Ashley Wilkes

Ashley Wilkes is a fictional character in the Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and the later film of the same name. The character also appears in the 1991 book Scarlett, a sequel to Gone with the Wind written by Alexandra Ripley.

Ashley is the man with whom Scarlett O'Hara is obsessed. Gentlemanly and weak, he loves Melanie, his cousin and later his wife, but is tormented by an obsession with Scarlett, against which he struggles honorably. Bizarrely, the character and his romantic problems were inspired by a relative by marriage of Mitchell's, the famous gunfighter Doc Holliday.

The character was played by Leslie Howard in the 1939 film. Howard was reluctant to play the part, for it was the type of person he got no joy out of playing: Ashley is a dreamer, someone who never could take real life.