Gone With The Wind Tests

Auditions and screen tests for Gone With The Wind

Appearing : Tallulah Bankhead, Susan Hayward, Margaret Tallichet, Frances Dee, Mary Ray, Lana Turner, Paulette Goddard, Anita Louise, Dorothy Jordan, Linda Watkins, Frances Fuller, Adrea Leeds, Jean Kent, Anne Shirley, Marsha Hunt, Mervlyn Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn, Joan Bennett, Jean Arthur, Hattie Noel, Hattie McDaniel, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, and Clark Gable.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[Stone Salter]

I kinda like Paulette Goddard. She probably could play a pretty good Scarlett, but still paled in comparison to the great Vivien Leigh. Much like Marlon Brando in the Godfather, there will never be anyone, past present and future, that can play Scarlett O'Hara as well as Vivien Leigh.

[JoanJettTehRunaway]

is no one going to mention how adorable Leslie Howard was?

[Nurse Grace]

Dear gods, Lana Turner's such a wretched actress!

[Victor Talking Machine]

nothing seems wrong or too young and inexperienced for susan hayward here. she should have been included in final tests, resulting in five instead of four finalists.

[Allison Ruchinskas]

yes but not just that if Paulette Goddard had been cast scarlett could have been a different character all together. Leigh fought with Fleming to add depth to scarlett and not just portray her as a heartless bitch. Who knows if anyone else would have objected?

[Lance Turner]

Such a great actor. Such a great performance. I loved him in Pygmalion as well.

[lacouerfairy]

Paulette Goddard was a big NO.

[popper517]

Goddard is too old and looks like a middle aged woman.

[Lila Villa]

Goddard was excellent. But no one compares to Leigh. It had to be Leigh and no one else...and no one could have replaced Leslie Howard, de Havilland or Gable either. The secret was that the actors themselves were very much like their Gone with the Wind characters in real life.

[ikallicrates]

Yes, Tallulah Bankhead would have been much more convincing.

[ikallicrates]

Are you suggesting that George Cukor should have played Scarlett in drag?

[ikallicrates]

Bette Davis did not turn down the role of Scarlett. She wanted to play it very badly, but Jack Warner refused to let Selznick have her unless Errol Flynn played Rhett (Davis and Flynn were both Warner Bros contract players at the time). Margaret Mitchell said she wrote her novel with Clark Gable in mind as Rhett, and wouldn't sell the film rights to Selznick until he promised her Gable would play Rhett, so Flynn (and Davis) were out.