Stephen Collins' Ashley

I like Stephen Collins as an actor (he was the dad on the Aaron Spelling TV series 7th Heaven). His Ashley Wilkes is much better than Leslie Howard's A shley in Gone With the Wind (1939). No offense. I realize Howard was a terrific British actor but his portrayal of Ashley was a weak performance. He never cared for the role, never read the book and was not interested in the Gone With the Wind phenomenon. Being British, his accent was completely wrong for the Southern gentleman character he portrayed.

But while Stephen Collins did use a Yankee accent, from what I remember, it's still a better performance. He is forlorn and sedate, like the character of Ashley is supposed to be. He is depressed after Melanie's death and then he slowly recovers. His kissing Scarlett seems to be in-tune with the character. He probably would have wanted to marry Scarlett. Rhett is out of the picture. But Scarlett no longer loves Ashley. Scarlett rejecting Ashley's advances was also on the mark. I thought Stephen Collins' Ashley was a very committed and involved performance , as good as Timoth Dalton's Rhett was. Leslie Howard did not really get into his character. At least Collins did.

I didn't like that Ashley remarried. I just don't see Ashley re-marrying. Melanie was the love of his life and it seems that the typical Southern gentleman thing to do was to remain a widower, especially for someone like Ashley. Remarrying is something Scarlett did, not Ashley. Ashley was a tragic character and his ultimate loss - after losing his home, his innocence of blood, his old secure world, was Melanie, the love of his life. Losing her was the last straw and it really killed him, so remarrying is not in his character at all.