Gone with the Wind (film) time on the night of December 10, 1938, when the burning of Atlanta was filmed. In a letter to his wife two days later, Selznick admitted that Leigh was "the Scarlett dark horse", and after a series of screen tests, her casting was announced on January 13, 1939. Just before the shooting of the film, Selznick informed newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan: "Scarlett O'Hara's parents were French and Irish. Identically, Miss Leigh's parents are French and Irish." Of original screenplay writer Sidney Howard, film historian Joanne Yeck writes, "reducing the intricacies of "Gone with the Wind"'s epic dimensions was a herculean
Dark Victory Vivien Leigh in "Gone with the Wind". Max Steiner, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score for both this and "Gone with the Wind", lost to Herbert Stothart for "The Wizard of Oz". The film itself lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to "Gone with the Wind". "The New York Times" named "Dark Victory" as one of the "10 Best Films of 1939", as did "Film Daily", and the "National Board of Review" picked both Bette Davis and Geraldine Fitzgerald for Best Acting that year. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these