<P> Scarlett is too insecure and vain to truly grow up and realize her pursuit of Ashley is misdirected until the climax of the novel . With the death of Melanie Wilkes, she realizes her pursuit of Ashley was a childish romance . She realizes she never really loved Ashley and that she has loved Rhett Butler for some time . She pursues Rhett from the Wilkes home to their home, only to discover he has given up hope of ever receiving her love, and is about to leave her . After telling him she loves him, he refuses to stay with her, which leads to the famous line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn ." Wracked with grief, but determined to once again pursue and win her man, realizing that Tara is what matters most to her (other than Rhett) Scarlet returns home to Tara to launch her pursuit of Rhett at a later time . </P> <P> While the studio and the public agreed that the part of Rhett Butler should go to Clark Gable (except for Clark Gable himself), casting for the role of Scarlett was harder . The search for an actress to play Scarlett in the film version of the novel famously drew the biggest names in the history of cinema, such as Bette Davis (who had been cast as a Southern belle in Jezebel in 1938), and Katharine Hepburn, who went so far as demanding an appointment with producer David O. Selznick and saying, "I am Scarlett O'Hara! The role is practically written for me ." Selznick replied rather bluntly, "I can't imagine Rhett Butler chasing you for twelve years ." Jean Arthur and Lucille Ball were also considered, as well as relatively unknown actress Doris Davenport . Susan Hayward was "discovered" when she tested for the part, and the career of Lana Turner developed quickly after her screen test . Tallulah Bankhead and Joan Bennett were widely considered to be the most likely choices until they were supplanted by Paulette Goddard . </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> <P> In any case, Leigh was cast--despite public protest that the role was too "American" for an English actress--but Leigh was able to pull off the role so well that she eventually won an Academy Award for her performance as Scarlett O'Hara . </P>

Who played scarlette o'hara in gone with the wind