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 (novel) the two ethnic groups are not equivalent in the ethnic hierarchy of the novel. The novel has been criticized for promoting plantation values. Mitchell biographer Marianne Walker, author of "Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone with the Wind", believes that those who attack the book on these grounds have not read it. She said that the popular 1939 film "promotes a false notion of the Old South". Mitchell was not involved in the screenplay or film production. James Loewen, author of "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong", says this novel