My wonderful resource material that I got for Christmas (thank you, Jamie!) states: "Of the four stars of Gone With the Wind, two would have sold their souls for the part, and two would have sold them to avoid it. Vivien Leigh used all her wiles to capture the role, as did Olivia de Havilland. Gable was never comfortable in the role and had to be dragged to it. Leslie Howard was even more strongly opposed to playing Ashley Wilkes, but for a different reason." (p. 43)

Leslie Howard felt that, at forty-five, he was much to old and not attractive enough to play the handsome young Ashley Wilkes that Mitchell had created. He knew months of make up work to give him a youthful bloom and attractive sheen would be ahead of him.

Also, the character of Ashley troubled him. He was one more in a long line of weaklings Howard had been playing, being a dreamer, artist, intellectual and idealist. Like Olivia de Havilland's damsel in distress roles, Leslie Howard was always playing the troubled man of thought.

"Leslie Howard sought a career in acting when he returned from the front lines during the carnage of the First World War -- anticipating the scene when Ashley returns from another war to the waiting arms of Melanie and the covetous glances of Scarlett. Howard observed that there was a shortage of actors on the London stage, since the cream of British youth was off fighting in France. He therefore sought a job in acting, and promptly found one. Surprisingly, his most successful role at the time was in Charley's Aunt." (p. 47)

By the late 20's, Howard had developed his acting, and he with his wife and young son sailed for America. He was off to Hollywood by 1931, and he had his first contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) where he made three films. One of these films was A Free Soul, in which he worked with newcomer Clark Gable. Then, after being on Broadway in The Animal Kingdom, Leslie Howard went to work for David Selznick, a producer, in the film version of the play. Then he was cast in Of Human Bondage with Bette Davis. But he could now see a pattern in the roles he played. He played weak, watery idealists until those roles became his patent.

He played weaklings in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Petrefied Forest as well. In 1935, Irving Thalberg needed to find a leading man to play opposite his wife, Norma Shearer, in Romeo and Juliet. He knew he wanted Leslie Howard for the role, but by now the actor was past forty and could not picture a middle-aged Romeo. But Thalberg won, and "the actor's resistance to the role of Ashley Wilkes for years later would be forged in the fire of Romeo and Juliet" (p.47).

"Then came a great moment in Leslie Howard's screen career. Most actors, if they are fortunate, can boast of one film that commands both critical acclaim and great public acceptance. Leslie Howard had two -- Gone With the Wind and Pygmalion" (p. 47).

When David Selznick was ready to cast the role of Ashley Wilkes in GWTW, there were two problems: only one actor could really play the role, and the actor was greatly opposed to playing the part. Selznick had wasted a lot of time on the talent search for Scarlett. In doing so, he left himself with no time to find an actor with talent to play Ashley Wilkes. While there were many girls who could have played Scarlett, there was only one Leslie Howard, who swore he would not play the role.

Another choice for Ashley was Ray Milland, who was attractively weak but too beefy to play the role, and his accent was wrong. Selznick did not support Lew Ayres, or Jeffery Lynn. There was no actor like Leslie Howard to play the role!!

Howard, when approached by Selznick, refused to even look at Margaret Mitchell's novel. He reluctantly read a few scenes that Sidney Howard had written for the screenplay, but the 'other Mr. Howard' remained unmoved.

Selnzick now had to find the right button to push and tempt Howard into the job. Gable had been easy to bait -- it only took money for an embittered wife. It wasn't so simple with Howard. But Selznick knew that Leslie Howard wanted to be on the other side of the camera as a director, or producer, or writer. Selznick struck a deal with the actor. If Howard would play Ashley Wilkes, then in Selznick's next film, Intermezzo, Howard would be associate producer as well as the star.

"Unfortunately, the bait was never to be delivered. Delays in the shooting of Gone With the Wind left Howard with no time to perform the producing functions that were so appealing to him on Intermezzo. Indeed, he barely had time to appear in the film." (p. 48).

Poor Leslie Howard.