Olivia's costume test for Melanie.
"Melanie was someone different. She had very, deeply feminine qualities ... that I felt were very endangered at that time, and they are from generation to generation, and that somehow they should be kept alive, and ... that's why I wanted to interpret her role. ... The main thing is that she was always thinking of the other person, and the interesting thing to me is that she was a happy person ... loving, compassionate."
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (1916-2020) was a British-American actress, who was born in Japan. She played the part of Melanie Hamilton in Gone With the Wind. Her sister Joan de Havilland was one of the many girls who auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara.
As Melanie[]
Olivia was David O. Selznick's first choice for the role of Melanie, though Alicia Rhett was also considered. Unlike most actresses, who pursued the role of Scarlett, Olivia desperately wanted to play Melanie, being attracted to her inner strength. Olivia had read the book Gone With the Wind and found Melanie's courage and quiet dignity appealing.
Her boss, Jack Warner, was unwilling to lend her out to Selznick. So, Olivia secretly contacted Warner's wife Anne for lunch, pleaded her case and through her won Warner's permission to do the film.
While some make-up artists and executives wanted to emphasize Olivia's beauty, Olivia insisted that Melanie should be plain-looking, with as few jewels and exagerated coiffed hairdo's as possible. To stay true to the book, Olivia drew a widow's peak on her forehead, which she didn't naturally have.
Both Olivia de Havilland and her co-star Vivien Leigh were very close to director George Cukor. When he was dismissed (possibly due to his sexual orientation and past with Clark Gable), Olivia and Vivien protested. They were filming the bazaar scene when they heard, and went to David O. Selznick's office at once, in full costume. Dressed as weeping widows, they begged for Cukor's return, but to no avail. Secretly, Olivia kept phoning George Cukor after filming to get his direction. When she spoke to Vivien Leigh at the premiere, she admitted to this, after which Vivien said that she had done the very same thing, and kept it a secret for months.
When filming the scene where Rhett Butler picks up Melanie and saves her after childbirth, de Havilland pranked Clark Gable by tying a block of cement to herself. He was very surprised when he couldn't lift her up from the bed, after which de Havilland broke down laughing.
She was very close to Clark Gable, and it was Olivia who convinced Clark Gable to cry in the scene where Melanie and Rhett discuss Scarlett's miscarriage. Gable was hesitant to cry, because he did not consider it manly.
Olivia de Havilland was very anxious to do the childbirth scene right and at George Cukor's advice, visited various hospitals to see childbirth. She also asked one of the few women on set who had had the experience what it was like: Vivien. Vivien Leigh apparently stated she found childbirth "humiliating", which stuck with Olivia.
Trivia[]
- Olivia de Havilland was the last member of the main cast to die, when she died aged 104 in 2020.
- Her favourite gown was the one Melanie wore to Scarlett and Charles' wedding. It is also Melanie's outfit with the least screentime.
- The scene in which Melanie runs down the hill to greet Ashley was actually performed by a stunt double.