Since screen writer and playwright Sidney Howard’s original effort, Gone With the Wind’s script had been changed by numerous pens. David O. Selznick had resorted to printing revised pages on different shades of colored paper in an effort to keep track of...
On February 25, 1939, Robert Gleckler, the actor playing Tara’s overseer Jonas Wilkerson, died of uremic poisoning at the age of 52. His death stunned Gone With the Wind’s cast and crew. The previous month, George Cukor had directed Gleckler in the...
To replace George Cukor, David O. Selznick approached Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract director Victor Fleming. Fleming was not interested in taking over the directorial reins of the troubled Gone With the Wind. At the time, he was manic with Munchkins on the set of The...
Following the February 13, 1939 joint statement that George Cukor was leaving the production and that David O. Selznick was seeking a new director for Gone With the Wind, some on-set loose ends remained. Three scenes were in the midst of production: Rhett’s...
In the two weeks that followed the start of Gone With the Wind’s principal filming, George Cukor had directed the opening scene of Scarlett and the Tarletons on Tara’s porch, the birth of Melanie’s baby, Scarlett’s shooting of the Yankee...
On February 8, 1939, George Cukor directed Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Butterfly McQueen in “The Birth of Melanie’s Baby” sequence. “Don’t try to be brave, Melly,” Scarlett tells her. “Yell all you want to....
On February 6, 1939, George Cukor directed Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in the “Paris Hat” sequence. This scene mirrored the novel’s action with: Scarlett proposing to cover the hat with crepe and dyeing the feather black so she can wear the bonnet...
On February 1, 1939, Clark Gable celebrated his 38th birthday by filming the Atlanta Bazaar sequence along with Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Harry Davenport (Dr. Meade) and others under the direction of George Cukor. Unfortunately, most of the filming done that...
On January 28, 1939, George Cukor directed the sequence of Ellen O’Hara’s return to Tara. This turned out to be Gone With the Wind’s second jinxed scene. In the scene, Barbara O’Neil as Mrs. O’Hara informs Robert Gleckler, who was playing...
On January 26, 1939, director George Cukor yelled “Action,” and Gone With the Wind’s principal photography began. The opening scene he shot that day turned out to be one of Gone With the Wind’s jinxed scenes. Vivien Leigh in her green sprig...
