--- title: Gone With the Wind at 80: Rare Photos From the Movie Set description: Margaret Mitchell's acclaimed novel was released 80 years ago, on June 30, 1936. Here, a rare peek at the making of the movie it inspired canonical: https://time.com/4363651/behind-the-scenes-gone-with-the-wind/ author: Kenneth Bachor article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-29T15:30:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:55.081Z article:section: History og:title: Gone With the Wind at 80: Rare Photos From the Movie Set og:description: Margaret Mitchell's acclaimed novel was released 80 years ago, on June 30, 1936 og:url: https://time.com/4363651/behind-the-scenes-gone-with-the-wind/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt392d521fb0cbcd69/6988972b2dce01e6169e969f/gone-with-the-wind-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: On the set of Gone with the Wind og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gone With the Wind at 80: Rare Photos From the Movie Set twitter:description: Margaret Mitchell's acclaimed novel was released 80 years ago, on June 30, 1936 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt392d521fb0cbcd69/6988972b2dce01e6169e969f/gone-with-the-wind-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rare Behind-the-Scenes Photos From the Making of _Gone With the Wind_ by [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) ## Kenneth Bachor Jun 29, 2016 3:30 PM UTC  1939 --- American actor Clark Gable and British actress Vivien Leigh on the set of Gone with the Wind, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell and directed by Victor Fleming. --- Image by © Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis 1939 --- American actor Clark Gable and British actress Vivien Leigh on the set of Gone with the Wind, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell and directed by Victor Fleming. --- Image by © Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/CorbisMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer by [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) ## Kenneth Bachor Jun 29, 2016 3:30 PM UTC **Correction appended, June 30, 2016** When Margaret Mitchell’s [_Gone With the Wind_](http://time.com/3631977/life-gone-with-the-wind-excerpt/) was published 80 years ago—on June 30, 1936—it was a quick bestseller. The [only novel](http://www.biography.com/people/margaret-mitchell-9410340) that was published by Mitchell during her lifetime, the story of Scarlett O’Hara earned the author the [Pulitzer Prize](http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/margaret-mitchell) for Fiction in 1937\. But, though it is perhaps best known today for the film it inspired, that movie almost didn’t get made. Producer David O. Selznick has initially decided against turning the novel into a film, on the idea that Civil War stories didn’t do well at the box office. He only [bought the film](http://time.com/3628199/gone-with-the-wind-facts/) rights after his company’s board chairman offered to cover the money—and even then Selznick hadn’t yet read the book. Despite his initial reluctance to make the film, Selznick ended up closely involved in its production. These images from this gallery were part of his personal collection of items from his career. Selznick’s children cared for the material after his death in 1965, but the costs of commercial storage eventually became too burdensome. In 1980, they donated much of the collection—more than 5,000 boxes of material, including continuity photos and production stills from _Gone With the Wind_—to the [Harry Ransom Center](http://time.com/author/harry-ransom-center/) in Austin, Tex. Today, rare images like those from the Selznick archive serve as a document of filmmaking in the 1930s, and show just how much work it took to make _Gone with the Wind._ [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) It turned out to worth the effort. _Gone With the Wind_—the third most expensive film ever made at the time, with a budget of [$3.85 million](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/classichollywood/la-et-mn-ca-gone-wind-classic-hollywood-20141214-story.html), trailing behind _Ben Hur_ and _Hell’s Angels_, respectively—turned out to be one of the biggest films of the 20th century, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, directed by Victor Fleming. When [film premiered](http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2468) on Dec. 15, 1939, in Atlanta, an estimated 300,000 people came out for the surrounding festivities over three days, with Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers declaring a state holiday. _Gone with the Wind_ landed on [the cover of TIME](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762137-1,00.html) at the end of that year. The blockbuster film “proved as much a burden for its authors as a joy,” [noted TIME](http://time.com/3631977/life-gone-with-the-wind-excerpt/). Though it brought her [financial success](http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1108.html), Margaret Mitchell became increasingly upset by the film’s overwhelming attention, and became more private person, often [refusing potential biographers](http://www.npr.org/2011/06/30/137476187/margaret-mitchells-gone-with-the-wind-turns-75) and autograph-seekers. On Aug. 16, 1949, Mitchell died, five days after being hit by a drunk driver in Atlanta. After her death, most of the original manuscript for _Gone with the Wind_ was burned, but in recent years, [the last four chapters](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/margaret-mitchells-final-wind-typescript-chapters-rediscovered-connecticut/story?id=13259281) resurfaced at the Pequot Library in Southport, Conn.—proving the point made by Scarlett O’Hara towards the end of Mitchell’s novel: “‘tomorrow is another day.'” **Correction:** The original version of this gallery misidentified a man pictured in the first slide. He is George Cukor.  From left: Clark Gable, as Rhett Butler, Vivien Leigh, as Scarlett O'Hara, and and original director George Cukor on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Hattie McDaniel, right, as Mammy, on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Vivien Leigh and Thomas Mitchell, as Gerald O'Hara, on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Leslie Howard, as Ashley Wilkes, on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Victor Fleming directs a scene on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  The set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Production Designer William Cameron Menzies in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Technical Advisor Susan Myrick and Evelyn Keyes, Suellen O'Hara, on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Film Editor Hal C. Kern, third from left, and others, edit Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  The set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Vivien Leigh on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  Victor Fleming, second from right, and Olivia de Havilland, right, on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  From left: Susan Myrick, Clark Gable, and Victor Fleming on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. 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