Miriam Hopkins (Above) born Ellen Miriam Hopkins on October 18, 1902 in Savannah, Georgia. Died October 9, 1972 in New York City. She trained originally as a dancer but pursued dramatic roles and eventually had a successful career on Broadway which paved the way for her to migrate to Hollywood. She appeared in the Lubitsch comedy Trouble in Paradise (1932) opposite Kay Francis; in Dr. Jekyll and My. Hyde (1932) opposite Frederic March; and then was the lead in Design for Living (1933). She pursued the role of Scarlett O'Hara but, like many other stars of the 30s, didn't land the lead for Gone with the Wind. Her film work faded out in the early 1940s and she returned to stage work on the East Coast. She appeared in a number of television programs in the following decades but in very few films before her death in 1972.

Update: Writer Allan Ellenberger is working on a full-scale bio of Miriam Hopkins and some of his preparation can be seen at his web site http://blog.allanellenberger.com/category/miriam-hopkins/