Ann Rutherford
At the height of her acting career, Ann Rutherford had every teenage boy in America wishing she were his girlfriend. Her sweet portrayal of Polly Benedict, the charming and loyal girlfriend to Mickey Rooney's exuberant and lovestruck Andy Hardy in films such as "You're Only Young Once" (1937) and "Love Finds Andy Hardy" (1938), cemented Rutherford's status as an all-American sweetheart. Her universal appeal - boys loved her and girls wanted to be her - launched the actress' career and made her a marquee name in movie classics such as "A Christmas Carol" (1938) and "Pride and Prejudice" (1940). Yet no other film in Rutherford's extensive résumé held the enduring popularity and cultural impact as "Gone with the Wind" (1939), a cinematic masterpiece told through the eyes of Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh). Rutherford played Scarlett's optimistic younger sister Carreen in the film that crossed genres and went on to be considered one of the greatest movies of all time. After making a few more films in the 1940s, she later acted in television until retiring from show business in the 1970s. In 2009, Rutherford celebrated the 70th anniversary of "Gone with the Wind," as one of that cast's - and the Golden Age's - last remaining survivors before her death in 2012.