Clark Gable considered boycotting the “Gone With the Wind” premiere upon hearing that Hattie McDaniel wasn’t allowed to attend. McDaniel was the one who convinced him not to do so. The two got along extremely well, as evidenced by their on-set antics. Gable once pranked McDaniel by slipping alcohol into some tea. She did not notice until she tasted it (via MentalFloss).
“Gone With the Wind” was not the first film that featured Gable and McDaniel. In 1935, McDaniel appeared as a maid in “China Seas,” but she is not credited in the film, according to Silver Screen Classics. As part of the film’s promotion, however, McDaniel was referred to as “one of the most prominent performers of her race.” It was on set of this film that her and Gable initially forged their friendship (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Though Gable and McDaniel were friends and Gable was willing to object to McDaniel’s exclusion at the premier, “Gone With the Wind” remains marked by controversy. In the near century since “Gone With the Wind” etched McDaniel into Hollywood history, The New York Times explains that many have criticized the film for its seemingly positive portrayal of life in the South before the Civil War and the absence of struggles for the servant characters played by African Americans, including McDaniel’s character of Mammy.
