With the words "After all …tomorrow is another day," Scarlett O'Hara looks forward to what the future will bring for her. What the role brought actress Vivien Leigh were accolades, awards, and possibly the most famous female movie performance in the history of cinema.
"Gone with the Wind," the 1939 movie directed by Victor Fleming (with a little help by George Cukor) and starring Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel is likely the most noteworthy epic film of all time.
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It finds itself on many all-time top 10 lists for best movies and Leigh's performance as Scarlett is one of the reasons for its enduring charm. Here are several quotes about Leigh and Scarlett.
1. "Miss Leigh's Scarlett has vindicated the absurd talent quest that indirectly turned her up. She is so perfectly designed for the part by art and nature that any other actress in the role would be inconceivable."
The New York Times film critic Frank S. Nugent discussing the elongated search that producer David O. Selznick undertook when casting the movie.
2. "Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh were well matched in the two most coveted movie roles of the era."
Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, discussing the perfectly-match leads of the movie.
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3. "Vivien Leigh, the little English girl imported to play the role of Scarlett, gives a magnificent performance. No other actress in Hollywood, or on the New York stage, could have come close to equaling it. Miss Leigh steps into Scarlett's lovely little slippers with so much authority, Georgian accent and all, that she automatically becomes one of Hollywood's brightest stars."
New York Daily News film critic Kate Cameron on the immediate impact that Leigh's performance will have.
4. "Gable and Leigh seem so born to play Rhett and Scarlett that it's easy to overlook how accomplished their performances are."
Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas on how easy the two stars made their performances look.
5. "Vivien Leigh in appearance and movements is perfect as Scarlett. Her acting is best when she is allowed to accentuate the contrasts of the split personality she portrays."
The Nation's Franz Hollering, writing about what a good fit the role of Scarlett was for Leigh's gifts as an actress.
6. "I hope I've one thing that Scarlett never had. A sense of humor. I want some joy out of life. And she had one thing I hope I never have. Selfish egotism." Leigh, discussing the differences, she hoped anyway, between herself and her iconic character.
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