It was the greatest talent hunt in the history of Hollywood. Honestly, nothing today even comes close. Not the casting of James Bond, not the search for the next Spider-Man. For two years, David O. Selznick turned the United States upside down trying to find a woman who could embody the fiery, manipulative, and deeply human protagonist of Margaret Mitchell’s massive bestseller. People were obsessed.
When you ask who played Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, the short answer is Vivien Leigh. But the "how" of it? That's where things get wild. Leigh wasn't even on the radar for most of the production's development. She was a British actress with a handful of credits, and the American public was convinced a Southern belle—a real one—should take the role. Instead, they got a girl from Darjeeling, India, who smoked like a chimney and had a secret affair with Laurence Olivier.
It worked.
The Search That Paralyzed Hollywood
David O. Selznick bought the rights to the book for $50,000 before it even hit the shelves, which was a huge gamble back then. He knew he had a hit, but he didn't have a lead. He sent scouts to every small town in the South. They interviewed over 1,400 women. Thousands of dollars—real 1930s money—were poured into screen tests for names you definitely know, like Bette Davis, Lana Turner, and Joan Crawford.
Paulette Goddard almost had it. She was the frontrunner. She had the look, the spark, and the chemistry. But then there was the "scandal" of her relationship with Charlie Chaplin, and Selznick got cold feet. He needed someone beyond reproach, or at least someone so talented the public wouldn't care about her private life.
Then came the night of December 10, 1938.
Selznick was finally filming the "Burning of Atlanta" scene. He had to. The sets from old movies like King Kong were being torched to make room for the Tara plantation sets. He still didn't have a Scarlett. His brother, Myron Selznick, who was a high-powered agent, walked up to him through the smoke and heat. He had a woman on his arm. He reportedly said, "Hey, genius, meet your Scarlett O'Hara."
It was Vivien Leigh.
The flames of Atlanta were literally reflected in her eyes. It was the most dramatic "hired on the spot" moment in cinema history, even if she still had to go through the formality of a screen test later.
Why Vivien Leigh Was a Risky Bet
You have to understand how much the South hated the idea of a British woman playing their icon. It was a scandal. The United Daughters of the Confederacy were actually up in arms about it. They wanted a local. But Leigh was obsessive. She worked with a dialect coach named Susan Myrick to strip away her English lilt and replace it with that sharp, Georgia drawl.
She wasn't just a pretty face. Leigh was a classically trained stage actress who understood the darkness of Scarlett. She didn't try to make her "likable" in the modern sense. She made her desperate. She made her a survivor.
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During the 125 days of principal photography, Leigh worked herself to the bone. She was in almost every scene. While Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) would famously leave at 6:00 PM sharp to go hunting or have a drink, Leigh was often on set for 16 hours a day. She was miserable. She hated the red Georgia clay—which was actually just dyed sawdust—because it got into her lungs. She missed Olivier, who was in New York. She was eating almost nothing and smoking four packs of cigarettes a day just to keep the nerves at bay.
The tension on set was thick enough to cut. She didn't get along with the original director, George Cukor, being fired and replaced by Victor Fleming. Fleming was a "man's man" director who had just finished The Wizard of Oz. He and Leigh clashed constantly. He wanted her to be more "lusty"; she wanted her to be more nuanced.
The Physical Toll of Being Scarlett
Leigh's waist was cinched to 18 inches. Think about that. Most modern mannequins are larger than that. The corsets were so tight she could barely breathe, which actually helped her performance because it gave Scarlett that sense of constant, breathless agitation.
- She wore 27 different costumes throughout the film.
- The "Curtain Dress" was made of real heavy velvet to simulate the weight of actual drapes.
- Her green eyes were often emphasized by lighting technicians using specific filters that were revolutionary at the time.
The Performance That Changed Everything
When the movie finally premiered in Atlanta in 1939, the city went into a three-day frenzy. The Governor of Georgia declared a state holiday. When Leigh appeared on screen, the resentment about her British roots evaporated. She was Scarlett.
She captured the transition from the spoiled 16-year-old at the barbecue at Twelve Oaks to the hardened, starving woman picking a radish out of the dirt at Tara. That scene—the "As God is my witness" monologue—is arguably the most famous shot in film history. The silhouette against the orange sky wasn't just movie magic; it was Leigh’s sheer willpower.
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She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, obviously. But the cost was high. Many biographers, including Anne Edwards in Vivien Leigh: A Biography, suggest that the grueling schedule and the intensity of the role exacerbated Leigh’s bipolar disorder. She lived a life of highs and lows that mirrored her most famous character.
Misconceptions About the Casting
Some people think Katharine Hepburn was almost Scarlett. She wasn't. Selznick told her to her face that he couldn't imagine Rhett Butler chasing her for twelve years. Ouch.
Others think Lucille Ball was a serious contender. She did test, but she was never a finalist. The "Scarlett O'Hara" search was partly a brilliant PR stunt by Selznick to keep the movie in the headlines for two years before a single frame was shot. It worked perfectly. By the time Leigh was announced, the world was so exhausted by the search they were just relieved it was over.
How to Experience the Legacy Today
If you really want to understand the magnitude of what Leigh did, you can't just watch the movie on a laptop. You need to see the details.
- Visit the Harry Ransom Center: Located at the University of Texas at Austin, this archive holds the David O. Selznick collection. You can see the actual screen tests of the women who didn't get the part. Seeing Paulette Goddard’s test compared to Leigh’s makes it obvious why Vivien won.
- The Costume Research: Look up the "Green Curtain Dress" restoration. The original is at the Harry Ransom Center. Seeing the wear and tear on the fabric gives you a sense of how "physical" the acting was.
- Read the Letters: Vivien Leigh's correspondence with Laurence Olivier during filming reveals a woman who was terrified of failing. She didn't think she was doing a good job. It’s a reminder that even the most iconic performances are often born out of deep insecurity.
Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O'Hara twice, in a way. She played her in 1939, and then she spent the rest of her life trying to escape the shadow of the character. She once said, "I'm not a film star – I'm an actress. Being a film star – just a film star – is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity."
Whether she liked it or not, she became the face of an era. When we think of the Old South—or at least the Hollywood version of it—we think of her. We think of that arched eyebrow, the green dress, and the refusal to ever go hungry again.
To truly appreciate the performance, watch the scene where she returns to Tara and finds her mother dead and her father insane. Watch her face. There isn't a single "Hollywood" moment there. It's raw, ugly grief. That's why, 80-plus years later, we are still talking about her.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the history of classic Hollywood casting, your next step should be researching the production of The Wizard of Oz, which filmed at the same time and shared many of the same crew members—and even the same director. Comparing the two productions shows just how chaotic the "Golden Age" really was.