Vivien Leigh travelled to Hollywood, leaving Leigh in London. Goldwyn and the film's director, William Wyler, offered Leigh the secondary role of Isabella, but she refused, preferring the role of Cathy, which went to Merle Oberon. Hollywood was in the midst of a widely publicized search to find an actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in David O. Selznick's production of "Gone with the Wind" (1939). At the time, Myron Selznick—David's brother and Leigh's American theatrical agent—was the London representative of the Myron Selznick Agency. In February 1938, Leigh made a request to Myron Selznick that she be considered to play the part
Gone with the Wind (film) their distributors. A further re-release in 1971 allowed it to briefly recapture the record from "The Sound of Music", bringing its total worldwide gross rental to about $116 million by the end of 1971—more than trebling its earnings from its initial release—before losing the record again the following year to "The Godfather". Across all releases, it is estimated that "Gone with the Wind" has sold over 200 million tickets in the United States and Canada, generating more theater admissions in that territory than any other film. The film was phenomenally successful in Western Europe too, generating approximately 35 million tickets