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Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh behind the scenes on the bazaar scene.

Vivien Leigh(November 5, 1913-July 8, 1967) was a British actress who won two academy awards and became famous for playing Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone With the Wind, a film based on the 1936 book by Margaret Mitchell.

Race for Scarlett O'Hara[]

Scarlett O'Hara was the most sought-after role in the history of Hollywood. Over 2500 actresses auditioned, including many famous actresses. The role was so groundbreaking because it was exceptionally layered, emotionally challenging and intriguing, especially for a female character at the time. Bette Davis was considered, but as a self-declared "proud Yankee" that was unthinkable. Ms Davis disagreed and made the film Jezebel, which got her an Oscar, where she played a convincing Southern Belle. Katharine Hepburn was thought too unsexy for the role. Miriam Hopkins (37) was declined despite being the only Georgian actress to apply. Tallulah Bankhead (36) was offered the role of Belle Watling instead and declined. She was also thought as too old, as were Claudette Colbert (35), Pola Negri (41) and Gloria Swanson (39). Even Joan Fontaine auditioned, whose sister Olivia de Havilland got the role of Melanie.

Despite performing humiliating (perhaps sexual) favours for David O. Selznick, Joan Crawford and Lucille Ball weren't allowed to screentest. This was surprising in the case of Crawford, who had often played the love interest of Clark Gable.

32 actresses screen-tested. Marcella Martin (22) was given the role of Cathleen Calvert instead. Mary Anderson was similarly given the role of Maybelle Merriwether. Lana Turner was thought too young at 17.

The final four actresses were Vivien Leigh (26), Joan Bennett (28), Jean Arthur (38) and Paulette Goddard (27). Jean Arthur became eliminated after it was clear that she only got so far because of her friendship and romance with David O. Selznick. Joan Bennet had serious acting talent for the part, but the character wasn't exactly what David O. Selznick was looking for.

Paulette and Vivien were the only actresses tested in colour. While Paulette was Selznick's favourite actress, Hollywood contracts included a morality clause. As Goddard's marriage to Charlie Chaplin was invalid, she and Tallulah Bankhead (a lesbian) could never be in the film. Besides, it was thought Vivien played the younger Scarlett more convincingly.

Vivien as Scarlett[]

Vivien was introduced to David O. Selznick by his brother Myron as they were filming the burning of Atlanta. Myron said "Hey genius, meet your Scarlett O'Hara!". David had already seen screen tests of Vivien Leigh, but thought her much too British to play the Southern Belle Scarlett. After screen testing for him, he changed his mind and she was right in the race in the final four. Vivien could convincingly play tragic and comedic characters. She was able to be both a hero, and a villain. Her smile and charm were apparent, but she could convincingly pull off an evil manipulator, who selfishly acted and lost her temper.

Vivien heard she got the part on Christmas Day, and started filming shortly after.

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.

Olivia de Havilland had to do a childbirth scene and wanted to portray it as realistically as possible, so she asked Vivien Leigh (one of the few people who had experienced childbirth on set) what it was like. "Humiliating" Vivien said, just as her character described her childbirth in the book Gone With the Wind. Olivia also recalled: "Someone had an engraved antique cameo ring of an erotic subject. We were shooting the scene when Melanie comes down the staircase with the sword, after Scarlett has shot that awful Yankee. It was the set of Tara after the war – after the burning of Atlanta – and there she was in that pathetic cotton lavender dress. She was always so cool, so polite, so exquisite, so raffin`ee – and then suddenly she was told about the ring, and said ‘Let me look at it! Let me look at it!’ It was quite surprising that she looked at this rather explicit carving and took a strange, lascivious, and very obvious pleasure in looking at it."

Vivien Leigh filmed for 125 days and was paid 25.000 dollars, while Clark Gable, who worked for only 71 days, was paid almost five times as much. According to de Havilland, Leigh could change from herself being behind the scenes with Gable, playing Battleship, into Scarlett within minutes, needing no time to adjust.

"She wanted the film to be completed as soon as it could be completed," Olivia de Havilland said about Vivien. "Because she was very much in love with Laurence Olivier. For most of the shooting of Gone With the Wind, she and Larry were seperated. She wanted to bring about the completion of gwtw as soon as it was possible and she made the most extraordinary sacrifice of health, energy and strength to bring that about it. Instead of working 'till six, she'd work 'till seven, break for dinner, and then work until midnight just to finish sooner and be with Larry more quickly."

Trivia[]

  • It was quite the controversy when Indian-born British actress Vivien Leigh was cast as a Southern Belle. However, Vivien Leigh was half-Irish, as is Scarlett.
  • Like her character Scarlett, Vivien Leigh has been accused of being a negligent mother.
  • Like Scarlett, Vivien was painfully separated from the man she loved during filming.
  • Vivien Leigh played a Southern Belle once more in her career: the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Notably enough, these films are the only ones in which she played a southerner, and the only films she gained an Academy Award for.
  • Vivien Leigh got along great with Hattie McDaniel, Olivia de Havilland and Clark Gable, but detested Leslie Howard.
  • Because the role wasn't cast yet, most shots during the burning of Atlanta scene are actually a stunt double, not Vivien Leigh.
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