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"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."
--- I never knew that Gary Cooper was David O. Selznick's first choice for Rhett Butler, did you? Granted I'm not the biggest Gone With the Wind historian (I only saw the movie for the first time about five years ago) but I still found that quote from Coop pretty damned amusing. I suppose he ate some crow around the time the movie became the most successful thing of all time.
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Pretty much every major movie star was considered for a part in Gone with the Wind. I think I prefer Gary Cooper to Clark Gable in general but I can't imagine anyone being as good as Gable in the role.
Cooper was first choice, then Jack Warner tried to sell a package deal of Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland but Bette adamantly refused. Although she was feuding as usual with Warners at the time she said that she would have refused it at any time if Flynn was cast as Rhett since she thought it should be Gable like most everybody else. Olivia of course did end up as Melanie but she had to fight for it too.
Margaret Mitchell however said she had always envisioned Basil Rathbone in the role. I see him making more sense as Ashley Wilkes, although like Leslie Howard he was too old for it by the time it was made. Selznick wanted Tyrone Power but Fox wouldn't lend him out, a pity because he would have been perfectly suited to the part and at that point was at the peak of his beauty.
Leslie Howard is a great actor.. but not in Gone with the Wind. They really fucked that up, casting wise.
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