David O. Selznick and Victor Fleming arrived at Ben Hecht’s house early one morning. They spirited Hecht away in Selznick’s car, and on the way to the studio they came to terms: Selznick would pay Hecht $15,000 for one week’s work. At the studio,...
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...
