Clark Gable Agrees to Play Rhett Butler in "Gone With The Wind"! A Significant Document for One of the Most Prestigious Roles in Cinematic History!
Offered here is arguably one of the most important documents in Hollywood history, a 8.25" x 12" "Gone With The Wind" Contract personally signed by Clark Gable. The document details an agreement to finish up the film "Idiot's Delight" by December 12th, 1938, in order to then begin playing "Rhett Butler" in "Gone with the Wind"! Accompanied by an interoffice communication from MGM executive F.L. Hendrickson, and an MGM accounting department routing slip relative to Gable.
Clark Gable was adamant about not wanting to play the role of Rhett Butler in author Margaret Mitchell's best-selling Civil War epic, which was published in 1936. He worried that he would never live up to the public's image of Rhett Butler and was wary of another period picture after what he considered his disastrous performance in Parnell in 1937. But Gable's recalcitrance dissipated when he was offered a phenomenal paycheck and experienced continued public encouragement that only he could play the role as it was intended.