Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara (born
Maureen FitzSimons) on
August 17,
1920 is an
Irish film
actress.
Born to Charles FitzSimons (a
Catholic) and Marguerita Lilburn (a
Protestant) in
Ranelagh,
County Dublin, Ireland not long before partition, the famously
red-headed beauty is noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director
John Ford and longtime friend
John Wayne.
She came from a theatrical family and began acting at the age of 14 with the
Abbey Theatre in Dublin (Ireland's National Theatre). At the age of 17, after a brief marriage (which was later annulled) to the man who would become the father of British journalist
Tina Brown, she was offered a screen test in
London. Initially reluctant, she was persuaded to attend. Famed actor
Charles Laughton attended the screen test. She performed poorly in the test and returned to Ireland. However, Charles Laughton believed she had "something." Laughton looked at the test again and, while he thought it was awful, he couldn't forget her eyes. He told his business partner he was signing her and sent him the test tape. When he saw the tape, the partner was furious as he believed it was a poor choice. However, he came around when he too found he couldn't forget her eyes. As a result she was offered an initial seven year contract. Her first major film was to be
Alfred Hitchcock's
Jamaica Inn.
In 1939, she and Laughton went to the U.S. to appear in
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This film contains one of her most famous roles, playing
Esmeralda alongside Laughton's
Quasimodo.
Her mother was a trained opera singer and she herself aspired to a singing career. She sang briefly in
How Green Was My Valley and again in
The Quiet Man. She starred on
Broadway in the
musical Christine and released two successful recordings, "Love Letter from Maureen O'Hara" and "Maureen O'Hara Sings her Favorite Irish Songs". During the 1960s she was a sought after guest on musical variety shows appearing with
Perry Como,
Andy Williams,
Betty Grable and
Ernie Ford. She is a fluent
Irish speaker and used this in her films
The Long Gray Line,
The Quiet Man and most recently in
Only the Lonely.
She is one of the most beloved of
Hollywood's
Golden Age icons, in the company of such screen luminaries as
Marilyn Monroe,
Judy Garland and
Elizabeth Taylor. Many of her films are considered all-time classics and are traditionally shown on television during the holidays. Once named one of the world's most beautiful women, O'Hara's beautiful face and thick red hair blowing in the wind as she waves from a gate in the
John Ford Academy Award winning film
How Green Was My Valley will remain one of the most
iconic images ever preserved on film.
Maureen married Charles Blair in
1968. Blair was a pioneer of transatlatic aviation, a former Brigadier General of the
US Air Force and a former Chief Pilot at
Pan Am. A few years after her marriage to Blair, O'Hara for the most part retired from acting. According to O'Hara, one day she was with Blair and
John Wayne when she was asked if she didn't think it was time for her to stop working and stay at home. Instead of the getting into an argument that O'Hara thought Blair and Wayne were expecting, she agreed that it was time to stop working. Blair later died in
1978 when the engine of a
Grumman Goose he was flying from
St Croix to
St Thomas exploded.
O'Hara remained retired from acting until
1991, when she starred in the movie
Only the Lonely. In this role she played Rose Muldoon, the mother of Danny Muldoon, who was played by
John Candy.
For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Maureen O'Hara has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7004 Hollywood Blvd. In
1993, she was inducted into the
Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In
March 1999 Maureen was selected to be the
Grand Marshal of the
New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade after previously being de-selected because she was a divorcée.
In
2004 Maureen O'Hara released her
autobiography Tis Herself, published by
Simon & Schuster. In the same year she was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Irish Film and Television Academy in her native
Dublin, Ireland.
My Irish Molly (
1938)
Kicking the Moon Around (
1938)
Jamaica Inn (
1939)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (
1939)
A Bill of Divorcement (
1940)
Dance, Girl, Dance (
1940)
They Met In Argentina (
1941)
How Green Was My Valley (
1941)
To the Shores of Tripoli (
1942)
Ten Gentlemen from West Point (
1942)
The Black Swan (
1942)
Immortal Sergeant (
1943)
This Land Is Mine (
1943)
The Fallen Sparrow (
1943)
Buffalo Bill (
1944)
The Spanish Main (
1945)
Sentimental Journey (
1946)
Do You Love Me (
1946)
Sinbad the Sailor (
1947)
The Homestretch (
1947)
Miracle on 34th Street (
1947)
The Foxes of Harrow (
1947)
Sitting Pretty (
1948)
A Woman's Secret (
1949)
The Forbidden Street (
1949)
Father Was a Fullback (
1949)
Bagdad (
1949)
Comanche Territory (
1950)
Tripoli (
1950)
Rio Grande (
1950)
Flame of Araby (
1951)
At Sword's Point (
1952)
Kangaroo (
1952)
The Quiet Man (
1952)
Against All Flags (
1952)
The Redhead from Wyoming (
1953)
War Arrow (
1953)
Malaga (
1954)
The Long Gray Line (
1955)
The Magnificent Matador (
1955)
Lady Godiva (
1955)
Lisbon (
1956)
Everything But the Truth (
1956)
The Wings of Eagles (
1957)
Our Man in Havana (
1959)
The Deadly Companions (
1961)
The Parent Trap (
1961)
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (
1962)
McLintock! (
1963)
Spencer's Mountain (
1963)
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (
1965)
The Rare Breed (
1966)
How Do I Love Thee? (
1970)
Big Jake (
1971)
Only the Lonely (
1991)
A Century of Cinema (
1994) (documentary)
The Red Pony (
1973)
The Christmas Box (
1995)
Cab to Canada (
1998)
The Last Dance (
2000)
*
Notable figures in Western films*
*
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Maureen O'Hara* http://www.moharamagazine.com
*
Irish America - Queen of Technicolour*
Foynes Airboat Museum Maureen O'Hara tribute*
Red Heads
