Scarlett O’Hara’s Sister Dead at 91
The best show-biz memoirs are usually written by the supporting players: they have less of an image to uphold. One of the very best in the genre is “Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister,” by Evelyn Keyes (pictured), who in fact did play Miss Scarlett’s younger sister, Suellen, in “Gone With The Wind.” I’m sad to say that Keyes has just died, at the age of 91. To call Keyes’s life colorful is like calling Tiger Woods a talented golfer. She was married to, among others, Charles Vidor, John Huston, and Artie Shaw, and had romances with Mike Todd, Anthony Quinn, David Niven, and Kirk Douglas. Keyes’s close friend, Tab Hunter, has long talked about making a movie of her 1971 novel, “I Am A Billboard.” As if all this weren’t enough, today’s New York Times obituary of Keyes, which is must reading, reminds me that, as if her life weren’t extraordinary enough, her last movie, the 1989 “Wicked Stepmother,” was with just about the only other actress of her generation who could match her blow for blow: Bette Davis. Pace tua, Evelyn!
