Friday, May 14, 2010

Who's in Gone with the Wind?

I wish that movie wasn't sooooo looooong!  Life at my house seems to be more active than I need it to be!  Every time we sit down to watch Gone with the Wind, I am able to get thru the first DVD, then it is bed time.  That has happened twice now.  As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry for the first DVD again!

Now, think about the talent that was assembled for this movie.  Not just the leads, or even the supporting cast.  There were hundreds of bit actors and extras.  I could probably say that I was one of the Confederate soldiers lying in the hospital scene and nobody could prove otherwise.  (I wasn't.)

Take a look at the cast listed on IMDB.  I found George Reeves listed as one of Scarlett's beaus, Stuart Tarleton.  I know he had one of the first lines of dialog in the film, even before Scarlett opened her mouth with "Fiddle-dee-dee."  If I get to the second DVD, I'll look for him again.  When Reeves later played Superman on TV, I was watching! 

Other notables in small roles in GwtW; Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, who was Jack Benney's servant on TV; Yakima Canutt, one of the greatest western stunt men in the movies; Charles Middleton had an extra part, just a year before he became Emperor Ming (the Merciless) on Flash Gordon.  I also found (and this is a stretch of my knowledge) Ann Bupp had an uncredited role.  Try to follow this...Ann's brother was Tom Bupp.  Tom played the store clerk in W. C. Field's great comedy, It's a Gift, and had a great part with Baby Leroy.  I love that movie.

It's fun to study how these films come together, and what is happening in the lives of the actors, great and small.

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