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On portraying Scarlett O’Hara

By Vivien Leigh (1940, condensed)

PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED

Scarlett O’Hara (played by Vivien Leigh)

"The unexpected happened: it made me, for these months at least, and whether I wished it so or not, into the character known as Scarlett O'Hara. Now the difficulty is to view that character objectively. That it was a great role for any actress was obvious, yet ... there were dozens of girls testing, and I did not seriously consider that I might actually play the part. Yet once it was decided upon I discovered that there was no joking about playing Scarlett. From then on, I was swept along as though by a powerful wave. It was Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett, night and day, month after month.

"Perhaps if I had struggled, wished and worried about getting the role, I might have been fearful. As it was I had no time to let worry get the upper hand. As for Scarlett herself, my own views on that headstrong young lady are so bound up with my own experience in playing her that I find it difficult, now, to analyze just how I do feel about her. I lived Scarlett for close to six months, from early morning to late at night. I tried to make every move, every gesture true to Scarlett, and I had to feel that even the despicable things Scarlett did were of my doing.

"From the moment I first began to read 'Gone With the Wind,' Scarlett fascinated me, as she has fascinated so many others. She needed a good, healthy old-fashioned spanking on a number of occasions , and I should have been delighted to give it to her. Conceited, spoiled, arrogant — all those things, of course, are true of the character. But she had courage and determination, and that, I think, is why women must secretly admire her, even though we can't feel too happy about her many shortcomings.

"The grueling work was not without its compensations and amusements. After so many weeks together, the company had its own jokes, its own forms of fun to lessen the tension. Clark Gable's natural humor was always there to comfort us at the moments when tempers were shortest. You will recall that Rhett Butler, on a certain night, carries Scarlett up a long flight of stairs. We were ready to shoot this scene late in the afternoon, after a particularly difficult day. As so often happens, a number of things went wrong, and poor Clark had to carry me up the stairs about a dozen times before the shot was satisfactory. Even the stalwart Mr. Gable was beginning to feel it, I'm afraid.

"'Let's try it once more, Clark,' said the director. Clark winced, but picked me up and made the long climb. 'Thanks, Clark,' said (director) Victor Fleming. 'I really didn't need that shot. I just had a little bet on that you couldn't make it.' Even Clark saw the joke, although I'm not so sure I should have if I'd been in his place.

"When the day came that meant the film was completed, I could not help feeling some little regret that our parts were done and that the cast and the crew, who were all so thoughtful and kind throughout, were breaking up. Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Tom Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, fine players all. We should see each other again, of course, but never again would we have the experience of playing in 'Gone With the Wind!'"

On portraying Rhett Butler

By Clark Gable (1940, condensed)

"My reaction to playing Rhett Butler is both frank and simple: 'The condemned man ate a hearty meal.' Now don't get me wrong. As an actor, I loved it. As a character, he was "terrific. As material for the screen, he was that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But as Clark Gable, who likes to pick his spots and found himself trapped by a series of circumstances over which he had no control, I was scared stiff.

"I cannot but honestly admit that the actual making of the picture was one of the most thoroughly pleasant and satisfying experiences I have ever known. During the filming, I was on familiar ground. Once in the atmosphere of the settings, facing a camera in costume, playing scenes that were dramatically realistic, I felt for the first time that I had an understanding of Rhett. The long months that I had studied him and tried to know him as I know myself made me believe I was Rhett. These were things I could get my hands on. They were part of my job as an actor. It was those things I couldn't get my hands on that had me worried. I never asked to play Rhett. I was one of the last to read the book.

"As I have said before, every minute of the five months the picture was in production was enjoyable. It was the preceding 24 months of conversation that had me on my ear. When it got to the point where Spencer Tracy was greeting me with 'Hello, Rhett,' I read the book. Before that, I held out even when my best friends told me, 'It's made to order for you.' I had heard that one before.

"In the interest of truth, I became a fan of Miss Mitchell's with the rest of America after going halfway through the book. It was good, too good in fact. Rhett was everything a character should be, and rarely is, clear, concise and very real. He breathed in the pages of the book. He was flawless as a character study. He stood up under the most careful analysis without exhibiting a weakness. That was the trouble.

"It wasn't that I didn't want to play Rhett. I did. No actor could entirely resist such a challenge. (But) my reading of the book enabled me to see clearly what I was in for if I played the part. 'Gone' was different from any picture I have ever made. I often have smiled in the past at actors who 'live' their roles. My attitude to making pictures is realistic. But I must admit that all of us, and I am speaking for everyone who had any connection with the picture, had a definite feeling of living it."

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