‘Gone With the Wind’ Star Dies

Alicia Rhett, who played India Wilkes in 1939’s Gone With the Wind and the oldest surviving cast member, died Friday. She was 98. The great-granddaughter of U.S. Sen. Robert Rhett, known as the “Father of the Secession,” As a theatre actress in Charleston, she was spotted by George Cukor, the original director of Gone With the Wind, and he considered her for the role of Melanie Hamilton. The role went to Olivia De Havilland instead, and Rhett took the smaller role as Hamilton’s spinster sister-in-law. It was Rhett’s only film role, she then went back to Charleston and worked as an artist. She never married. There are only three surviving cast members left of the film: De Havilland, 97, and supporter actors Mary Anderson, 93 (Maybelle Merriweather), and Mickey Kuhn, 81 (Beau Wilkes).