Gone With The Wind actress Ann Rutherford dies aged 94 after suffering heart problems
Ann Rutherford, best known for playing the perky young sister of Scarlett O'Hara in the classics 1939 film Gone With The Wind, has died in Los Angeles aged 94.
The Canadian actress died yesterday in her Beverly Hills home after suffering heart problems, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Rutherford came to prominence in the 1930s playing Polly Benedict, girlfriend to Mickey Rooney's character in the Andy Hardy films.
She played the role at least 10 times after telling then studio head Louis B Mayer she wanted it because 'I just wanted to watch the book come to life'.
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Passing of a legend: Gone With The Wind actress Ann Rutherford has died aged 94 after suffering heart problems
Rutherford is best known for her iconic role in the 1939 film Gone With The Wind, where she utters the famous line: 'Oh Mother, can't I stay up for the ball tomorrow? I'm 13 now.'
She left films behind in the early 1950s but continued to appear on TV, including a recurring role in Perry Mason and a guest spot on the Bob Newhart show.
It was reported at the time that Rutherford won the part of Carreen, the youngest sister of the O'Hara family because the studio's first choice, Judy Garland, was filming The Wizard of Oz.
Rutherford has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star for motion pictures is at 6834 Hollywood Blvd. Her star for television is at 6331 Hollywood Blvd.
Iconic role: Rutherford, left, with co-stars Vivien Leigh and Evelyn Keyes in a scene from her famous 1939 movie Gone With The Wind
She married David May in 1942, with whom she had daughter Gloria May, and the couple divorced in 1953. The same year, she married William Dozier and the couple were together until his death in 1991.
In
1989, she was one of the 10 surviving cast members who gathered for the
50th anniversary of the film.
She recalled how, at the time, the cast
and crew knew they were onto something big.
'Anyone who had read the book sensed they were into something that
would belong to the ages, and everyone was in a frenzy to read the
book,' she said.
'Our obituary will say we were in 'Gone With the Wind' and we'll be proud of it,' she added.
Screen siren: Pictured here in a glamorous portrait shot from the mid 1940s and seen right in 1953 on her wedding day with second husband, producer William Dozier
Before her death, Rutherford remembers an anecdote from the Atlanta premiere of Gone With The Wind, where author Margaret Mitchell, who wrote the book on which the film was based, invited the cast to her home for scrambled eggs and then disappeared with star Clark Gable.
'Clark Gable and Margaret were hiding in the bathroom, Clark on the edge of the tub and Margaret you know where, just talking. They had to get away from the photographers.'
Rutherford's last screen appearance came in 1976 and she turned down the role of the older Rose (played by Gloria Stuart) in James Cameron's 1997 smash Titanic.
On her work with studio MGM, Rutherford once said: 'There was a quality about Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that was so special. It was just the most exciting studio in the world. They looked after their people so perfectly.
And then to go to a place where you don't know anybody and they don't know you and they don't give a rip, it was not a happy time. I got so ticked off, I got married.'
Long standing friendship: Rutherford, right, with friend Anne Jeffreys, who revealed the actress had died
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