Based on a novel by Margaret Mitchell, the film is set in the American South during the Civil War, when slavery was in its death throes.
And just as Leigh and Gable turned in never-to-be-forgotten performances — along with Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton, Scarlett’s kind sister-in-law and rival; and Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, the object of Scarlett’s obsession — so did the actors who played the roles of Tara’s enslaved.
McDaniel’s performance was such an integral part of the film’s appeal that she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1940.
McDaniel, Polk, and McQueen took on these roles and embraced them, made them their own, and in the process, elevated the entire film.
A film like Gone with the Wind and all the masterful performances that comprise it, by both black and white actors, should be preserved for generations to come — even if we have to take some of it with an enormous grain of salt.
