Bonnie Blue Butler Has Died: “Gone with the Wind” Child Actress Cammie King Conlon Dies at Age 76
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on September 3, 2010
Cammie King Conlon, child actress in Selznick's 1939 classic 'Gone with the Wind,' has died at age 76
Rest in peace, Cammie.
From Baltimore Sun, Cammie King Conlon of Gone with the Wind dies:
Cammie King Conlon, the former child actress who portrayed the doomed daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in the movie “Gone With the Wind,” has died at the age of 76. She died of lung cancer Wednesday morning at her Fort Bragg home on California’s north coast, the Associated Press reported.
Conlon, who was cast in the role of Bonnie Blue Butler at age 4, also voiced the young doe Faline in Walt Disney’s “Bambi” three years later. That was the end of her Hollywood career. “My mother decided she wanted me to have a normal childhood,” she wrote on her blog. She often joked with interviewers that she had “peaked at 5.”
But she will always be remembered as a key character in what may be the most impressive movie adaptation in history — bringing Margaret Mitchell’s novel to millions of fans.
Cast members Ann Rutherford, left, and Cammie King Conlon, right, attend 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, CA | Photo credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images
From The News Chronicle, Cammie King Conlon, “Gone with the Wind” child actress, dead at 76:
Cammie King Conlon, the little girl who played the role of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara’s daughter in the classic movie “Gone With The Wind” died Wednesday at her home in Fort Bragg, California. She was 76.
According to her friend Bruce Lewis, Conlon died of lung cancer.
At age 4, Conlon was chosen to play the role of Bonnie Blue Butler in the 1939 film that was set during the Civil War. Her character died after falling from a pony, which led to the eventual mishap of Scarlett and Rhett’s marriage.
Conlon’s only other film credit was the 1942 Disney animated movie “Bambi,” where she voiced the young doe Faline.
She earned a communications degree from the University of Southern California and worked as an editor for the California Pictorial magazine for two years. She spent most of her life appearing at exhibits, parades and anniversary celebrations for “Gone With The Wind.”
Colon is survived by her son Matthew Ned Conlon and her daughter Katie Conlon Byrne. Memorial services are scheduled for next week in Fort Bragg, on September 22 in Los Angeles, and another one in Marietta, Georgia.
From 9&10 News:
FORT BRAGG, Calif. (AP) — The former child actress who portrayed the doomed daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind,” has died of lung cancer. Cammie King Conlon was 76. She also voiced the young doe Faline in “Bambi” three years later. Conlon’s memoir says her mother pulled her from show business at age 5 so that she could have a normal life.
From Alt Film Guide, Cammie King Dies: Played Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh’s Daughter in GONE WITH THE WIND:
The role of Bonnie Butler — the then-unknown Elizabeth Taylor had been considered for it, according to some — is pivotal to the plot of Gone with the Wind, as Bonnie’s death eventually destroys the relationship between Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett (Clark Gable).
Gone with the Wind remains King’s sole claim to fame. On the IMDb, the Los Angeles native (born on Aug. 5, 1934) is listed for a bit role in the 1939 B movie Blondie Meets the Boss, and for providing the voice of a minor character in Disney’s Bambi (1942).
Among the major Gone with the Wind performers, only Olivia de Havilland and Ann Rutherford are still around.
David O. Selznick's 1939 classic 'Gone with the Wind'
About the author
Bonnie Blue Butler Has Died: ‘Gone with the Wind’ Child Actress ……
[...] Bonnie Blue Butler Has Died: “Gone with the Wind” Child Actress Cammie King Conlon Dies … [...]