Arte is broadcasting “Gone With the Wind” this evening, and find out who is the actor who refused the role of Rhett Butler because he didn’t imagine the film would bring in a dollar!
In the early years of Hollywood, getting an actor for a role could be complicated, because if he was under contract with a studio other than the film’s studio, inter-studio negotiations were necessary.
When the project to adapt Gone With the Wind for the cinema was launched, its producer David O. Selznick found his Scarlett O’Hara by auditioning nearly thirty professional actresses: it would be Vivien Leigh. It remains to choose who will be the male lead, Rhett Butler, and his second choice is Clark Gable. However, the actor is under contract with the MGM company, which will only “lend” him to Selznick if it receives half of the film’s profits.
Did you know that filming the kiss in the film was an ordeal for Vivien Leigh?
MGM Clark Gable
Selznick instead turns to the one he absolutely wants, another confirmed star, hero of A Farewell to Arms, The Extravagant Mr. Deeds, Desire or even Peter Ibbetson: the actor Gary Cooper. The latter was therefore offered the role, but he too was under contract with the Samuel Goldwyn studio, which flatly refused to lend him.
Selznick does not give up and goes around the studio to speak directly to Cooper. He asks her to break her contract with Goldwyn and accept the role of Rhett Butler. But the actor categorically refuses. For the producer, it’s a cold shower, because he is told of Cooper’s words, whispered in private:
Warner Bros.
Cooper in “The Adventures of Captain Wyatt”
Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’s Clark Gable who finds himself lower than the earth and not me!
Disappointed, Selznick reluctantly accepted MGM’s conditions and still hired the actor he felt was right for the role. Ultimately, Gone with the Wind not only earned Clark Gable an Oscar nomination for Best Actor but above all became the film which, adjusted for inflation, is still the greatest success of all time today!
If it were released in 2023, it would have grossed more than $4 billion, still outpacing the huge hits released since then in theaters.
MGM
Gary Cooper would have regretted all his life having refused the role and in his biography dedicated to the actor, Hector Arce attributes these words to him years later:
“It was one of the best roles ever offered to Hollywood… But I said no. I didn’t see myself as dapper and later, when I saw Clark Gable play the role to perfection, I I knew I was right.”