Melanie Not

Everyone, by this time, has at least seen "Gone with the Wind" at least once, even if they don't remember the last time they saw it. The characters of Scarlet, Rhett, Melanie and Ashley are probably the most recognized characters in movie history.

In the movie, Melanie was the sweet, gentle, loving, kind, perfect person and Olivia de Havilland spent most of her career playing these kinds of parts. Her movies with Errol Flynn are memorable to all film-goers, and again, that sweet gentleness was always her main character trait.

But there was steel in Olivia. She managed to create and maintain a lengthy career. That can't be done without determination and steel in one's character. There was always speculation as to whether she and Errol Flynn ever "connected", and for all of us Errol Flynn fans, we hope they did and that she someday writes a book about it and tells us what it was like!

Her relationship with her sister, Joan Fontaine, was fraught with sisterly competition throughout both of their lifetimes. How sad that is when you think of the movies to which both of these women contributed. Movies like "Rebecca", "The Heiress", "Robin Hood", "Captain Blood", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Dodge City", "They Died with Their Boots On", "Suspicion", "Jane Eyre" and "Frenchman's Creek" are all classic movies and any actress today would kill to play in these films and have a career like these two sisters did.

So I would like to thank both Olivia and Joan for a lifetime of extraordinary work. I hope you are friends today. I picture you smiling together as you've made millions of your fans smile and enjoy your films.