British Gone With the Wind legend whose body was never found after tragic death | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

British actor Leslie Howard was one of the biggest Hollywood box office draws of the 1930s. Ironically the quintessential Englishman remains best known for playing Confederate Major Ashley Wilkes in the beloved 1939 classic Gone With The Wind. However, having begun his career in 1914, he was already a screen idol long before that thanks to roles in films such as Of Human Bondage and The Scarlet Pimpernel (both 1934), The Petrified Forest (1936) and Pygmalion (1938). His career also continued apace following the success of the American Civil War set romantic drama in movies like “Pimpernel” Smith (1941), and The First of the Few (1942).

However in 1943 his career, and life, were cruelly cut short at the age of just 50. Even more tragically the star’s body was never found. Leslie had been travelling through Spain and Portugal lecturing on film and meeting with local propagandists, shoring up support for the Allies in the midst of World War II. On June 1 1943 he was aboard a commercial KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight from Lisbon to Bristol, when it was shot down over the deep waters of the Bay of Biscay by Luftwaffe maritime fighter aircraft over the Atlantic by fighter-ace Oberleutnant Albrecht Bellstedt.

All 17 people on board – 13 passengers and four crew – died. Alongside Leslie the other passengers consisted of British businessmen with commercial connections to Portugal or lower-ranking British government civil servants. Adding to the tragedy there were also some children of British military personnel on board.

The airliner crashed into the open ocean far from the coast, meaning the wreckage sank instantly and no remains were ever recovered.

In 2009 a memorial to Leslie and the other passengers and crew of the flight was unveiled at A Capelda near San Andres de Teixido. The aircraft was shot down over the sea north of this village.

The reasons behind the tragedy remain a mystery but there are three main theories as to why the flight was targeted.

The first speculates German agents mistakenly though Winston Churchill was on board after they saw a portly man smoking a cigar boarding the aircraft. It was later revealed this passenger was actually Leslie’s manager, Alfred Chenhalls.

A second theory claims Leslie had been highly active in anti-German propaganda and was rumoured to be on covert intelligence missions for the British government. This led to claims the Nazis deliberately targeted him to eliminate a valuable Allied asset.

The third suggests it was simply an indiscriminate wartime attack. This has been substantiated somewhat by German pilot accounts which suggest it was a random engagement rather than a targeted strike. The Bay of Biscay was an active and hostile air-sea battleground, and the flight may have simply been caught in the crossfire of standard Luftwaffe operations.

His Gone With The Wind co-stars rushed to pay tribute following his death. Fellow British star Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett O’Hara praised his stage expertise and frequently spoke of his erudite intelligence, charm, and deep commitment to world affairs. Olivia de Havilland who played his wife Melanie in the film described him as an archetype of the English gentleman, possessing a “distraught air” that made colleagues want to mother him. Meanwhile Clark Gable, who played his love rival Rhett Butler, spoke about how he deeply respected Howard’s sophisticated acting style and sharp theatrical mind.