clark gable was rhett butler in gone with the wind.
who was rhett butler in gone with the wind?
clark gable
in the 1939 film version of "gone with the wind", for the role of rhett butler, clark gable was an almost immediate favorite for both the public and producer david o. selznick (except for gable himself). but as selznick had no male stars under long-term contract, he needed to go through the process of negotiating to borrow an actor from another studio. gary cooper was thus selznick's first choice, because cooper's contract with samuel goldwyn involved a common distribution company, united artists, with which selznick had an eight-picture deal. however, goldwyn remained noncommittal in negotiations. warner bros. offered a package of bette davis, errol flynn, and olivia de havilland for the lead roles in return for the distribution rights. when gary cooper turned down the role of rhett butler, he was passionately against it. he was quoted saying, ""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 gary cooper". but by then selznick was determined to get clark gable, and eventually found a way to borrow him from metro-goldwyn-mayer. selznick's father-in-law, mgm chief louis b. mayer, offered in may 1938 to fund half of the movie's budget in return for a powerful package: 50% of the profits would go to mgm, the movie's distribution would be credited to mgm's parent company, loew's, inc., and loew's would receive 15 percent of the movie's gross income. selznick accepted this offer in august, and gable was cast. but the arrangement to release through mgm meant delaying the start of production until selznick international completed its eight-picture contract with united artists. gable was reluctant to play the role. at the time, he was wary of potentially disappointing a public who had formed a clear impression of the character that he might not necessarily convey in his performance.
rhett butler
rhett butler's people









































rhett butler's people by donald mccaig is an authorized sequel to "gone with the wind". it was published in november 2007.









































fully authorized by the margaret mitchell estate, "rhett butler’s people" is a novel that parallels "gone with the wind" from rhett butler's perspective. the book was unveiled on november 3, 2007, after several years of setbacks and two previous authors. both emma tennant and pat conroy had previously been commissioned by the estate to produce the book.
rhett butler's people