‘Gone with the Wind’ Actress Olivia de Havilland Passes Away at 104
By George Robbins
The film adaptation of the novel ‘Gone with the Wind‘ is considered a culturally significant film that captures a time period in U.S. history. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the film due to the portrayal of the slaves in the movie. Unfortunately, the movie is based in the South during the time period of the Civil War and it also takes place at a plantation of all things. All of these things made people petition for the film to be taken off of HBO Max back in the early part of June and the film was taken off of their roster. Like the phrase goes, “There is no such thing as bad publicity,’ and so the movie ended up in the news and this peaked the interest for a lot of different people. This is what led to the film being placed at the top of Amazon’s charts almost immediately after it was taken off the HBO Max movie list.
Instead of simply leaving the movie off of their service, HBO Max put the movie back up about two weeks later with text at the forefront of the film. The opening text now states that the movie was a product of a different era, a bad one, but one that should not be forgotten. By trying to get rid of the film, it isn’t erasing racism but instead trying to erase history and this is even worse. Beyond the racism depicted in the film, the movie itself is regarded as one of the most culturally significant films of all time. This movie is not only a reminder for future generations to be better, but also it is just a very well made film that tells a story that has echoed through the generations to modern day.
All of this being said, the film is very old since it was made back in 1939. At this point in time, it has been over 80 years since the initial release of the film and almost none of the people who worked on the film were really left. The actors in the film were all young, but time takes its toll and until very recently there was only one remaining actress who starred in the film. Actress Olivia de Havilland played one of the biggest roles in the film and unfortunately she had passed away this previous Saturday from natural causes in her home. She will be remembered by most for her role as an actress in ‘Gone with the Wind,’ but also for her legendary career as an actress in general. She was around since the so-called ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ and was among the last from the era, so she will certainly be missed.