How old is ashley wilkes

The war ends; Ashley is released and comes to Tara, where Melanie and his new son are staying with Scarlett. Ashley tries to work on the farm, but he's not very good at it.

He still loves Scarlett, and sort of tells her. She heads off to Atlanta to try to get money to pay the taxes on Tara, then she marries and goes into business as a mill owner. Eventually Ashley and Melanie decide to go north for Ashley to get work. Scarlett instead insists he help her by taking over the management of one of her mills. He's not really any good at that either. One day, Scarlett and Ashley are caught in a friendly embrace—people believe they were committing adultery, but Melanie does not.

The first scene to be shot was the burning of the Atlanta Depot, filmed on 10 December If there was a major mistake during the filming, the entire film might have been scrapped. They actually burned many old sets that needed to be cleared from the studio back lot, including ones from The Garden of Allah and the "Great Wall" set from King Kong It was so intense that Culver City residents jammed the telephones lines, thinking MGM was burning down.

When Gary Cooper turned down the role of Rhett Butler, he was passionately against it. He is quoted as saying "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history" and "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper. Vivien Leigh was 25 when she appeared as Scarlett, who is only 16 at the beginning of the film. Margaret Mitchell personally approved of Vivien Leigh 's interpretation of Scarlett. Very few of the principal cast members liked the characters they were portraying.

Clark Gable was induced into accepting his role through arrangements to divorce his current wife and marry Carole Lombard. Rand Brooks , who played Scarlett's first husband Charles Hamilton, was actually a rough outdoorsman who objected to playing a wimpy character. Butterfly McQueen disliked the negative stereotype of her character.

Leslie Howard felt he was too old for the role of Ashley Wilkes and complained that his costumes made him look like "a fairy doorman" at a hotel. Max Steiner was given only three months to compose the music, considering that was the busiest year of his career; in that year he wrote the music for 12 films. In order to meet the deadline, Steiner sometimes worked for 20 hours straight and took Benzedrine pills to stay awake.

With almost three hours of music, "Gone with the Wind" had the longest film score ever composed up to that time. At 2 hours, 23 minutes and 32 seconds, Vivien Leigh 's performance in this movie is the longest to ever win an Academy Award.

The film has never been cut. Some theatrical re-releases and home video releases are longer because of the restored overture, intermission, entr'acte, and exit music, not because any deleted scenes have been restored and added. If box-office receipts were adjusted for inflation, it would be the top-grossing movie of all time; Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope would only be the second most successful movie of all time.

Hattie McDaniel was criticized by some African-Americans for playing in a supposedly racist film. She responded that she would "rather make seven hundred dollars a week playing a maid than seven dollars being one". David O. Selznick begged Margaret Mitchell , author of the novel, to critique every aspect of the production.

An intensely private person, she gave one criticism of the facade of the design for Tara, which was ignored. Afterward she refused to comment on any aspect of the film during production. To add to the publicity, fans were asked to vote for the actress they think should play Scarlett.

Out of hundreds of ballots cast, Vivien Leigh got only one vote. Although it should be noted that she was virtually unknown at that time. Reportedly, one of the reasons stated by David O. Selznick as to why he fired George Cukor as director was that Cukor, a homosexual, would be unable to properly direct the love scenes between Rhett and Scarlett; hence he was replaced by macho director Victor Fleming.

Although he was dismissed from the production, Cukor continued to privately coach both Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland at their request on weekends, unbeknownst to both Selznick and Fleming.

Vivien Leigh wasn't happy with Victor Fleming 's brusque style after the careful nurturing she had enjoyed with George Cukor.

When she asked him for direction in one scene, he told her "Ham it up". On another occasion when she asked for his constructive advice, he told her to "take the script and stick it up her royal British ass".

After Cukor's departure, Leigh had to fight hard to keep the movie's Scarlett true to her view. Fleming's interpretation of her was that she was an out-and-out bitch as in the novel and that he had no desire to create any sympathy or insight for her. Unlike the innocent character of Melanie Hamilton, Olivia de Havilland was known to have a wicked sense of humor. For example, during a take of Rhett Butler having to carry Melanie to the carriage to leave Atlanta during its siege, de Havilland had her body fastened to the set, so Clark Gable almost threw his back out trying to lift her.

Melanie was based on Mitchell's third cousin, and Doc's first cousin and close friend, Mattie "Sister Melanie" Holliday. Mattie joined a convent and became a nun, but maintained a correspondence with Doc, who died of tuberculosis in , 13 years before Margaret Mitchell was born.

The horse's real name is Silver Chief. During filming, Vivien Leigh reportedly smoked four packets of cigarettes a day. Clark Gable smoked three packs a day throughout his career. According to newsreels, there were a handful of Confederate Civil War veterans who, though quite old, attended the premiere in Atlanta.

One month after the book was published, David O. At the time it was the highest sum that had ever been paid for an author's first novel. Olivia de Havilland always meticulously researched her roles. As she had not yet had a baby in real life, she visited a maternity hospital to study how various women coped with the stresses of childbirth for the scene where Melanie has her baby. Off-camera, the scene's director, George Cukor , would occasionally pinch her toes to make her feel pain.

Clark Gable disliked this, his most famous film, which he regarded as "a woman's picture. While directing the scene where Prissy says, "Oh Miss Scarlett! I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies," director George Cukor told Vivien Leigh to actually slap actress Butterfly McQueen --who played Prissy--and to make it as realistic as possible, and directed McQueen to scream.

After many takes McQueen broke down in tears, complaining that Leigh was hitting her too hard. In a later interview, McQueen said that she "bargained" with the others, stating that if Leigh hit her, she would NOT scream, but if Leigh's hand only passed close to her face with the illusion of hitting her, she would scream as loudly as she could.

McQueen also giggled and said that she thought "Prissy should have been slapped often, because she was horrid! Selznick asked Alfred Hitchcock for help with the scene in which the women wait for the men from the raid on Shantytown and Melanie reads "David Copperfield".

Hitchcock delivered a precise treatment, complete with descriptions of shots and camera angles. He wanted to show Rhett, Ashley, etc. He also wanted an exchange of meaningful glances between Melanie and Rhett inside the house. Virtually nothing of this treatment was used. After Scarlett returns to a vandalized Tara, digs up a radish in the garden, then retches and gives her famous "As God is my witness One version of the story is that Vivien Leigh "could not" produce a convincing enough retching sound.

Another version is that Leigh "would not" make the retching sound because "it simply was not lady-like". Hattie McDaniel met with David O. Selznick in full costume in a successful effort to beat her main rival Louise Beavers to the part. After the film finished shooting there were 88 hours of footage. Ranks fourth as of in the Academy Award most nominated films list with 13 nominations.

He had been urged to boycott the festivities by other community leaders because none of the black actors in the film were allowed to attend. King Sr. When Scarlett searches for Dr.

Meade, making her way among 1, suffering and dying Confederate soldiers, to cut costs and still comply with a union rule that dictated the use of a certain percentage of extras in the cast, dummies were scattered among extras.

According to the documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind in addition to saving money the use of dummies was partially because there were not enough extras available due to the fact that four other films requiring a lot of extras were filming that same day.

Neither Clark Gable nor Leslie Howard wanted to be in the film. Howard didn't even bother to read the original novel. Vivien Leigh was having an affair with Laurence Olivier at the time the film was made.

However, the two were separated because Olivier was working in New York on his stage commitments. Leigh was so determined to reunite with him that she was willing to work until late at night in order to finish shooting more quickly. Leslie Howard was one of the few cast members not to attend the premiere in Atlanta. He returned to England before the premiere due to the outbreak of WW2. He served in British intelligence in WW2.

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, he made three films during wartime, "the 49th Parallel" , "Pimpernel Smith" and "First of the Few" Each of these were known for their pro-Allied slant. In Howard was touring Portugal and Spain lecturing on film.

The four principals were billed on the film's posters in this order: Clark Gable , followed by Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland and then "presenting" Vivien Leigh. This changed when Leigh won the Oscar. Out of the 1, actresses interviewed for the part of Scarlett O'Hara, were asked to do readings. One theory holds that David O. Selznick had already secretly signed her for the role as early as February , and that the nationwide "Search For Scarlett O'Hara", during which thousands of dollars were spent "testing" aspiring actresses for the part, was actually a well orchestrated publicity stunt on Selznick's part to keep alive interest in a very expensive film he did not yet have the money to produce.

Supposedly, Selznick realized that the American audience might have difficulty accepting a British actress in such an important American role. Therefore, he made it look as though Leigh was discovered spontaneously during the filming of the Atlanta fire, which she "happened" to be visiting together with Laurence Olivier , with whom she was having an affair at the time.

Another interesting story is that Selznick's brother Myron Selznick , an agent, introduced Leigh to David during the filming of the Atlanta fire and said, "David, meet your Scarlett O'Hara". The truth of the matter is actually unknown, and may never be resolved. The early scene where Mammy reprimands Scarlett for not eating is one of the few remaining in the final film shot by original director George Cukor. Super macho director Victor Fleming wanted Scarlett, for at least once in the film, to look like his hunting buddy Clark Gable 's type of woman.

So, when wearing the stunning low-cut burgundy velvet dress with rhinestones that Scarlett wears to Ashley Wilkes' birthday party in the second half of the film, to achieve the desired cleavage for Fleming, Walter Plunkett had to tape Vivien Leigh 's breasts together. Ona Munson , who played brothel madame Belle Watling, considered the film a curse as she was continually typecast afterwards.

As Scarlett is described in the book as having green eyes, Vivien Leigh 's eye color was manually corrected in post-production from their natural blue to green. For the premiere in Atlanta in December 15, , the governor declared a state holiday. Ticket prices for the premiere were 40 times the usual going rate. In attendance were David O. Kern called for the manager and explained that his theater had been chosen for the first public screening of this film, although the identity of the film was to remain undisclosed to the audience until the very moment it began.

People were permitted to leave only if they didn't want to hang around for a film that they didn't know the name of, but after they'd gone the theater was to be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls. The manager was reluctant but eventually agreed. His one request was to call his wife to come to the theater immediately, although he was forbidden to tell her what film she was about to see.

Indeed, Kern stood by him while he made his phone call to ensure he maintained the secret. When the film began, the audience started yelling with excitement. They had been reading about this film for nearly two years, so were naturally thrilled to see it for themselves.

Ann Rutherford got a call at am to be on location to pick cotton for a scene. She was licking the blood off her fingers when picking the cotton. Selznick came by to check on her. She showed him the blood. He said, "Good! Margaret Mitchell 's inspiration for her book title came from the 13th line of the Ernest Dowson poem "Cynara"--"I have forgot much Cynara! Gone with the wind. There are more than 50 speaking roles and 2, extras in the film.

In the film was completely restored from the original three Technicolor negatives. This time digital technology was employed to create results impossible to achieve with traditional methods. The negatives were scanned in at 2K resolution and digitally combined to remove all previous alignment problems and achieve perfect registration despite different amounts of shrinkage in the masters. The resulting digital master is of higher quality than any prints available so far--including the original prints from The color was timed to be identical to that of the surviving answer print of David O.

Selznick , which is the color reference for the film. Reportedly Selznick's original answer print was lost, but it turned up five weeks into the digital restoration process. The color timing of the new digital master was subsequently stopped and started all over again from scratch. This digitally restored version looks truly astonishing, particularly when projected with a digital projector. An improved version, this time working at 4K resolution, is already approved and should be finished in The Blu Ray release comes from a new improved 8K resolution scan, which is the maximum possible limit for the 70mm format.

The entr'acte music is played entirely on a Novachord, the first use of an electronic synthesizer in a Hollywood feature film. Mickey Kuhn , who played Vivien Leigh 's nephew Beau Wilkes, also played the young sailor who helps her onto the streetcar in A Streetcar Named Desire 12 years later.

When Kuhn mentioned to someone on the set that he had acted with Leigh as a child, word got back to her and she called him into her dressing room for a half-hour chat. In an interview in his 70s, Kuhn stated that Leigh was extremely kind to him and "one of the loveliest ladies he had ever met.

In a March newspaper article, David O. Selznick was reported to be considering producing this film as two films, as it was felt that the novel was far too long and complex to be successfully made into a single motion picture for the time. Scarlett's son, Wade Hampton Hamilton, was in an early draft of the script, but was cut from the story before filming began. He does appear in a book of paper dolls of the film's characters that was printed before his part was eliminated from the film.

The sequence that is commonly referred to as "the Burning of Atlanta" was not the actual burning of the city by Gen. William T. Sherman in November Instead, the scene represents the night, two months earlier, when the retreating Confederate army torched its ammunition dumps to keep the Union army from capturing them. Opinion in the African-American community was generally divided upon the release of the film. Some termed it racist and there were protests against in several cities.

Others spoke in favor of Hattie McDaniel 's warm and witty characterization, feeling that the film featured a strong African-American character. Others were more ambivalent about the actual depiction of African-Americans in the film, but felt that the use of African-American actors in prominent roles could lead to increased visibility on screen for other black actors. The Hill of Tara in ancient Irish religion and mythology was the sacred place of dwelling for the gods and kings.

Among lines cut out by the censor are Rhett Butler's: "I've never held fidelity to be a virtue" and "He can't be faithful to his wife with his mind, or unfaithful with his body.

The scene where Scarlett makes a dress out of a curtain later was later spoofed on The Carol Burnett Show in what became one of the most memorable comedy bits in TV history.

Carol Burnett as "Starlet" O'Hara wears the curtains with the rod still in them. Harvey Korman as "Rat" Butler says, "Starlet, that gown is lovely", to which she responds,: "Thank you. I just saw it in the window and couldn't resist it! The premiere was held in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 15, It was reportedly the first time that David O. Selznick had been in the South. For the scene in which Scarlett escapes the burning of the Atlanta Depot, a horse was needed to play Woebegone, an old nag on the verge of collapse.

A suitable candidate was finally found but weeks later, when the horse was brought to the set, it had gained weight and its ribs were no longer visible. There was no time to find a replacement, so the makeup department painted dark shadows on its ribs to give the appearance of malnourishment.

When Alicia Rhett , who played India--the daughter of John Wilkes-died less than one month before her 99th birthday on January 3, , Olivia de Havilland became the last surviving cast member of this movie. This is quite an accomplishment considering the film had over 50 speaking parts. On July 1, , when she turned 99, she also became the cast member with the greatest longevity. De Havilland passed away on July 26, at age and 25 days.

To portray Melanie, Olivia de Havilland spent most of the film in drab, dowdy costumes. She wore two elaborate dresses in the film: one when Melanie and Ashley announce their engagement and a striking blue taffeta dress that Melanie wears to Scarlett's first wedding.

Unfortunately, due to film aspect ratio at the time long before the advent of widescreen , the screen could not accommodate two dresses built up with hoop skirts, so they had to be removed. Thus, de Havilland's rare appearance in a beautiful dress was shot from the waist up, with the skirt hanging limp.

All seven of Hollywood's then-existing Technicolor cameras were used to film the burning of the Atlanta Depot. Flames feet high leaped from a set that covered 40 acres. Ten pieces of fire equipment from the Los Angeles Fire Department, 50 studio firemen and studio helpers stood by throughout the filming of this sequence in case the fire should get out of hand.

Three 5,gallon water tanks were used to quench the flames after shooting. Margaret Mitchell was dismayed at the scale of the Tara and Twelve Oaks sets, writing to her friend, technical advisor Susan Myrick , "I grieve to hear that Tara has columns. I did not know whether to laugh or to throw up at the TWO staircases God help me when the reporters get me after I've seen the picture. I will have to tell the truth, and if Tara has columns and Twelve Oaks is such an elegant affair I will have to say that nothing like that was ever seen in Clayton County, or, for that matter, on land or sea When I think of the healthy, hardy, country and somewhat crude civilization I depicted and then of the elegance that is to be presented, I cannot help yelping with laughter Robert Young , Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Selznick liked Melvyn Douglas ' test very much but considered the actor "too beefy" for the role. Despite the lack of a sequel novel at the time, David O. Selznick and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were always interested in creating a sequel film. Anne Edwards was commissioned to write the sequel as a novel which would then be adapted into a screenplay, and published in conjunction with the film's release.

Edwards submitted a page manuscript entitled "Tara, The Continuation of Gone with the Wind", set between It focused on Scarlett's divorce from Rhett; MGM was not satisfied with the story and the deal collapsed.

Judy Garland was the leading contender for the role of Scarlett's sister Carreen before her "Andy Hardy" series co-star Ann Rutherford was cast, but she was tied up with commitments to another film directed by Victor Fleming : this film.

One of the reasons that Clark Gable hesitated to do the film was his participation in a previous costume drama, Parnell , in The film was a critical and financial disaster, and Gable regretted accepting the role.

Of all the many actresses who tested for the part of Scarlett, only Paulette Goddard and Vivien Leigh were filmed in color. The initial director, George Cukor , was fired over his problems with the screenplay and the constant alterations to it, which he received almost daily from producer David O.

When Victor Fleming came on board in February , he also rejected the script and convinced Selznick that it had to be rewritten. Production was shut down for 17 days while the script was rewritten by Ben Hecht. Supposedly, Hecht was not allowed time to read Margaret Mitchell 's original novel; instead, Selznick and Fleming would often play out parts from the book, to which Hecht had to write dialogue. Hecht was reportedly commanded by Selznick to write almost continuously for days without breaks, with Selznick bringing him food.

Hecht used Sidney Howard 's original script which both he and Fleming felt was superb as the basis for his rewrite, but only got to re-write the first half, which may be one of the reasons why many consider the first half of the movie to be superior to the second half. Ironically, Hecht did not receive official credit for his writing, with Howard listed as the movie's only screenwriter.

There is an unresolved subplot in the novel. Brothel madam Belle Watling has a son whose existence is kept secret for some reason. He is studying away from Atlanta. He is implied to have some significance but remains an unseen character. Rhett Butler is also involved with another unseen character, a young boy who serves as his legal ward.

Rhett frequently visits New Orleans where the boy is studying. One solution to the identity of the boys is that they are the same character, implying a stronger connection between parent figures Rhett Butler and Belle Watling. Female costumes were made complete with petticoats, although they wouldn't have been missed had they not been there.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not the first film to use the word "damn". The expletive was used in numerous silent intertitles and in several talkies, including Cavalcade and Pygmalion The latter was a British film, not subject to American strictures.

The only four actors David O. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Important Quotes Explained. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics. Characters Ashley Wilkes.