Alicia Rhett

Miss Alicia Rhett died Friday, January 3, 2014 in Charleston, South Carolina. Relatives and friends are invited to attend her funeral services Wednesday, January 8, 2014, in Bishop Gadsden Chapel, One Bishop Gadsden Way at 11:00 am. Interment, St. Philip's Churchyard.

Miss Rhett was born February 1, 1915 in Savannah, Georgia. She was the only daughter of Edmund Moore Rhett and Isabelle Murdoch Rhett. When her father, an army officer, died during World War I, she and her mother moved to Charleston. She was a member of St. Philip's Church in Charleston. As a young lady, she was active in Charleston local theater. It was during a performance of "Lady Windermere's Fan" at the Dock Street Theater in 1936 that she was discovered by movie director, George Cukor.

Miss Rhett was well known for her role as India Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind", the 1939 movie based on Margaret Mitchell's book. Mr. Cukor, who was scouting actresses to play the role of Scarlett O'Hara after producer, David O. Selznick, purchased the film rights, asked Miss Rhett to audition for the role of Melanie Hamilton. In a telegram to Mr. Selznick about the audition, Mr. Cukor said: "I think Alicia Rhett has charm and the ideal looks and quality for Melanie, but I think its (sic) a complicated and difficult part and will probably require and (sic) actress. Rhett has a reality about her that is very engaging. I think she would be awfully good as one of the girls in the barbeque." In the end, she was cast as India Wilkes, and she and her mother moved to California during the filming of the movie. She was the oldest surviving credited cast member of the movie. "Gone With the Wind" won ten Academy Awards in 1939 -- a landmark record that was not broken until "Ben Hur" won eleven in 1959. The movie ranks number four on the American Film Institute's Top 10 epics of all time.

After the filming of "Gone With the Wind", she and her mother moved back to Charleston, where she became an accent coach for aspiring actors and an announcer at Charleston radio station WTMA. In addition to being a talented actress, Miss Rhett was a celebrated portraitist and sketch artist. She illustrated a number of books, and her portraits hang in public buildings and private homes throughout South Carolina. She painted portraits well into her eighties.

Memorials may be made to the Alicia Rhett Art Fund at the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Inc., 635 Rutledge Avenue, Charleston, SC 29403 or to the Bishop Gadsden Resident Assistance Fund, One Bishop Gadsden Way, Charleston, SC 29412.

Arrangements by J. HENRY STUHR, INC., DOWNTOWN CHAPEL.