Ona Munson played Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind. She was the head of her own house, and saves the lives of most of the important/prominent men in Atlanta, including Ashley Wilkes, as you will read later on.

Although Belle's scenes were brief, they were effective. She was quite frank in letting the audience know that she was Rhett Butler's mistress. She doesn't appear much in the movie, and some of her scenes were cut because of the length of the movie. One scene was shot with her nursing in the hospital, and being thrown out, probably by Mrs. Meade. A reference later in the movie was made to this scene, but the scene did not appear. When Belle tries to give the money to Melanie, Mrs. Meade says something along the line of "weren't you told to leave before?" The audience can assume from that and Belle's lines that she "tried to be a nurse, but they didn't want my kind of nursing," that she was a nurse at one point in the movie.

Remember how Belle gets into Rhett's carriage at the end of that scene? That scene was filmed in the wee hours of the morning, and I don't think the horses were happy about it. Neither were the actors, for it took hours to get it right. They would do it perfectly time and time again, but every time Belle got into the carriage, nature called to the horses. Since horses peeing doesn't make a classic movie, those takes weren't used. Finally, when their bladders were quite empty, the scene was shot and everyone went home for a few hours sleep before the morning's filming. (I found that quite funny. Perhaps I haven't worded it well, but it really is funny when I read it in my source book!)

When Scarlett comes to beg Rhett for money (as you can see, these are not in chronological order), and fails, Belle Watling is shown passing Scarlett and Mammy. Mammy is shocked and asked Scarlett, "Who dat? Ah ain' never see'd hair dat color in mah life. Does you know a dyed-hair woman?" Scarlett makes a remark that she wished she knew that one, or something like that, knowing Belle could get money out of Rhett and she could not. There is a picture of this at the bottom of my page.

When Melanie's baby arrives, Prissy is sent to find Rhett, so he could drive them to Tara. Prissy finds Rhett in the rooms above a saloon at Belle Watling's party. She calls up "Cap'n Butler! Cap'n Butler!" and Belle opens the shutters and asks, "What's all the rumpus about?" Rhett and several other woman arrive at the shutters, and while Rhett talks, the women laugh. That's Belle's part in that scene.

When Scarlett says she doesn't want any more children, it is Belle Rhett turns to. Below is a picture of Belle, when Rhett is devastated and ready to give up on Scarlett. Although it can be said that Belle did not really like Scarlett, she gets her one last chance for a life with Rhett. That just shows how wonderful Belle is inside, even though she is classed as a "bad woman,"

Belle, as I mentioned briefly before, saves the lives, along with Rhett, of most of the prominent men in Atlanta. It was the night Frank Kennedy was killed, after the Shantytown incident. The Yankees are after the men who were out there, including Ashley, for the Shantytown raid. Rhett takes the desperate men to Belle Watling's house, and Belle and her women would swear to it in court that they were there all night. Melanie was the only one grateful for this act, and sends her a note saying that she was planning on calling on her. Belle drives over after dark and she and Melanie talk in her carriage. Belle tells her that won't be proper, and says that if Melly sees her on the street, she needn't say hello. Melly, forever noble, says that she would be proud to.

I don't think I have forgotten to mention anything about Belle. She was a great character. (I named my favourite female betta fish after her, one who just died Dec '99. :( Just thought someone might be interested.)