| Birth: | Nov. 8, 1900
Atlanta
Fulton County
Georgia, USA | | Death: | Aug. 16, 1949 | 
Author. She is well known for writing the popular work "Gone with the Wind". She began her career working as a journalist, using the name of Peggy Mitchell for the "Atlanta Journal" as a feature writer. That same year, she married Berrien Kinnard Upshaw. The marriage lasted only a few months, but the couple was not officially divorced until 1924. In 1925, Mitchell married John Marsh, and shocked Atlanta society by keeping her own name, "Margaret Mitchell" for professional purposes. (In private life, she was known as Peggy Marsh.) It took her ten years to write "Gone With The Wind," then titled "Tomorrow is Another Day." She also changed the name of the heroine from her original choice of "Pansy" to the more evocative "Scarlett". In addition to its staggering sales, the novel won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1937. Just one month after the release of the book, the film rights were sold to David O. Selznick for the then highest paid fee ever - $50,000. Margaret Mitchell wanted no part in the movie, and had a clause written in to her contract absolving her from any more work on the project. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture for the 1939. Apart from a lively correspondence, she personally answered a good deal of her millions of fan letters. She never wrote again. On August 11, 1949, while crossing the intersection of Peachtree and 13th which is only three blocks from "The Dump", Margaret Mitchell was struck by a car, who's driver was an off duty taxi driver. He received a citation for drunk driving and spent 11 months in prison for man slaughter. She and her husband were on their way to see a movie. She died five days later. As of 1998, "Gone With the Wind" was the best-selling book of all time, after the Bible, with a total of 23 million copies sold worldwide. In 1996, figures indicated that almost 200 million people had seen the Selznick film version of book; a gala re-release of a remastered version in 1998 undoubtedly pushed those numbers even higher.
Search Amazon for Margaret Mitchell | | | Burial:
Oakland Cemetery
Atlanta
Fulton County
Georgia, USA |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 718 |
|
|
|
Ms. Mitchell: Thank you so very much for writing "Gone With the Wind." It is truly one of the most wonderful stories that I have ever read. Remembering you today, happy 109th birthday!
-
MFPS
Added: Nov. 8, 2009 |
-
Fionnualla
Added: Nov. 8, 2009 |
Happy Birthday! RIP
-
Cindy
Added: Nov. 8, 2009 |
| There are 511 more notes not showing...
Click here to view all notes...
| |
|
|
(4.7 after 166 votes)
