who played scarlett's mother in gone with the wind
Barbara O'Neil In 1937, O'Neil debuted in the film Stella Dallas, and in 1939 she was cast in the role of Ellen O'Hara, Scarlett O'Hara's mother, in Gone with the Wind (though she was only three years older than her onscreen daughter, Vivien Leigh) after the role was turned down by Lillian Gish.[4] The following year, she appeared in All This and Heaven Too; she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role of the domineering and jealous Duchesse de Praslin.