Evelyn Keyes, at 91; actress in nearly 50 movies, author

Evelyn Keyes in 1984. (Los Angeles Times/Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES - In the oeuvre of actress Evelyn Keyes, the role of Suellen O'Hara was a "bit part," nothing like the leading roles she later played or her real-life role as wife of directors John Huston and Charles Vidor and jazz musician Artie Shaw.

But by playing Suellen, Scarlett O'Hara's jilted younger sister in the 1939 film classic "Gone With the Wind," Miss Keyes earned a place in Hollywood history that no other film could have given her.

"I got to star in my own movies," she said. "I even had my name above the title in some cases. But what am I known for? My bit part. It's very funny."

Miss Keyes, who in later years became a screenwriter and author, died of cancer July 4 at an assisted living home in Montecito, said Allan Glaser, a producer and executor of her estate. She was 91.

"She lived five lives in one," Glaser said. Well into her 80s, Miss Keyes continued running and writing.

In 1937 she was discovered in true Hollywood fashion: Someone saw her eating at a restaurant, which ultimately led to her meeting legendary director Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille placed her under personal contract and producer David Selznick cast her as Suellen.

The titles of Miss Keyes's autobiography and its sequel make references to the movie: "Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister: My Lively Life In and Out of Hollywood" was published in 1977, and "I'll Think About That Tomorrow" appeared in 1991.

"I wasn't writing a book about the movies," Miss Keyes said of her literary work. "I was writing about survival."

Miss Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas. She was raised in Atlanta and after graduating from high school worked as a dancer before moving to California.

Her first movie was DeMille's "The Buccaneer," in 1938. Later, under contract with Columbia, she appeared in such productions as "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" with Robert Montgomery in 1941, "A Thousand and One Nights" in 1945, and "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks in 1946. She considered her best performance was in the 1951 film noir "The Prowler" with Van Heflin. In 1955 she appeared in "The Seven Year Itch," with Marilyn Monroe.

After appearing in nearly 50 films, Miss Keyes left Hollywood in 1955 because " 'aging' is a dirty word in this town," she said in a 1991 San Francisco Chronicle article.

A certain kind of success eluded her.

Other than a few roles, "I mostly did cockamamie roles," she said. "I was the eternal Scarlett, the pretty thing the studios schlepped around the country to decorate publicity junkets."

Miss Keyes later began a literary career, writing with a voice that was authentic and unpretentious.

For three years beginning in 1984 her column, "Keyes to the Town," ran in the Los Angeles Times. Her three books include a novel, "I Am a Billboard," published in 1971.