Cammie King Conlon, shown in January 2006, portrayed the daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind in 1939. Cammie King Conlon, shown in January 2006, portrayed the daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind in 1939. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)

Cammie King Conlon, an American actress who played Bonnie Blue Butler, the daughter of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, has died at her home in Fort Bragg, Calif. She was 76.

Conlon died of lung cancer Wednesday with her son Matthew Ned Conlon at her side.

She made her debut as a child actress at age five in the 1939 Civil War epic. The daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara dies in a fall from a pony, and the grief leads to a breakdown of their marriage.

Conlon worked on just three movies as a child, before her mother decided she should have a more normal life. She later made a career as a publicist and museum director.

"It's amazing because she is so much more than Bonnie Blue Butler, but … that is what she is remembered for, and it's a pretty great thing to be remembered for," Matthew Conlon said.

"Nobody told it better than Mom — when you debut in Gone with the Wind, it's downhill."

Conlon also appeared in Blondie Meets the Boss in 1939 and voiced the young doe Faline in Bambi in 1942.

Although she barely remembered the Gone With the Wind shoot, she had fun with the notoriety it bought.

She entertained Gone With the Wind fans by appearing at parades, retrospectives, museum exhibits and anniversary celebrations for the film.

In an interview last year with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat she recalled being scratched by Clark Gables mustache in a scene where he hugs and kisses her.

She also remembered her stunt double for the pony scene, a male dwarf, smoking a cigarette while dressed in a reproduction of her riding costume.

"As the years have gone by, I realize it's an honour, and it's so humbling," she said. "I had nothing to do with it. I was five. They said 'Stand here. Do this.' And yet it's resulted in this incredible experience."

Conlon is survived by her son and a daughter, Katie Conlon Byrne.

With files from The Associated Press