Why does Clark Gable get top billing in "Gone with the Wind"?

[WI_DEM]

I recently watched it from beginning to end in one mad afternoon. Vivien Leigh is terrific in it. Olivia deHavilland is also very good. Leslie Howard is not my idea of Ashley Wilkes, but I guess he conveyed the idea of a weak-kneed gentleman. Gable is good as Rhett Butler. But...why does he get top billing. The film is truly about Scarlett O'Hara and Vivien Leigh is in 99% of it, while Gable is lucky to be in half the film--there are long patches where he isn't in it at all.

But then I always ask myself why is Tom Hanks billed over Geena Davis in "A League of Their Own."?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Top billing goes for the most famous actor, not the most prevalent one

Usually, anyhoo

[JimmyJazz]

5. That is correct - He and Leslie Howard were the *big* names in

the film - Vivien Leigh was a newbie.

[xmas74]

14. Didn't Leslie Howard die in WWII?

[HeyManThatsCool]

2. Because women ALWAYS get the shaft

its bullshit

& your right about those 2 films in particular
especially GWTW- Vivien Leigh IS that movie

[NashVegas]

3. Because His Agent Demanded It

That's the way it works in Hollywood. Vivien Leigh was an unknown in the US.

Liv Tyler got something like 5th or higher billing for LotR. Good agent.

[tjdee]

4. Was he the bigger star at the time?

I tend to think so.

That happens a lot. The star gets top billing because he/she is the bankable part of the film. Curious if that happened for "Psycho" with Janet Leigh, for example.

[charlyvi]

6. Yep.

Vivian Leigh was almost an unknown in this country--her greatest claim to fame was being married to Laurence Olivier. GWTW changed all that.

[Hieronymus]

13. At the time of Gone With the Wind, she was shacking up...........

with Laurence Olivier, which was a horrible thing then. They couldn't be seen together and people wondered why he was in Atlanta for the premiere.

[Sandpiper]

7. Because Clark Gable was the biggest star in Hollywood at the time

And the studios bank on big names to draw the crowds in.

[DrZeeLit]

8. He was HUGE. He was the biggest box office draw of his time.

According to several sources, we cannot even fathom how huge Gable. The picture was his from the time the author penned the book (according to her).

Vivien won the Oscar. She's awesome. Have you read how she got the part? Lots of balls.

If you get hold of the DVD, the extras are terrific.

[WI_DEM]

9. yep she showed up on the set on the first day of filming

which was the burning of Atlanta and Selznick's brother introduced her as "Here is your Scarlet O'Hara". I'm a huge Bette Davis fan and if it hadn't been Leigh I would have liked Davis, but Leigh owns the part of Scartet.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. I don't care who gets top billing

It's still the most insufferably overrated film of all time.

[ironflange]

11. Yeah, Wizard of Oz should have won Best Picture

[Doc_Technical]

12. 1939 was an awesome year!

Go to imdb.com and check out the films that were made that year!