<P> The young English actress Vivien Leigh , virtually unknown in America , saw that several English actors , including Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard , were in consideration for the male leads in Gone with the Wind . Her agent happened to be the London representative of the Myron Selznick talent agency , headed by David Selznick 's brother , Myron . Leigh asked Myron to put her name into consideration as Scarlett on the eve of the American release of her picture Fire Over England in February 1938 . David Selznick watched both Fire Over England and her most recent picture , A Yank at Oxford , that month , and thought she was excellent but in no way a possible Scarlett , as she was `` too British '' . But Myron Selznick arranged for David to first meet Leigh on the night in December 1938 when the burning of the Atlanta Depot was being filmed on the Forty Acres backlot that Selznick International and RKO shared . Leigh and her then lover Laurence Olivier ( later to be her husband ) were visiting as guests of Myron Selznick , who was also Olivier 's agent , while Leigh was in Hollywood hoping for a part in Olivier 's current movie , Wuthering Heights . In a letter to his wife two days later , David Selznick admitted that Leigh was `` the Scarlett dark horse '' , and after a series of screen tests , her casting was announced on January 13 , 1939 . Just before the shooting of the film , Selznick informed Ed Sullivan : `` Scarlett O'Hara's parents were French and Irish . Identically , Miss Leigh 's parents are French and Irish . '' </P>
<P> The young English actress Vivien Leigh , virtually unknown in America , saw that several English actors , including Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard , were in consideration for the male leads in Gone with the Wind . Her agent happened to be the London representative of the Myron Selznick talent agency , headed by David Selznick 's brother , Myron . Leigh asked Myron to put her name into consideration as Scarlett on the eve of the American release of her picture Fire Over England in February 1938 . David Selznick watched both Fire Over England and her most recent picture , A Yank at Oxford , that month , and thought she was excellent but in no way a possible Scarlett , as she was `` too British '' . But Myron Selznick arranged for David to first meet Leigh on the night in December 1938 when the burning of the Atlanta Depot was being filmed on the Forty Acres backlot that Selznick International and RKO shared . Leigh and her then lover Laurence Olivier ( later to be her husband ) were visiting as guests of Myron Selznick , who was also Olivier 's agent , while Leigh was in Hollywood hoping for a part in Olivier 's current movie , Wuthering Heights . In a letter to his wife two days later , David Selznick admitted that Leigh was `` the Scarlett dark horse '' , and after a series of screen tests , her casting was announced on January 13 , 1939 . Just before the shooting of the film , Selznick informed Ed Sullivan : `` Scarlett O'Hara's parents were French and Irish . Identically , Miss Leigh 's parents are French and Irish . '' </P>
who played scarlette o'hara in gone with the wind
who played scarlette o'hara in gone with the wind
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh