Actress. A respected painter and stage performer, she is remembered for her one and only movie role, that of India Wilkes in the 1939 Oscar-winning classic "Gone With the Wind" (GWTW). The child of an aristocratic Southern family (her great-grandfather was Senator Robert Barnwell Rhett, called the "Father of Secession"), she relocated to Charleston with her mother after her father died in World War I and eventually became a locally noted theater actress. In 1936 she was spotted by director George Cukor who was recruiting a cast for the film to be based on Margaret Mitchell's novel of the Civil War South. Miss Alicia auditioned for the part of Melanie Hamilton, a role that went to Olivia de Havilland, before being cast as India. Though she was praised for her performance, she really did not care for Hollywood and in 1939 returned to Charleston. For many years a distinguished portrait painter and book illustrator, she was also a long-time local radio personality and theatrical voice coach. Miss Alicia lived out her last 11 years in a nursing facility; at her demise she was the second oldest, and oldest credited, GWTW cast member, a number of her paintings hung in places of honor, and "Gone With the Wind" continued to be shown twice a day, probably forever, at an Atlanta multiplex.
Actress. A respected painter and stage performer, she is remembered for her one and only movie role, that of India Wilkes in the 1939 Oscar-winning classic "Gone With the Wind" (GWTW). The child of an aristocratic Southern family (her great-grandfather was Senator Robert Barnwell Rhett, called the "Father of Secession"), she relocated to Charleston with her mother after her father died in World War I and eventually became a locally noted theater actress. In 1936 she was spotted by director George Cukor who was recruiting a cast for the film to be based on Margaret Mitchell's novel of the Civil War South. Miss Alicia auditioned for the part of Melanie Hamilton, a role that went to Olivia de Havilland, before being cast as India. Though she was praised for her performance, she really did not care for Hollywood and in 1939 returned to Charleston. For many years a distinguished portrait painter and book illustrator, she was also a long-time local radio personality and theatrical voice coach. Miss Alicia lived out her last 11 years in a nursing facility; at her demise she was the second oldest, and oldest credited, GWTW cast member, a number of her paintings hung in places of honor, and "Gone With the Wind" continued to be shown twice a day, probably forever, at an Atlanta multiplex.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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