|
David
Selznick
(5 May 1902, Pittsburgh, PA - 22
June 1965, Los Angeles, CA)
 |
While
still finishing GWTW, David began working on a movie version of Rebecca
with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. It premiered in 1940 and was a
huge box office success. Right after it Selznick International got
liquidated and David formed David O. Selznick Productions which operated
till 1948. Among most notable movies made there were: Since You Went
Away (1944) with Jennifer Jones, Hattie McDaniel and Shirley Temple,
Spellbound
(1945) and Duel in the Sun (1946). He
took a break from film making in 1948, and traveled to Europe getting to
know the way foreign movies were made.
His marriage to Irene Mayer lasted till 1948, when they divorced but
remained in a close relationship. Irene Mayer Selznick became a New
York theatrical producer. Their sons:
Lewis Jeffrey (1932-1997) and Daniel (1936- ) both became movie
producers. In 1949 David married Jennifer Jones. Their marriage lasted
till 1965 and they had a daughter, Mary Jennifer (1954-1976).
In 1957 David produced A Farewell to Arms, a movie |
that he had always longed to make,
but as he said it did not turn out to be a thing he was very proud of. All of
his works were always compared to GWTW and deemed inferior by the critics.
David died of a heart attack on June 22nd, 1965 in Los Angeles. Famous for his
memo writing habit, he had even dictated a memo covering his funeral; the services should be simple and brief so
that no one would be bored.
Vivien Leigh
(5 November 1913, Darjeering, (British)
India - 8 July 1967, London)
 |
Vivien
was on top of the world in 1940, having again charmed the critics with
her role in Waterloo Bridge opposite Robert Taylor, and marrying
Olivier in the summer of 1940. After an ill-fated stage production of Romeo
and Juliet they both starred in That Hamilton Woman (1941). In 1941 they
returned to England and got involved in the war effort, Vivien
entertaining troops in Northern Africa and working in the theater, Larry
portraying Shakespearian heroes on screen. The Oliviers easily became
the most glamorous, admired and beloved couple in postwar Britain. In
1947 Olivier was knighted by King George VI and they were now known as Sir
Laurence and Lady Olivier.
Professional life was full of successes: in 1948 they led a tour of Australia and
New
Zealand. In 1951 Vivien went back to |
America where she won an Oscar for her performance as Blanche DuBois in
a movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire (she had portrayed Blanche on the
London stage before) and the couple had a successful run of 2 Cleopatras on Broadway (Shakespeare's
Antony and Cleopatra, Shaw's Ceasar and Cleopatra). At that time she started
experiencing mood swings which were later diagnosed as bipolar disorder. The
marriage showed signs of crisis: Viv enjoying life to the fullest and Olivier
drifting into his art added to the fact that they could not have a baby they both
longed for.
In the mid-fifties the Oliviers again acted together in Shakepeare's plays
in Statford-upon-Avon; among these was Macbeth, which reached greatness,
with Vivien's Lady Macbeth considered now the best of the century and Olivier's Macbeth
probably the best Macbeth ever.
~~~"They had money, they had everything.
I've never seen people so adored, so admired. But there was a terrible price to
pay and in the end you suddenly saw that all that beauty and all that richness
and all that fame - it was worth very little. They only thing that was priceless
were those moments of inspiration, when people went 'woaaah'. These moments will
live forever".*
~~~Their stormy marriage ended in 1960. Vivien went on living with her companion,
Jack Merivale, and perfoming on stage and on screen (her last performance in
Ship of Fools, 1965). In 1967 she suffered from the recurrence of TB, (with which she
was first diagnosed during the war) and she died of it in her London home
on July, 8th, 1967.
Laurence Olivier married actress Joan Plowright, had kids and a further
successful acting career, in years 1963-73 heading the National Theatre and in
1970 becoming Lord Olivier of Brighton. He died in 1989.
In Vivien's career there were roles for which she won more critical acclaim than
for her performance in GWTW. But for millions of movie-goers around the world
she remained Scarlett O'Hara in whatever she did. She once noted: "I will
be remembered for three roles: Scarlett, Blanche and Lady O."
Clark Gable
(1 February 1901,
Cadiz, OH - 16 November 1960, Los Angeles, CA)
 |
After
GWTW Clark Gable remained exactly what he had been before: Clark Gable
The King of Hollywood. Right away he continued making movies at MGM, in
1940 alone he starred in three, (among these Strange Cargo with
Joan Crawford) and the public adored him. In his private life he was
happily married to Carole Lombard and lived on a ranch in Encino. This blissful
life ended when Carole, who had involved herself in the war effort, died
in a plane crash in 1942. Clark was devastated. Since Carole once asked
him to, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. After a training in Florida,
he did flying missions over Germany, and was eventually promoted to a
major. When the war ended he went back to Hollywood and to making movies.
Audiences changed and he never regained his 1930s popularity but still
there was no one who could fill his shoes in movies such as Mogambo
(1953) in which he starred opposite Grace Kelly.
Clark was back in Hollywood's life, dating and socializing and in 1949
he married Lady Sylvia Ashley but they became estranged within eighteen
months. He then rediscovered Kay Spreckles, whom he had dated in
the forties. They married and he |
became a father to her two kids: Bunky and Joanie. In the fifties
Clark made a couple of freelance movies which were not very successful at the
box office. Then in 1960 he agreed to do The Misfits, opposite Marilyn Monroe.
He was paid more than any actor in Hollywood ever; he also insisted on
performing his own stunts, therefore had to lose weight. The movie was filmed in
the heat of Nevada deserts and the shooting dragged on mostly due to Marilyn's
problems but Clark got the happy news that Kay was pregnant. The crew moved to
LA and then Clark suffered his first heart attack.
On November 16th, two weeks after finishing The Misfits Clark Gable died of a heart
attack at 59. A lifetime of hard living had taken its toll. At his funeral David
O. Selznick said of Gable: "He was a kind of fellow you were sure that would
live for a hundred years"...Kay arranged for Gable to be buried alongside
Carole Lombard in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Six months after Clark's death his
only son was christened John Clark Gable.**
Clark's performance in The Misfits was greatly praised but he did not live to
see the final version. But when watching the unfinished rough cut of the film
Clark remarked: "I now have to things to be proud of in my career: Gone
With the Wind and this".
Olivia de Havilland
(1 July, 1916, Tokio, Japan - )
 |
After GWTW Olivia went back to Warner Bros. and continued making movies. For her
role in 1941 movie Hold Back The Dawn, Olivia received an Oscar nomination in
Best Actress category, but she lost to her sister, Joan Fontaine in Suspicion (adding
extra heat to the long-standing feud between the two sisters). Tired of playing
the same type of sweet girls all the time, she asked Warners for more demanding
roles. They declined and put her under a six-month suspension (which she would
have to make up later). In 1945 Olivia sued the studio, and won. The court's
milestone ruling established the so-called "De Havilland Law" which
called for a termination of actors' contracts, no matter how much time had been
added on suspensions.
In 1946 Olivia received an Oscar for her role in To Each His Own, in 1948 an
Oscar nomination for The Snake Pit and in 1949 an Oscar
for her performance in The Heiress. |
In 1945 she married Marcus Goodrich and in 1949 their son, Benjamin was born;
but marriage lasted only till 1953 and ended in divorce. With her second husband,
Pierre Galante, she moved to France in 1955. They had one daugther, Gisele, (b.
1956). Despite the divorce in 1979, they remained on friendly terms, and in the
late 'nineties, when Pierre was diagnosed with cancer she nursed him until his
death in 1998.
In later years, Olivia performed on Broadway and on television, also made some
memorable movies such as Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, opposite her friend, Bette
Davis.
Today she remains the only surviving principal from the cast of GWTW; she
resides in Paris, France.
|