Honestly, if you sit down to watch the four-hour marathon that is Gone with the Wind, it’s easy to get swept up in the sweeping gowns and the burning of Atlanta. You see the "King of Hollywood" and a fiery British newcomer, and everything looks like a polished masterpiece. But the reality for the Gone with the Wind actors was a lot messier than what ended up on Technicolor.
Think about it. 1939. Hollywood was a factory, but this movie was a war zone.
The casting of Scarlett O’Hara alone was basically a national sport. David O. Selznick, the producer who was reportedly crushing up Benzedrine and licking it off his palm to stay awake, auditioned over 1,400 women. He spent two years and $100,000—which was a fortune back then—just to find the right girl. He actually started filming the "Burning of Atlanta" scene without a lead actress. It wasn't until his brother Myron introduced him to Vivien Leigh on the director's platform while the backlot sets (including the old King Kong wall) were literally on fire that he found his Scarlett.
"I shall never forget the first time I saw her," Selznick later wrote. Leigh was relatively unknown in the States, a British actress trying to play the most iconic Southern belle in history.
The King and the Newcomer: Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh
When people think of the Gone with the Wind actors, they usually picture Rhett and Scarlett in that iconic clinch. But off-camera? It wasn't all roses.
Clark Gable was "The King," and he knew it. He didn't even want the part at first because he was terrified of the public’s expectations. To get him to agree, MGM basically had to bribe him by giving him time off to marry Carole Lombard.
Once on set, things got weird. There’s this persistent story that Gable would eat garlic before his kissing scenes with Leigh just to mess with her. Whether it was a prank or just his natural diet, Leigh apparently hated it. She also hated the corsets. They were so tight she could barely breathe, all in the name of that 18-inch waist.
A Disparity in Pay
If you want to talk about "the good old days" of Hollywood, look at the paychecks.
- Clark Gable took home roughly $120,000.
- Vivien Leigh was paid about $20,000.
She worked 125 days; he worked 71. She was in almost every scene, but because he was the established star, she earned about one-sixth of his salary. It’s wild to think about now.
The Heart of the Film: Hattie McDaniel and Olivia de Havilland
You can't talk about this cast without talking about Hattie McDaniel. She played Mammy, and honestly, she’s the one who grounds the whole movie.
McDaniel made history as the first African American to ever win an Academy Award. But the "celebration" was bittersweet, to put it mildly. Because of Georgia's segregation laws, she wasn't even allowed to attend the film's premiere in Atlanta. Even at the Oscars in Los Angeles, she had to sit at a small, segregated table at the back of the room, far away from her co-stars.
Gable was actually furious about this. He threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere because McDaniel wasn't allowed to go. She was the one who eventually convinced him to attend for the sake of the film.
Then there was Olivia de Havilland. She played Melanie Hamilton, the "good" one. De Havilland was a powerhouse. She was one of the few who actually got along with the first director, George Cukor, before he was fired. When Victor Fleming took over (a "man's director" who was much rougher), de Havilland and Leigh used to sneak off to Cukor's house for secret coaching sessions. They didn't trust Fleming's vision for their characters.
The Reluctant Ashley: Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard is a strange case in the lineup of Gone with the Wind actors. Basically, he hated his role.
He thought Ashley Wilkes was a weak, "feeble" character. He didn't even bother to read the book. He only took the job because Selznick promised him a producer credit on another film. If he looks a bit bored or detached on screen, it’s probably because he was. He was 45 playing a man much younger, and he spent most of his time wishing he was back in England.
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Tragically, Howard was the first of the main cast to pass away. He died in 1943 when his civilian plane was shot down by German aircraft during World War II.
Who is left?
As of 2026, the era of the Gone with the Wind actors has effectively closed. For a long time, Olivia de Havilland was the last legendary star standing; she lived to be 104, passing away in 2020.
Mickey Kuhn, who played the child Beau Wilkes, was the last surviving credited cast member until he passed away in late 2022 at age 90.
Facts vs. Fiction: What People Get Wrong
People often think the "Burning of Atlanta" was a miniature set. Nope. They burned old movie sets on the Forty Acres lot. It was so big that people in the surrounding area called the fire department thinking the studio was burning down.
Another big misconception is that the "damn" at the end was a huge scandal that cost the studio a massive fine. In reality, the Hays Office (the censors) had just changed the rules to allow the word in "proper historical context" right before the movie came out. Selznick played up the "outlaw" angle for publicity. It worked.
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Why It Matters Now
The legacy of these actors is complicated. The film itself is a product of its time—romanticizing a version of the South that ignored the brutal reality of slavery. This caused massive friction even during filming.
Historians have found scripts belonging to cast members that show a "civil war" behind the scenes. Black cast members and various organizations fought to remove the most offensive slurs from the script. Selznick, to his credit, did remove the most egregious parts of the book, but the film remains a deeply flawed masterpiece.
Actionable Insights for Fans
If you're a film buff or just curious about the Golden Age of Hollywood, here’s how to dive deeper into the world of the Gone with the Wind actors:
- Watch the Screen Tests: You can find the original screen tests for the women who didn't get the part of Scarlett (like Lana Turner or Paulette Goddard). It’s a masterclass in how different a movie can feel with a different lead.
- Read Hattie McDaniel’s Acceptance Speech: It is a short, incredibly poised piece of history that speaks volumes about the grace she had to maintain in a segregated industry.
- Check out the "De Havilland Law": If you want to know why actors today have more freedom, look up Olivia de Havilland’s 1944 lawsuit against Warner Bros. She fought for the right of actors to be free from "perpetual" contracts, and she won.
- Visit the Harry Ransom Center: If you're ever in Austin, Texas, they house the David O. Selznick archives. You can see the actual production memos and costume sketches that drove the cast crazy for two years.
The story of the people who made the movie is almost as dramatic as the film itself. It was a production built on Benzedrine, garlic-scented kisses, and a fight for basic dignity in a segregated world. Knowing the struggle makes the final product—for all its flaws—even more fascinating to watch.