50 Fun Facts About Gone with the Wind

Who wrote the novel Gone with the Wind?

It was the only novel published in her lifetime.

In what year was the novel published?

Selznick bought the film rights a month later for $50,000.

Which honour did the author win for the novel in 1937?

She also received the second-ever National Book Award for Fiction.

The novel's title comes from a poem by which writer?

Mitchell had tentatively titled it Tomorrow Is Another Day, from its last line.

What was Scarlett O'Hara's first name in Mitchell's manuscript before publication?

She had spent three years on the book after leaving her Atlanta Journal job.

Which publisher's editor, Harold Latham, discovered Mitchell's manuscript in 1935?

She spent another six months checking historical references and rewriting the opening chapter.

Roughly how many copies of the novel have been printed worldwide?

Critics of the day complained mostly about its length, over 1,000 pages.

Gerald O'Hara named his plantation Tara after what?

Mitchell modelled it on her grandmother's Clayton County plantation, Rural Home.

What are the novel's famous last words?

Scarlett resolves to return to Tara and win Rhett back.

Who produced the 1939 film?

He won the Irving Thalberg Award that year and Best Picture again with Rebecca in 1940.

How much did Selznick pay the author for the film rights in July 1936?

Filming was then delayed two years while he secured Clark Gable.

Who is the credited director of the film?

Fleming also directed The Wizard of Oz the same year, and won the Oscar for this one.

Which original director was fired shortly after filming began?

He carried on privately coaching Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland.

Roughly how many unknown women were interviewed in the nationwide search for Scarlett?

Only about thirty, plus Vivien Leigh, were actually screen-tested.

Who was the other finalist tested in Technicolor alongside Vivien Leigh on December 20, 1938?

Hepburn had lobbied hard with Cukor's support but was vetoed by Selznick.

On what occasion did Vivien Leigh first meet Selznick, brought along by his brother Myron?

That was December 10, 1938, before she had even been cast.

Who personally operated the controls for the explosives in the burning of Atlanta sequence?

New facades were built in front of old abandoned backlot sets and burned down.

Which studio supplied the star playing Rhett and half the budget in exchange for distribution rights?

Warner had offered a package of its own contract stars instead, but its leading lady refused to play opposite Errol Flynn.

Who plays Ashley Wilkes?

He died in 1943 when the Luftwaffe shot down his BOAC flight from Lisbon.

Who plays Melanie Hamilton?

She lived to 104, the oldest surviving Oscar winner when she died in 2020.

How many competitive Academy Awards did the film win?

Plus two honorary awards, from thirteen nominations.

Which co-star did Hattie McDaniel beat to become the first African American Oscar winner?

At the ceremony she was made to sit at a segregated table.

Which character did Hattie McDaniel play?

In 2006 she became the first Black Oscar winner honoured with a US postage stamp.

Who threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere after McDaniel was barred, until she persuaded him to go?

About 300,000 people turned out in Atlanta for the December 15, 1939 premiere.

At which Atlanta theatre did the film premiere on December 15, 1939?

A 1961 rerelease held a gala 'premiere' there for the Civil War centennial.

The screenwriting Oscar was awarded posthumously to whom?

He died at 48 in a farm-tractor accident before the premiere; many others rewrote his script.

Who composed the score, including 'Tara's Theme'?

At two hours thirty-six minutes it was the longest score he ever wrote, and it took him twelve weeks.

Which studio lent the film's composer to Selznick?

Steiner had also scored King Kong and would go on to score Casablanca.

The Hays Office did not fine Selznick $5,000 for 'damn'. What actually happened?

The amendment passed on November 1, 1939, six weeks before release.

How does Rhett's famous last line differ in Mitchell's novel?

The AFI voted the film version the number-one movie line of all time in 2005.

Which cinematographer was replaced a month into shooting because his footage looked 'too dark'?

Ernest Haller took over alongside Technicolor specialist Ray Rennahan.

Gone with the Wind was the first Best Picture winner shot in what?

It also picked up honorary awards for its use of equipment and colour.

When adjusted for inflation, Gone with the Wind holds which record?

Early road-show screenings charged over $1 a ticket, and MGM took an unprecedented 70 percent of receipts.

What share of the box office did MGM collect during the film's initial road-show run?

The typical studio share at the time was 30 to 35 percent.

In which year was the film among the 25 inaugural National Film Registry titles?

The Library of Congress picks films that are 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.

Which cinema format was the film blown up to for its 1967 re-release?

The new poster showed Gable with his shirt ripped open against orange flames.

In June 2020 the film was temporarily removed from which streaming service after John Ridley's op-ed?

It returned with an introduction contextualising its racial depictions.

Rhett and Scarlett's daughter is nicknamed what?

She dies trying to jump a fence on her pony.

Vivien Leigh's second Best Actress Oscar came for playing which role?

She had played Blanche on stage in London before the 1951 film of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The actor who played Rhett won his only Oscar for which earlier film?

He was nominated but did not win for Rhett Butler.

Who wrote the authorised 1991 sequel novel to Gone with the Wind?

Her book, Scarlett, became a 1994 miniseries starring Timothy Dalton and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer.

Which actor played Rhett Butler in the 1994 Scarlett miniseries?

Ripley's book picks up at Melanie's funeral.

Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy, was born with what first name?

She was originally a dancer, and Gone with the Wind was her first film.

Which two actresses went to Selznick's office in full costume to beg him to keep the original director?

They heard of the firing on the day the Atlanta bazaar scene was shot.

Which producer's honour did Selznick also receive at the 12th Academy Awards?

It recognised his shepherding of the film through its troubled production.

Which trio of stars did a rival studio offer for the leads in return for distribution rights?

Davis refused to star opposite Flynn as Rhett.

Selznick's memos said waiting for a final screenplay rewrite cost him how much per day?

Time was of the essence, so many writers took passes at Sidney Howard's script.

Margaret Mitchell began writing Gone with the Wind in 1926 while recovering from what?

After Macmillan agreed to publish it, she spent another six months checking historical references and rewriting the opening chapter.

Which 2001 novel retold the story from the enslaved people's perspective and survived a copyright suit as parody?

After a federal appeals court refused an injunction, the parties settled and Alice Randall's book became a New York Times bestseller.

Which 1958 film broke Gone with the Wind's record of eight competitive Oscar wins?

Ben-Hur then topped the overall tally of ten with eleven wins the following year.