Much has been said of her role as Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind, but that is not my favorite of her many roles. Nor is Maid Marian in The Adventures of Robin Hood, though she is glorious in that. My favorite is Arabella Bishop in Captain Blood, the first of her nine co-starring roles with Errol Flynn. In that role, she is not just beautiful, but young, gay and sassy.
One of the obituaries I read of her said she was one of those actresses who was "too beautiful for her own good," and that can certainly be acknowledged as true. Her beauty and bearing meant she was most often cast in the part of the "good girl," the one with a heart of gold and very little brass to her nature. (That's part of the reason I prefer her in Captain Blood--Arabella is defiant and a little annoyed by the restrictions of her place in society.)
Like many actresses of her type and era, she did not begin to get the meaty roles that won her two Oscars until she grew a bit older and her beauty became more regal and less gamin.
I guess I'll be watching Captain Blood, Robin Hood and one of her Flynn co-starring Westerns, Dodge City, in the coming days.
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