Remembering Gone With The Wind

                 
                                                                   Alicia Rhett played India Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind." (Everett Collection)

Gone With the Wind (GWTW) is my all time favorite movie.  I used to sit for hours watching it from beginning to end on my VHS tape.  I did step up, and purchase the DVD finally.  I’ve often wondered how Hollywood chooses the actors and actresses for roles.  At times, it seems impossible to have found a better actor or actress for their role they are in.  They couldn’t have picked a better actress than Vivian Leigh to play the starring role of Scarlett O’Hara.  She was a beautiful and talented actress. 

Today, I’m remembering India Wilkes one of Scarlett O’Hara’s enemies.  India Wilkes was played by Alicia Rhett, shown above.  Alicia Rhett passed away yesterday at age 98.  She actually auditioned for the role of Melanie Wilkes, but the role went to Olivia de Havillan. Alicia was offered and accepted the role as India Wilkes instead. In the movie Melanie Wilkes, played by Olivia de Havillan, comes from an inbreeding family. She marries her cousin and India’s brother, Ashley Wilkes, who Scarlett was in love with.  From there, they were intertwined. 

My fondest memory of India was when Scarlett called her an old maid during an argument.  It seems that her role of being an unmarried woman continued after filming.  Off screen, Alicia Rhett never married or had children. She returned to Charleston, SC after (GWTW) and continued to paint and do stage acting.  Much of her art is on display in her home town of Savannah, GA.    

There are 3 cast members who are still living, Olivia de Havilland, 97, who resides in Paris.  Mary Anderson, 93, who played Maybelle Merriweather; and Mickey Kuhn, 81, who played Beau Wilkes, Ashley and Melanie’s son.  
Gone With the Wind earned an Oscar and an Academy Award.  The period dresses and scenes were amazing.  It was a fascinating movie by all accounts.  Alicia Rhett, rest in peace and thanks for helping to make Gone With the Wind one of the best movies in American History.