News

This week 48 years ago Film producer David O. Selznick died (aged 63). He was one of the most influential independent producers of his time
June 22, 1965

Congratulations
Within 12 days it will be Olivia de Havilland`s 97th birthday. (July 1, 1916)
(Melanie Hamilton)

Within 18 days it would have been George Cukor`s (Director) 114th birthday.
* July 7, 1899
† January 23, 1983

Within 22 days it would have been Thomas Mitchell`s (Father O’Hara) 121th birthday.
* July 11, 1892
† December 17, 1962

Within 25 days it would have been Leona Roberts`s (Mrs. Meade) 132th birthday.
* July 14, 1881
† January 30, 1954

Within 28 days it would have been Barbara O’Neil`s (Ellen O’Hara) 103th birthday.
* July 17, 1910
† June 3, 1980

Trivia

The movie was completely shot in California, mostly in the studio’s backlot. The burning of Atlanta was filmed first to clean out leftover sets from old movies like King Kong (the giant gates) and David Copperfield. Source / More (Book)

Release date: December 15, 1939

Actor Gary Cooper: “Gone with the wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me”. Source / More (Book)

For “The burning of Atlanta” producer Selznick ordered more than 30 acres of the Pathe backlot to be put to torch. Every Technicolor camera (there were only seven) was used to record the fire from different angles. Source / More (Book)

Olivia De Havilland: “It was Davi’s [Selznick, the producer] unifying influence that made it possible for us to shoot. You would shoot a scene in the morning, say, with Victor Fleming and then you would change your costume and go to another stage and shoot another scene that afternoon with Sam Wood. For actors, that is agony. But we did it because David made us believe that we could. ” Source / More (Web)

Gone with the wind ranks number 1 in the American box-office rankings
Grossing adjusted for inflation -> $1,293 m Source / More (Web)

Writer Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Gone with the Wind.

In 1994 there was a six-hour TV mini-series sequel titled Scarlett, that was based on the follow-up novel by Alexandra Ripley.

Director George Cukor was fired because producer David O. Selznick objected to the slow pace of filming, and star Clark Gable had personal conflicts with him.
Cukor: “Clark Gable took to seriously my reputation for being a good director for actresses. He was concerned that I was favoring Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland over him”. Source / More (Book)

Director Cukor was fired but afterward both Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland asked him every night what they should do with their scenes for the next day’s shooting. Source / More (Book)

Vivien Leigh: “On Sundays, when we didn’t shoot, I’d steal over to George Cukor’s and discuss with him the bits we’d be working on the next week. It was probably terribly irregular, but I couldn’t have finished it without him.” Source / More (Book)

Margaret Mitchell published Gone with the Wind in 1936. She wrote the work from a house on Peachtree St. in Atlanta where she lived from 1925-1932.

Bibliography

Bio

Clark Gable

Movie news

This week 77 years ago San Francisco premiered (June 26, 1936)

Born:

February 1, 1901

Born as:

William Clark Gable

Died:

November 16, 1960

Clark was born in Cadiz, Ohio. When he was 16 he dropped out of school and worked at many odd jobs before joining a traveling theater company. While he was in Hollywood he got extra work in White man (1924).

Gable's first big break came when he was cast in the lead of the Broadway play Machinal (1928). His Hollywood breakthrough came when he appeared as a gangster in the Joan Crawford vehicle Dance , Fools , Dance (1931). Gable's popularity continued to rise throughout the 30s with movies like Red dust (1932), It happened one night (1934) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). By the end of the decade he was known as the King.

Wary of period films after flopping in the costume drama Parnell (1937) Gable at first declined the role of Rhett Butler in the Margaret Mitchell best-seller, Gone with the Wind (1939).

When his wife died in 1942, Clark joined the airforce and received several medals for flying bombing missions over Germany. Gable returned to the screen in 1945 but he never regained the box-office standing he'd enjoyed before the war.

He gave a memorable performance in his last motion picture, The Misfits (1961) (also the final film for Marilyn Monroe) but by then he was exhausted on doing his own stunts and he died of a heart attack within a few days of the film's completion.

Academy awards:

1940 Nominated Best Actor for: Gone with the Wind (1939)
1936 Nominated Best Actor for: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
1935 Won Best Actor for: It Happened One Night (1934)

Selected Movies:

• It Happened One Night (1934)
• Gone with the Wind (1939)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
• San Francisco (1936)
• Red Dust (1932)
• Show Business at War (1943)

Books:

Gabe Essoe -> The Films of Clark Gable (1970)
Lyn Tornabene -> Long Live the King (1976)
Jane Ellen Wayne -> Clark Gable: Portrait of a Misfit (1993)