Ona Munson - wikipedia Ona Munson Ona Munson Munson in a publicity photo c. 1930s Owena Wolcott ( 1903 - 06 - 16 ) June 16, 1903 Portland, Oregon, U.S. February 11, 1955 ( 1955 - 02 - 11 ) ( aged 51 ) New York City, New York, U.S. Cause of death Suicide by barbiturate overdose Occupation Actress Years active 1919 -- 1953 Spouse ( s ) Edward Buzzell ( 1926 -- 1931 ) ( divorced ) Stewart McDonald ( 1941 -- 1947 ) Eugene Berman ( 1950 -- 1955 ) ( her death ) Ona Munson ( born Owena Wolcott ; June 16, 1903 -- February 11, 1955 ) was an American actress perhaps best known for her portrayal of madam Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind ( 1939 ). Contents 1 Career 2 Personal life 3 Death 4 Partial filmography 5 References 6 External links Career Munson was born Owena Wolcott in Portland, Oregon. She first came to fame on Broadway as the singing and dancing ingenue in the original production of No, No, Nanette. From this, Munson had a very successful stage and radio career in the 1930s in New York. She introduced the song `` You 're the Cream in My Coffee '' in the 1927 Broadway musical Hold Everything. Her first starring role was in a Warner Brothers talkie called Going Wild ( 1930 ). Originally, this film was intended as a musical, but all the numbers were removed prior to release owing to the public 's distaste for musicals, which had virtually saturated the cinema in 1929 - 30. Munson appeared the next year in The Hot Heiress, in which she sings several songs along with her co-star Ben Lyon. She also starred in Broadminded ( 1931 ) and Five Star Final ( 1931 ). She briefly retired from the screen, only to return in 1938. When David O. Selznick was casting his production Gone with the Wind, he first announced that Mae West was to play Belle, but both West and Tallulah Bankhead refused the role as too small. Munson herself was the antithesis of the voluptuous Belle : freckled and of slight build. Munson 's career was stalemated by the acclaim of Gone with the Wind ; for the remainder of her career, she was typecast in similar roles. Two years later, she played a huge role as another madam, albeit a Chinese one, in Josef von Sternberg 's film noir The Shanghai Gesture. Her last film was The Red House, released in 1947. Munson 's work on radio included co-starring ( as Lorelei ) with Edward G. Robinson on Big Town. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ona Munson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6211 Hollywood Boulevard. Personal life She was married three times, to actor and director Edward Buzzell in 1926, to Stewart McDonald in 1941, and designer Eugene Berman in 1949. These have been termed lavender marriages, in that they were intended to conceal her bisexuality and her affairs with women, including filmmaker Dorothy Arzner and playwright Mercedes de Acosta. Munson has been listed as a member of a group called the `` sewing circle '', a clique of lesbians organized by actress Alla Nazimova. Death In 1955, plagued by ill health, she committed suicide at the age of 51 with an overdose of barbiturates in her apartment in New York. A note found next to her deathbed read, `` This is the only way I know to be free again... Please do n't follow me. '' She is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, NY. Munson posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on the north side of the 6200 block of Hollywood Boulevard. Partial filmography As Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind ( 1939 ) Year Title Role Notes 1928 The Head of the Family Uncredited 1930 Going Wild Ruth Howard 1931 The Hot Heiress Juliette 1931 Broadminded Constance Palmer 1931 Five Star Final Kitty Carmody 1938 His Exciting Night Anne Baker 1938 Dramatic School Student Uncredited 1939 Scandal Sheet Kitty Mulhane 1939 Legion of Lost Flyers Martha Wilson 1939 Gone with the Wind Belle Watling 1939 The Big Guy Mary Whitlock 1940 Wagons Westward Julie O'Conover 1941 Lady from Louisiana Julie Mirbeau 1941 Wild Geese Calling Clarabella 1941 The Shanghai Gesture ' Mother ' Gin Sling 1942 Drums of the Congo Dr. Ann Montgomery 1943 Idaho Belle Bonner 1945 The Cheaters Florie Watson 1945 Dakota ' Jersey ' Thomas 1947 The Red House Mrs. Storm References ^ Jump up to : `` Ona Munson ''. The Los Angeles Times. Hollywood Star Walk of Fame. Retrieved December 29, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Stephens, Chuck. `` A Face in the Crowd : Ona Munson ''. Film Comment. Retrieved January 6, 2016. Jump up ^ Jewell, Richard B. ( 2012 ). `` 7 ''. RKO Radio Pictures : A Titan Is Born ( 1 ed. ). London : University of California Press. p. 153. ISBN 0 - 520 - 27179 - 3. Jump up ^ `` ( photo caption ) '' ( PDF ). Radio and Television Mirror. 13 ( 3 ) : 41. January 1940. Retrieved 16 February 2015. Jump up ^ Harbin, Billy J., Kim Marra and Robert A. Schanke ( 2005 ). The Gay & Lesbian Theatrical Legacy : A Biographical Dictionary of Major Figures in American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press. p. 297. ISBN 0 - 472 - 09858 - 6. Jump up ^ Madsen, Axel ( 1995 ). The Sewing Circle : Hollywood 's Greatest Secret : Female Stars Who Loved Other Women. New York : Birch Lane Press. pp. 14 -- 15. ISBN 978 - 1559722759. Jump up ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places : The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. : 2 ( Kindle Locations 33897 - 33898 ). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ona Munson. Ona Munson on IMDb Ona Munson at the Internet Broadway Database Photos of Ona Munson from Shanghai Gesture, 1941 by Ned Scott Ona Munson papers, 1906 - 1949, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Ona Munson at Find a Grave BNE : XX5452711 ISNI : 0000 0000 2902 3610 LCCN : n85151827 SNAC : w61854gq VIAF : 45737208 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ona_Munson&oldid=844712280 '' Categories : 1903 births 1955 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American radio actresses Drug - related suicides in New York ( state ) Actresses from Portland, Oregon LGBT entertainers from the United States LGBT people from Oregon Vaudeville performers 20th - century American actresses American actresses who committed suicide Female suicides Hidden categories : Articles with hCards Articles with IBDb links Find a Grave template with ID same as Wikidata Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Asturianu Deutsch Español فارسی Français Italiano Latina Magyar Nederlands Polski Português Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Türkçe 5 more Edit links This page was last edited on 6 June 2018, at 16 : 51 ( UTC ). 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Question: who played belle in gone with the wind
Answer: Ona Munson