The Golden Age of Movies Comes to Kent State

Gina Wilhelm Actress - The Golden Age of Movies Comes to Kent State

Ann Rutherford is pleased to find that "'Gone with the Wind' has almost become an entity unto itself."

Rutherford will talk about her extensive career when she visits Kent State University on April 30th. Her speech is titled "Tales of Hollywood's Golden Age."

She had had a long career, starring in several films before she played Careen O'Hara, Scarlett's younger sister, in "Gone with the Wind."

She played Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy movies and was in a series of movies starring Red Skelton.

She was also in the 1938 "A Christmas Carol" and "Pride and Prejudice" in 1940 at MGM.

She feels it was good sense to take the "nothing part" in "Gone with the Wind."

One day she received a telephone call from Louis B. Mayer, father-in-law of producer David O. Selznick. Mayer told Rutherford he didn't want her to take the part.

Mayer didn't want her to do the movie because the part was so small and she was already a star in her own right.

Mayer couldn't remember what the movie was about, but Rutherford was able to figure out that it was "Gone with the Wind" and begged to be allowed in the cast.

She says 10-1/2 hours were filmed but got edited down. She says that luckily all of her scenes were at Tara, and Scarlett always had to come back to Tara.

Rutherford retired in 1950, though she came out of retirement in 1972 for "They Only Kill Their Masters," which was filmed on her old "Andy Hardy" set.

Now she travels a lot to speak about her career. She's pleased to see more young people coming to her talks.

"Fortunately, I love traveling," she says.

Gina Wilhelm Actress