Mickey Kuhn, last surviving star of ‘Gone With the Wind, dead at 90


Mickey Kuhn — a child star of the 1930s and ’40s Golden Age of Hollywood — has died. He was 90.

Kuhn famously made an appearance in the 1939 Civil War classic “Gone With the Wind” when he was just 6 years old.

He was the last surviving member of that cast, as Olivia de Havilland, who played Melanie, passed at 104 in 2020.

Kuhn’s wife Barbara confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that he died Sunday in a hospice facility in Naples, Florida.

He portrayed Beau Wilkes in the drama, the son of de Havilland and Leslie Howard’s characters.

Other projects that Kuhn appeared in included 1945’s “Dick Tracy,” 1948’s “Red River” and 1951’s “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

In a 2014 interview with the Washington Post, he looked back on his time working with the cast of “Gone With the Wind.”

He even recalled how he kept screwing up a scene he had with star Clark Gable. “My line was, ‘Hello, Uncle Rhett,’ ” he explained. “I kept saying, ‘Hello, Uncle Clark.’ ”

Walter Brennan (from left), John Wayne and former child star Mickey Kuhn in Howard Hawks’ classic 1948 western “Red River.”
FilmPublicityArchive/United Arch
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MAY 18:  Actor Mickey Kuhn attends The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' screening series "Hollywood's Greatest Year" celebrating 1939's Best Picture, "Gone With The Wind" on May 18, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.  (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
Mickey Kuhn attended the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ screening series “Hollywood’s Greatest Year” celebrating 1939’s Best Picture, “Gone With the Wind,” on May 18, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.
Getty Images

One scene also had Kuhn acting alongside Howard (who played Ashley Wilkes) outside a room where his mom, Melanie (portrayed by de Havilland), is sick.

“Where is my mother going away to? And why can’t I go along, please?” a young Kuhn wondered in the scene.

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Despite playing the child of de Havilland, he actually didn’t meet her until 2006 — at her 90th birthday bash. After that milestone soiree, he called her annually on her big day until her death nearly 15 years later.

Other films that Kuhn starred in included: “Magic Town,” “Broken Arrow,” “One Foot in Heaven,” “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and “Scene of the Crime.”

VIVIEN LEIGH, LESLIE HOWARD, MICKEY KUHN & CLARK GABLE AS Scarlett O'Hara - Their Daughter Ashley Wilkes, Beau Wilkes, Rhett Butler - a Visitor from Charleston FILM TITLE GONE WITH THE WIND DIRECTED BY VICTOR FLEMING FILM COMPANY MGM 15 December 1939
Leslie Howard holds Mickey Kuhn in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind.”
Everett Collection

Kuhn enlisted in the US Navy in 1951 and worked there for four years. He later took a hiatus from his film career and was employed as an aircraft electrician.

Once he got out of the service, he made cameos in the movies “The Last Frontier” and “Away All Boats” in the mid-1950s. 

His last Hollywood appearances were in 1957, where he guest-starred in three episodes of CBS’s “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” 

He then retired in 1995 after working in airport management for American Airlines. He is survived by his son, Mick, daughter, Patricia, and granddaughter, Samantha.



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