Barbara O'Neil

Barbara O'Neil (July 17, 1910 – September 3, 1980) was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in the film Gone with the Wind and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in All This, and Heaven Too (1940).

Early years O'Neil was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Barbara Blackman O'Neil and David O'Neil, a "lumber baron" and poet. Her mother was a socialite and suffragist. She spent her childhood mostly in Europe and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. Her maternal grandmother was Carrie Horton Blackman, a successful portrait painter. Her parents had a son, David, who died before O'Neil was born.

O'Neil debuted in the film Stella Dallas (1937), and was cast in the role of Ellen O'Hara, Scarlett O'Hara's mother, in Gone with the Wind (1939) though she was only three years older than her onscreen daughter (Vivien Leigh) after her role was turned down by Lillian Gish. The following year, she appeared in All This, and Heaven Too (as the wife of Charles Boyer); she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role of the domineering and jealous Duchesse de Praslin.

Her later films include Shining Victory (1941), I Remember Mama (1948), Secret Beyond the Door (1948) and two of director Otto Preminger's films, Whirlpool (1949) and Angel Face (1952). She also appeared in The Nun's Story (1959), starring Audrey Hepburn.

Death O'Neil died from a heart attack at the age of 70 on September 3, 1980 at her home in Cos Cob, Connecticut.

Filmography