Hattie McDaniel and Clark Gable's chemistry was strong in Gone With The Wind and off-screen

Gable and McDaniel were good friends

Clark Gable was known as a handsome Hollywood leading man. His most famous role was as Rhett Butler in the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind. If you noticed the chemistry between Rhet and Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), it was not just for the camera. The duo had been friends before GWTW after meeting on the set of China Seas in 1935. McDaniel was not credited for that role, which was the norm for her for quite a while.

In the cover photo, you can see the two actor's genuine affection for one another but many may have assumed this was part of the script. In today's society, some may be asking what the big deal was but it was a huge issue in the 1930s. Segregation laws barred Blacks and Whites from socializing in the same spaces but some Americans like Gable and McDaniel associated with one another anyway. Imagine working together day after day on an epic like Gone With the Wind and not being able to go out and eat together after filming was done.

Mammy and Rhet enjoy each other's company

When you pay close attention during the scenes in Gone With the Wind, where Butler gives Mammy a drink and hands her a pair of stockings he purchased for her, you will notice something interesting. She is blushing, and he has a gleam in his eyes as if there is a secret between them. The chemistry is strong between them, and you can tell there are genuine feelings involved that are more than portraying a role.

Gable and McDaniel were said to spend time with one another and play pranks on each other during the filming of Gone With the Wind and everyone on the set saw how much each cared for the other. On screen the duo had a banter and comddic timing that cannot be denied.

Butler and McDaniel loved one another

The industry's highest-paid White actor, referred to as "The King of Hollywood," had a close relationship with an African American female who could only get parts as a maid. Critics of McDaniel's acceptance of such roles brought a fitting response from her. "I would rather play a maid than be one."

During Hollywood's Golden Years, Gay men and Lesbian women in the entertainment business were forced to marry to give the impression they were straight, and Black stars did not get equal pay as their white counterparts. Like McDaniel, African Americans could no eat in certain restaurants, sit in the same area as Whites in movie theaters, and had to ride at the back of buses.

McDaniel and Butler went against the rules

In the 1930s, it was considered bad form for a White male star of Gable's caliber to have a close friendship with a Black woman, but he did not care. Gable also became angry when McDaniel, who became the first African American woman to win an Oscar, could not stay in the same hotel as her white Gone With the Wind castmates, and she had to sit in the back against a wall during the ceremony at the Ambassador Hotel on Oscar night because of Jim Crow Laws.

McDaniel also could not attend the premiere of GWTW in Atlanta because of Georgia's strick laws on race. Gable was said to be so enraged about the way McDaniel was treated that he threatened to boycott the Academy Awards but she asked him not to. McDaniel could only attend the Oscar ceremony if she agreed to sit far away from Vivina Lee and Clark Gable. This must have been difficult, and Gable could have used his clout to change things. Instead he listened to his friend and allowed the laaws of the day to play out.