Centennial: Butterfly McQueen
Friday, January 7, 2011 at 2:22PM Today is the Centennial of Butterfly McQueen, she of the famously squeaky voice, immortalized in her very first picture Gone With the Wind (1939). She died from an unfortunate kerosene heater accident 15 years ago but since it's the 100th anniversary of her birth today we send her a warm "Thank You" to the great beyond. Butterfly was a staunch Atheist but we think she'd approve of our church. In the church of cinema, everyone involved with classic films lives on for eternity (provided the negatives weren't destroyed).
"Gone With the Wind" (her first) and "Mosquito Coast" (her last feature film)
McQueen quit early, discouraged by endless servant roles. That's all black actresses could get in the Golden Age of Hollywood. In short: it wasn't golden for people of color.
"I don't know nuthin' bout birthin' babies!"
...which she shrieked hysterically in Gone With the Wind (1939) may have been her most famous cinematic moment, but you can also spot her in early classics like The Women (1939) and Mildred Pierce (1945). Her last feature film arrived when she was in her seventies. Peter Weir cast her in a key role opposite Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren in The Mosquito Coast (1986).
Broaden the Biopics!
Hollywood has such insatiable true story fever, that you wish filmmakers would broaden their scope a little about who to dramatize in non-fiction based films. Most biopics are about über famous entertainers or political leaders. Perhaps that's for box office reasons but maybe it's just a lack of imagination. Couldn't biopics about lesser known players involved with some hugely famous historical event or milieu, be both marketable and aesthetically riveting for the fresh light they would cast on our familiar mythologized histories?
Nobodies ever planned a Butterfly McQueen biopic so cross your fingers that last year's Supporting Actress winner Mo'Nique (Precious) actually gets to do that rumored biopic about another Supporting Actress winner, Butterfly's Gone With the Wind's co-star Hattie McDaniel. Think how fascinating that film could be. It's enough to give you shivers.
But who would you cast to star opposite Hattie/Mo'Nique as "Prissy"/Butterly and "Scarlett"/Vivien in that sure-to-be interesting film?
Reader Comments (32)
Hey Nat, there's a heated discussion over at In Contention all about Hailee Steinfeld and her category fraud. I'm holding the torch for team FRAUD... don't know if you wanna get in on the action...
no thanks. I've said my piece about it a bazillion times. got my own website to attend to.
But how about that Butterfly!
Does anyone else think "Butterfly McQueen" sounds like a porn name?
Young and black. I'd lean on Anika Noni Rose. Vivien Leigh, though? I'd say either Carey Mulligan or (better) Katie Jarvis. (Mostly because I don't know how well Mulligan would be able to pull off "tough to work with." Jarvis, though, I'd be fairly certain on.)
She was a great character actress, and it's just a shame that she had to be working in an era when such sickening racism was so thoroughly institutionalized, forcing her to just squeeze her talent into the margins of her films.
I'd love to see more movies about minor players - what about, for example, an Oscar Levant biopic? He never really played lead roles, but he led a fascinating life and his personality always stood out in his small roles; I'd rather see a movie about him - or McQueen, whose first name was Butterfly, for chrissake! - than one more about another ubiquitous Great Man or Woman.
Was there drama between Viven, Hattie and Butterfly on GWTW?
i actually dunno. where is my film historian MIKE. Mike, come out of hiding. Answer us.
who was the drama between on Gone With the Wind? I mean besides Vivien vs. Clark.
I just saw her in Mildred Pierce this morning.
Kimberly Elise could play Butterfly. Gwyneth Paltrow for Vivien Leigh; before anyone asks why?–I see Vivien Leigh as strong facial bone structure first. My initial thoughts were with ever dark haired starlet. I even thought of Cate Blanchett but in the end Vivien needs to be portrayed be someone less theatrical, less quirky, less overtly sexual and bold, there’s a flatness to Gwyneth that works well for certain characters and I believe she would do justice to a part is merely a key supporting role.
I see Evan Rachel Wood for Vivien Leigh.
SC -- if it had been Butterfly McPrincess you know that Mariah Carey would want the part! (the bio not the porn flick)
/3rtfull -- i can see Kimberly Elise actually. althoug Volvag' anika noni rose suggestion has its merits in a certain joie de vivre way. but I can't see Gwynnie as Vivien because she's already doing Marlene Dietrich soon.
I think Fantasia from AI would be ideal to play Butterfly McQueen in a biopic. Spike Lee, not Lee Daniels, should start working on the screenplay right now.
I'm still waiting for someone else besides me to finally think of that Ida Lupino biopic I've been fantasizing about for years. (In its most recent incarnation in my mind, it's starring Winona Ryder, although previously I had cast Tilda Swinton, Charlotte Gainsbourgh and Emily Watson for the lead part.)
As for Butterfly McQueen, my favorite performance of hers would probably be Duel in the Sun, where she was allowed to play some kind of parody of her Gone With the Wind, character (well, I like to think of it as a parody, that is).
Gabriel -- seriously how fascinating would a SPIKE LEE bio about the actors playing slaves in Gone With the Wind be? yowza.
I love and hate her voice.
Thandie Newton and Rose McGowan.
I love the Gwyneth and Evan Rachel Wood suggestions!
I think Wood would be a perfect choice as far as appearance is concerned but she has to work a lot! Or maybe Knightley.
IF de Havilland will be in the movie let's give the role to Mulligan.
I'm not really imaginative at casting, I know.
It's okay, James T. Neither is Hollywood.
(James, that was just a joke- not a reflection of your suggestions)
Don't worry, I wasn't offended. ;)
Dan -- and a funny joke, too! :)
Vanessa Lee Chester makes her big comeback (FINALLY) as Butterfly McQueen, with Eva Green as Vivien Leigh, John Turturro as George Cukor, Colin Firth as Victor Fleming, and Oliver Platt as Selznick.
I was going to suggest Lisa Gaye Hamilton as Butterfly McQueen, but the thought of my love Anika Noni Rose got me all warm and fuzzy inside. Good call, Volvagia.
Sharon Warren - Give the gifted lady some work.
I get the strong bone structure. But she's 26 at Gone With the Wind. If it was a Streetcar era Leigh, I'd completely buy Paltrow. Which is why I say someone younger and British. (Recreating Gone With the Wind's sets is going to take a while. If you cast someone too old, they have the chance to age out of the part.)
Yeah, Lisa Gay Hamilton is probably too old at this point she was definitely the first person that came to my mind for McQueen. Lisa would KILL it too--she's such a ferocious (and underrated!) performer.
Shouldn't it be "Nobody's" and not "Nobodies?"
I think Mo'Nique isn't the right person to play Hattie in a biopic. Loretta Devine would have been perfect for it even five years ago. Or maybe give Cleo King a chance? For Butterfly McQueen, this answer is boring, but Kerry Washington has enough self awareness and humour to play her. And does anyone know if Zooey Deschanel can use a British accent? If not, Emily Blunt.
Maybe this is really, really bad but I just got a sudden vision of Jennifer Ehle as Vivien....she's too old now though but in her P and P days... :S Ah well, stray thought. I like the Evan Rachel Wood suggestion too.
Nobody but the Bening should ever play Ida Lupino! And they better make the movie soon, dammit.
Erykah Badu or Macy Gray as McQueen ;-), Emily Blunt as Leigh , Michael Fassbender as Olivier.
Yeah, i can see Blunt doing Leigh. good call Paul
Cate Blanchett for Vivien Leigh? They don't have the same look, but Blanchett definitely has that regal, smart, and bitch quality to her. She could pull of the role quite easily.
This isn't based on the acting I've seen from her - admittedly not much yet - but forVivien Leigh I immediately thought of Rooney Mara. Her face has always reminded me somewhat of Leigh, and if she really is as good as everyone says that'd be something to see!