Ann Rutherford, an actress who became famous in the late 1930s as Mickey Rooney’s sweetheart, Polly Benedict, in the hugely successful Andy Hardy movie series and earned a role in one of the biggest movies in Hollywood history, as Scarlett O’Hara’s sister in “Gone with the Wind,” died of a stroke on June 11th, 2012 at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 94.

Her movie success in the 1930’s stemmed from her appeal as the “wholesome girl next door”. She became America’s sweetheart.

Ms. Rutherford remembered her days as a star with fondness and, even years later, a bit of disbelief. “I went to the studio every day like kids today go to Disneyland,” she told The New York Times in 1972. “To me those years were never-never land, save the frosting on the cake for last, make it all last forever,” she added. “And all I wanted was for it not to end until I was ready to have it end.”

Ann Rutherford forever In Heaven with the Stars.