CHARLESTON, South Carolina: Actress Alicia Rhett, who was the oldest surviving cast member of the classic 1939 film “Gone With The Wind,” died in South Carolina on Friday, officials at her retirement community said. She was 98.
Savannah, Georgia-born Rhett portrayed India Wilkes, sister of Ashley Wilkes in the award-winning film based on Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel of the same name.
“Truly a beautiful woman, her passion for the arts and love of Charleston were unrivaled... Alicia was a kind and gentle lady,” said Bill Trawick, CEO of the Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community in Charleston, where she had lived since 2002.
Other surviving cast members from “Gone With The Wind” are 97-year-old Olivia de Havilland who played Melanie Hamilton, Ashley Wilkes’ cousin and wife; 93-year-old Mary Anderson, who played Maybelle Merriweather; and 81-year-old Mickey Kuhn, who played Beau Wilkes, Bishop Gadsden said.
Ann Rutherford, who played protagonist Scarlett O’Hara’s optimistic younger sister in the film about white southerners in the American Civil War era, died in June 2012 in Los Angeles.
‘Gone With The Wind’ actress dies at 98
‘Gone With The Wind’ actress dies at 98
