80th Anniversary of "Gone With the Wind"-- Part 3: Alicia Rhett, Her One and Only Movie Role

Alicia Rhett, who played India Wilkes, was the granddaughter of a Confederate Army soldier who served during the Civil War.

**  She died in 2014, one of the last of the actors and actresses from the movie.  This was her one and only movie role.   Reportedly, she did not much care for the whole Hollywood scene.

**  From IMdb:  Quote on the making of the movie:  "Clark Gable was great, always on time, always  knew his lines.  Leslie Howard had charm to burn.    Vivien Leigh  was delightful, an indefatigable worker, and just as pretty offstage as on.    So was Olivia de Havilland."

**  Originally tested for the role of Melanie.

**  Was an accomplished sketch and portrait artist before her role as India Wilkes.

**  During the filming of the movie, she did thumbnail sketches of everyone.

**  Her father was Lt. Edmund Moore Rhett (1877-1918)  Died at age 41.  He graduated from West Point in 1900 and was in the Army Corps of Engineers.  Died in Wilmington, Delaware.

I am unable to find any more information of him.

**  Reportedly, the Lady Baltimore cake was invented by one of her father's sisters, Alicia Middleton Rhett Mayberry.

**  And, her actual family name would appear to have had something to do with a famous name from the movie.

Rhett?  Rhett?  Where Have I Heard That Name?  --Old Secesh

80th Anniversary of "Gone With the Wind"-- Part 2" "I Am Not In It"

**  While visiting Atlanta's Cyclorama, the famed panoramic depiction o the Battle of  Atlanta, Clark Gable joked that there was one thing wrong with it:  "I am not in it."

Soon afterwards, one of the mannequins in the exhibit was altered to look like Rhett, with a handlebar mustache, fallen on the battlefield.

From the December 15, 2009 Civil War Picket on the 70th anniversary of "Gone With the Wind."

"I saw Rhett Butler today.   He didn't look so good.

"He was lying on the ground.  His eyes had no focus.  Blood covered part of his abdomen."

On the morning of December 15, Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfied (for whom Atlanta's airport is named), took Clark Kent and his new wife Carole Lombard o the Cyclorama at Grant Park.  Although impressed, Clark said it didn't have him, Rhett, in it.

Hartsfield later had artist Weis Snell  make a Rhett Butler of a dying Union soldier.

And, evidently, he is still there.

"Take a good look my dear.  It's a historic moment you can tell your grandchildren about -- how you watched the Old South fall one night."    Answer below.

Who Said That?  --Old Secesh


Rhett Butler