Recent Obituaries, Classic Films Only

[CBHagman]

83. "Gone with the Wind" cast member Alicia Rhett, 98.

Yes, Rhett really was her surname, and she was even a native Southerner, born in Savannah and relocated to Charleston.

TCM has a lovely write-up:

[url]http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/160752|180318/Alicia-Rhett/[/url]

[url]http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/03/showbiz/alicia-rhett-dies/[/url]

Rhett was doing local theater productions when she was spotted for a role in the 1939 classic "Gone With the Wind," a film based on Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

She was cast as India Wilkes, sister of plantation owner Ashley Wilkes who was at odds with Scarlet O'Hara, played by Vivien Leigh.

While the runaway success and continued notoriety of "Gone With the Wind" made Rhett recognizable nationwide, she did not pursue the limelight. Instead of heading to Hollywood, Rhett went back to Charleston.

In the coastal South Carolina city, she developed a reputation as a talented artist, producing works seen in the state library and in many plantations in the area, as well as sketches of her fellow "Gone With the Wind" cast members, according to Borts.