[img]|left|<b>Fred Crane</b>||no_popup[/img]
Actor, radio announcer and film historian, Fred Crane who died on Friday, Aug. 22, was the
oldest surviving adult male cast member of the 1939 David O. Selznick classic film “Gone
With The Wind.”
Crane, who was 90 years old, also was probably the most knowledgeable person alive about
the making of “Gone With The Wind.”
‘Gone With the Wind’
Even though, he had a small role in the film, Crane told
me in a filmed interview at the 60th anniversary screening at the Motion Picture Academy
that he was around the set for the entire film. That was because the opening scene in which
he appeared with Vivien Leigh and George Reeves had to be filmed three times.
As Brent Tarleton, he spoke the opening lines in the epic production of the Margaret Mitchell novel that starred Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Olivia de Haviland and Leslie Howard.
The scene takes place on the front porch of Tara with Vivian Leigh as Scarlett and George Reeves (who later played Superman) as his twin brother Stuart.
According to Crane, it was the first sequence to be shot after the Atlanta fire sequence that
was shot in December 1938.
“When David Selznick saw the rushes,,” Crane said, “he didn't like the color of our hair. He said I looked like Harpo Marx.”
Not Once, Not Twice
In this sequence, Crane spoke the opening line, “What do we care if we’re expelled from college, Scarlett? The war’s gonna start any day now, so we would have left school anyhow.”
It was filmed a second time but, according to Fred, the film’s technical advisor, who was a Daughter of the Confederacy, informed Selznick that
“a young girl showing that much bosom wouldn’t be sitting out with two young men unchaperoned in the afternoon.”
The scene was filmed a third time, according to Crane, and it was the last scene in the picture to be shot. Although Crane appeared in four other scenes, he was on the payroll for the whole film.
KFAC Memories
Crane was born in New Orleans on March 22, 1918. He appeared on television, and he was an announcer at Los Angeles classical radio station KFAC. In the 1970s he became program director at the station and had his own show.
In 2000, Crane bought an antebellum mansion in Atlanta and converted it into a bed and breakfast hotel featuring a “Gone With The Wind” museum where Crane gave talks about the making of the film.
Crane was good friends with Rodney Gottlieb, photographer and archivist. Together with
motion picture archivist Bill Tomkin. Gottlieb preserved and organized Fred Parrish’s photos from “Gone With The Wind.” Parrish was Selznick’s still photographer from 1936 until 1944. He lived in Culver City until his death in 1981.
Out of View
During the filming, Parrish took more than 1000 behind the scenes photos that Selznick gave him permission to keep as his own.
For the 50th anniversary, of “Gone With The Wind,” Gottlieb and Tomkin refurbished,
enlarged and retouched several of Parrish’s photos. They were displayed in the Atlanta History
Center Museum for four years.
Since Tomkins’ death and after careful research, Gottlieb has put Parrish’s “Gone With The Wind” photos in chronological order.
He is currently in discussions with the Backlot Film Festival
to display some at the 4th annual Backlot Film Festival next April.
