Ann Rutherford and Vivien Leigh in “Gone With the Wind.”
She was Scarlett O’Hara’s younger sister Carreen in the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” and Mickey Rooney‘s teenage girlfriend in the Andy Hardy movies, plus over 60 other films.
Ann Rutherford died Monday evening at her home in Beverly Hills,according to her close friend and fellow actress Anne Jeffreys. She became one of the last surviving cast members of “Gone With the Wind,” and made a second career out of attending festivals featuring the Civil War epic.
Under contract with MGM, studio head Louis B. Mayer informed her that his son-in-law, producer David O. Selznick, wanted to borrow her for the small role in “Gone With the Wind.” Mayer called it “a nothing part” and planned to say no, Rutherford told The Times in 2010.
A fan of the Margaret Mitchell novel, Rutherford implored Mayer to reconsider. When she uncharacteristically burst into tears, he relented. “I just wanted to watch the book come to life,” she said.
According to the AllMovie internet database, Rutherford was “quite appealing” as the optimistic Carreen O’Hara in the romantic drama that starred Vivien Leigh as her sister Scarlett and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.
