be about 21 at the start of the film). He wore extra make-up and a hairpiece to make him appear younger. Selznick was only able to persuade him to take the part by offering him a producer credit on Intermezzo: A Love Story.
Leslie Howard was one of the few cast members not to attend the premiere in Atlanta.
Margaret Mitchell personally approved of Vivien Leigh's interpretation of Scarlett.
Margaret Mitchell was dismayed at the scale of the Tara and Twelve Oaks sets, writing to her friend, technical advisor Susan Myrick, "I grieve to hear that Tara has columns. Of course, it didn't and looked nice and ugly like Alex Stephens' Liberty Hall in Crawfordville, Georgia." And, "I had feared, of course that Twelve Oaks would end up looking like the Grand Central Station, and your description confirms my worst apprehensions. I did not know whether to laugh or to throw up at the TWO staircases.... God help me when the reporters get me after I've seen the picture. I will have to tell the truth, and if Tara has columns and Twelve Oaks is such an elegant affair I will have to say that nothing like that was ever seen in Clayton County, or, for that matter, on land or sea.... When I think of the healthy, hardy, country and somewhat crude civilization I depicted and then of the elegance that is to be presented, I cannot help yelping with laughter... "
Margaret Mitchell wrote her novel between 1926 and 1929. In her early drafts, the main character was named "Pansy O'Hara" and the O'Hara plantation we know as Tara was called "Fountenoy Hall."
Margaret Mitchell's first choice to play Rhett Butler was Basil Rathbone.
Margaret Mitchell's inspiration for her book title came from the 13th line of the Ernest Dowson poem, "Cynara" - "I have forgot much Cynara! Gone with the wind."
Sidney Howard agreed to write the screenplay, but from his home in Massachusetts, 3000 miles away from studio interference. His first draft would have made a 5 1/2 hour movie. Howard reluctantly agreed to leave his Massachusetts farm and come to Hollywood to work on another draft with Selznick and then-attached director George Cukor. As Selznick was preoccupied with problems on the set of The Prisoner of Zenda, Howard had to wait 5 weeks before he was able to start working on another draft (in the meantime contributing some rewrites for "Zenda"). The second draft turned out to be 15 pages longer than the first.
Sidney Howard's screen writing Oscar was the Academy's first posthumous award. Howard died in an accident in August 1939 while the Civil War epic was still being filmed.
1,400 actresses were interviewed for the part of Scarlett O'Hara. 400 were asked to do readings.
A few of Margaret Mitchell's working titles for the novel included "Tomorrow is Another Day," "Not in Our Stars", "Bugles Sang True" and "Tote the Weary Load". The most famous working title was, "Ba! Ba! Black Sheep".
A leading contender for Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Katharine Hepburn lost out, but later served as Maid of Honor at Vivien Leigh's and Laurence Olivier's wedding.
According to Newsreels, there were a handful of Confederate Civil War veterans who, though quite old, attended the premiere in Atlanta.
After the opening titles, there is a scene-setting crawl which was originally written by Ben Hecht. Nothing like this appears in the novel and, privately, Margaret Mitchell was none too enthused by it.
All four principal characters appear together in the same scene only once, after the raid on Shantytown, when Rhett tells the anxious group of the fate of Scarlett's second husband, Frank Kennedy.
All seven of Hollywood's then-existing Technicolor cameras were used to film the Burning of the Atlanta Depot. Flames 500 feet high leaped from a set that covered 40 acres. Ten pieces of fire equipment from the Los Angeles Fire Department, 50 studio firemen and 200 studio helpers stood by throughout the filming of this sequence in case the fire should get out of hand. Three 5,000-gallon water tanks were used to quench the flames after shooting.