What a wonderful actress! Yes, she was the front runner for the role of Scarlett O'Hara. The producer, David Selznick was nervous over the fact she was living with Charlie Chaplin and they weren't married. In the America of 1939 this was indeed sinful. Paulette insisted they were married by a captain while on a cruise in the South Seas, but she couldn't produce any proof. Selznick knew she would make a perfect Scarlett, but couldn't take a chance. He was afraid that women's groups might start a boycott of GWTW if they found out Paulette was living in a "state of sin." If you get a chance, view one of the extras on the making of GWTW (included with the DVD), and especially note the screentest of Paulette as directed by George Cukor. It's called "The Paddock Scene" and Scarlett is trying to coax Ashley to run away because she is sick and tired of taking care of family members in the aftermath of the Civil War. Paulette is absolutely brilliant! In this scene she shows more talent than Vivien Leigh, but in all fairness, Ms. Leigh was exhausted at this point of the filming. It's well documented that the director, Victor Fleming, gave Leigh no direction prior to shooting the scene, basically telling her and Leslie Howard to go ahead "and get it over with." All things considered, Vivien Leigh was superb in GWTW, but could Paulette have been better? We will never know.
