Maureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously
O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director
. Her autobiography, 'Tis Herself, was published in 2004 and was a New York Times Bestseller.
O'Hara was born as Maureen FitzSimons on Beechwood Avenue in the Dublin suburb of
. She was the second oldest of the six children of Charles Stewart Parnell FitzSimons and Marguerita Lilburn FitzSimons. Her father was in the clothing business and also bought into
, a team O'Hara has supported since childhood. Her mother, a former operatic contralto, was a successful women's clothier. O'Hara was raised as, and still is, a Roman Catholic. Her siblings were Peggy, the oldest, and younger Charles, Florrie, Margot and Jimmy. Peggy dedicated her life to a religious order, the Sisters of Charity, and the younger children all went on to receive training at the
and the Ena Mary Burke School of Drama and Elocution in Dublin. O'Hara's dream at this time was to be a stage actress. She was first educated at the John Street West Girls' School near
. From the age of 6–17 she trained in drama, music and dance, and at the age of 10 joined the
Theatre Company and worked in amateur theatre in the evenings, after her lessons.
O'Hara's father was a very practical man and did not entirely support her theatrical aspirations. He insisted she learn a skill so that she would have something to fall back on to earn a living in case her experience in the performing arts was not successful. She enrolled in a business school and became a proficient bookkeeper and typist. Those skills proved helpful many years later when she was able to take and transcribe production notes dictated by
She did well in her Abbey training and was given an opportunity for a screen test in London. The studio adorned her in a "gold lamé dress with flapping sleeves like wings" and heavy make-up with an ornate hair style. Reportedly, her thoughts concerning the incident were, "If this is the movies, I want nothing to do with them!" The screen test was deemed to be far from satisfactory; however, actor
later saw the test and, despite the overdone makeup and costume, was intrigued, paying particular notice to her large and expressive eyes.
to see the film clip. Pommer agreed with Laughton and O'Hara was offered an initial seven-year contract with their new company, Mayflower Pictures. Her first major film was
. Laughton was so pleased with O'Hara's performance that he cast her in the role of
(1939), which was to be filmed at RKO Studios in Hollywood that same year.
began, and Laughton, realizing their studio could no longer film in London, sold O'Hara's contract to RKO. That studio cast her in low-budget films until she was rescued by director
. Six years later, in 1947, she made what is perhaps her best-remembered film, starring as Doris Walker and the mother of a young
, which, despite being released in May, has become a perennial Christmas classic, with a traditional network television airing every
. The film also helped to further establish O'Hara's career after the film garnered several awards, including an
In addition to her acting skills, O'Hara had a soprano voice and described singing as her first love. The studio heads never capitalized on her musical talent, as she was already big box office in other genres of film. However, she was able to channel her love of singing through television. In the late '50s and early '60s, she was a guest on musical variety shows with
. In 1960, she starred on Broadway in the musical Christine which ran for 12 performances. That year she released two successful recordings, Love Letters from Maureen O'Hara and Maureen O'Hara Sings her Favorite Irish Songs. Love Letters from Maureen O'Hara has been released on CD in Japan and is now out of print; Maureen O'Hara Sings Her Favorite Irish Songs has yet to be released on CD.
An icon of Hollywood's Golden Age, at the height of her career, O'Hara was considered one of the world's most beautiful women. She is often remembered for her on-screen chemistry with
. They made five films together between 1948 and 1972:
. A clip of O'Hara's radiant face as she waves from a gate in John Ford's Academy Award-winning How Green Was My Valley, remains one of the most classic images preserved on film, and is often featured as a clip in montages and promotions.
In 1939, at the age of 19, O'Hara secretly married Englishman George H. Brown, a film producer, production assistant and occasional scriptwriter whose best known work is the first of Margaret Rutherford's 1960s
mysteries, Murder She Said. The marriage was annulled in 1941. Later that year, O'Hara married American film director William Houston Price (dialog director in The Hunchback of Notre Dame), but the union ended in 1953, reportedly as a result of his alcohol abuse. They had one child in 1944, a daughter named Bronwyn FitzSimons Price. Bronwyn has one son, Conor Beau FitzSimons, who was born on September 8, 1970. From 1953 until 1967 O'Hara had a relationship with Enrique Parra, a Mexican politician and banker. She wrote in her autobiography; "Enrique saved me from the darkness of an abusive marriage and brought me back into the warm light of life again. Leaving him was one of the most painful things I have ever had to do."
She married her third husband, Charles F. Blair, Jr., on March 12, 1968. Blair was a pioneer of transatlantic aviation, a former Brigadier General of the
. A few years after her marriage to Blair, O'Hara for the most part retired from acting. Blair died in 1978 when an engine of a
he was flying from St. Croix to
exploded. She was elected CEO and President of Antilles Airboats with the added distinction of being the first woman president of a scheduled airline in the U.S. Later she sold the airline with the permission of the shareholders.
. In the following years, she continued to work, starring in several made-for-TV movies, including
, Cab for Canada and The Last Dance, the latter her last film to date, released in 2000.
. In June 2011 she participated at the Maureen O'Hara Film Festival in Glengarriff.
's "Irish American of the Year" in 2005, with festivities held at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
at 7004 Hollywood Blvd. In 1993, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
. She was also awarded the
She wrote the foreword for the cookbook At Home in Ireland. In March 1999, O'Hara was selected to be
of New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade. In 2007, she wrote the foreword for the biography of her dear friend, actress
. In the same year, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Film and Television Academy in her native Dublin.
In 2006, O'Hara attended the Grand Reopening and Expansion of the Flying Boats Museum in
, Ireland, as a patron of the museum. A significant portion of the museum is dedicated to her late husband Charles.
. The restoration of the plane took 8 years and time was donated by former pilots and mechanics in honour of Charles Blair. It is the only surviving example of this type of plane.
In 2011, Maureen O'Hara was formally inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame at an event in
. O'Hara was also named president of UFFO, The Universal Film & Festival Organization which promotes a code of conduct for film festivals and the film industry.
| Film |
| Year |
Film |
Role |
Notes |
| 1938 |
Kicking the Moon Around Kicking the Moon Around is a 1938 British musical comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Bert Ambrose, Evelyn Dall and Harry Richman. In an effort to discover whether his fiancee is a golddigger a millionaire's son pretends to have lost all his money...
|
Secretary |
"Harry Richman Harry Richman was an American entertainer. He was a singer, actor, dancer, comedian, pianist, songwriter, bandleader, and night club performer, at his most popular in the 1920s and 1930s....
was at Elstree"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
and introduced me to the film's director, Walter FordeWalter Forde was a British actor, Screenwriter and Director. Born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1896 he directed over fifty films between 1920 and 1949.-Silent era filmography:* The Wanderer * The Handyman ...
. Forde asked me if I would deliver a line in the movie. I was not a cast member and do not consider Kicking the Moon Around part of my official filmography. I only agreed to deliver the line as a favor to Harry Richman for his having helped me with my screen test." |
| My Irish Molly My Irish Molly is a 1938 British musical film directed by Alex Bryce and starring Binkie Stuart, Tom Burke and Maureen O'Hara. A young orphan runs away from her mean-spirited guardian to live with her aunt...
|
Eileen O'Shea |
"Laughton arranged for me to make my first picture, a low budget musical called My Irish Molly. It's the only picture that I made under my real name, Maureen FitzSimons. I was to play a young woman named Eiléen O'Shea who helps rescue a little orphan named Molly. Laughton wanted me to become more comfortable with both being on a movie set and being in front of the camera." |
| 1939 |
Jamaica Inn Jamaica Inn is a 1939 film made by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name, the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted ....
|
Mary Yellen |
"My character was the innkeeper's niece, the heroine who is torn between the love of her family and her love for a lawman in disguise." Laughton decided that the actress's name had to be changed since it was 'too long for the marquee' and gave her the choice between O'Mara and O'Hara. Since she rejected both he dismissed her protest and himself decided on O'Hara. O'Hara liked Hitchcock and wrote later that she, " never experienced the strange feeling of detachment with Hitchcock that many other actors claimed to have felt while working with him." |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...
|
EsmeraldaEsmeralda, or La Esmeralda , born Agnes, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame . She is a French Gypsy girl...
|
"We began filming out in the San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
...unfortunately, Los Angeles was having the hottest summer in its history, and I knew from day one that it was going to be a physically demanding shoot, especially taxing on Laughton because of the heavy makeup and costume requirements for Quasimodo. When I saw Laughton for the first time made up as Quasimodo, I almost fell over. I took one look at him and gasped, "Good God, Charles. Is that really you?" He answered me with a wink and then limped off." |
| 1940 |
A Bill of Divorcement |
Sydney Fairfield |
"A remake of the 1932 film A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American drama film, directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her movie debut. It is based on the British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed...
. I was cast as Sydney Fairfield, a role played by Katharine HepburnKatharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
in the earlier George CukorGeorge Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
version. The screenplay was mediocre at best, and FarrowJohn Villiers Farrow, CBE was an Australian, later American, film director, producer and screenwriter. In 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Writing / Best Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days and in 1942 he was nominated as Best Director for Wake Island.-Life and career:Farrow was...
was nowhere near the caliber director Cukor was." |
| Dance, Girl, Dance Dance, Girl, Dance is a film released in 1940, directed by Dorothy Arzner.In 2007, Dance, Girl, Dance was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", describing it as Arzner's...
|
Judy O'Brien |
"A comedy...I was cast as an aspiring ballerina who joins a dance troupe. Before filming started, the entire cast went right into dance classes. Pommer Erich Pommer was a German-born film producer and executive. He was involved in the German Expressionist film movement during the silent era as the head of production at Decla, Decla-Bioscop and from 1924 to 1926 at Ufa responsible for many of the best known movies of the Weimar Republic such as...
hired Ernst and Ginny Matray. My ballet sequences were far more difficult than the dancing I had done in Hunchback, and I struggled to get it right. LucilleLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
had a much easier time of it because she was a former ZiegfeldZiegfeld Girls were the chorus girls from Florenz Ziegfeld's theatrical spectaculars known as the Ziegfeld Follies , which were based on the Folies Bergère of Paris....
and Goldwyn girl and a much better dancer than I." |
| 1941 |
They Met in Argentina |
Lolita O'Shea |
"RKO's response to the Betty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
hit Down Argentine WayDown Argentine Way is a 1940 Technicolor musical film made by Twentieth Century Fox. It made a star of Betty Grable in her first leading role for the studio, and introduced American audiences to Carmen Miranda. The film also starred Don Ameche, The Nicholas Brothers, Charlotte Greenwood, and J....
. I knew it was going to be a stinker; terrible script,bad director, preposterous plot, forgettable music." |
| How Green Was My Valley How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 drama film directed by John Ford. The film, based on the 1939 Richard Llewellyn novel, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Philip Dunne. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall...
|
Angharad |
"An artistic collaboration began ( with John FordJohn Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
) that would span twenty years and five feature films. My favorite shot in the film takes place outside the church after Angharad gets married. As I make my way down the steps to the carriage waiting below, the wind catches my veil and fans it out in a perfect circle all the way around my face. Then it floats straight up above my head and points to the heavens. It's breathtaking." |
| 1942 |
To the Shores of Tripoli To the Shores of Tripoli is a Technicolor 1942 film starring John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly and Minor Watson. The film was directed by H...
|
Mary Carter |
"The first film I made with John Payne John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
and also the first film I made in TechnicolorTechnicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
. Bruce Humberstone [directed], or Lucky Stumblebum to those who couldn't understand why the quality of his pictures never seemed to match their impressive box-office receipts." |
| Ten Gentlemen from West Point Ten Gentlemen from West Point is a 1942 film directed by Henry Hathaway. It stars George Montgomery and Maureen O'Hara. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1943. -Cast:*George Montgomery as Joe Dawson*Maureen O'Hara as Carolyn Brainbridge...
|
Carolyn Bainbridge |
O'Hara: "A forgettable film mostly because John Payne dropped out...ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
recast the role with George Montgomery. I found him positively loathsome." |
| The Black Swan The Black Swan is a 1942 swashbuckler Technicolor film by Henry King, based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, and starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won one for Best Cinematography, Color.-Plot:...
|
Lady Margaret Denby |
"It had everything you could want in a lavish pirate picture: a magnificent ship with thundering cannons; a dashing hero battling menacing villains ( Tyrone PowerTyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
, Laird Cregar-Early life and career:Samuel Laird Cregar was the youngest of six sons of Edward Matthews Cregar, a cricketer and member of a team called the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. They toured internationally in the late 1890s and early 1900s...
, and Anthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
); sword fights; fabulous costumes...working with Ty Power was exciting. In those days, he was the biggest romantic swashbuckler in the world. But what I loved most about working with Ty Power was his wicked sense of humor." |
| 1943 |
Immortal Sergeant Immortal Sergeant is a 1943 war film set in the North African desert during World War II. It stars Henry Fonda as a corporal lacking in confidence in both love and war, Maureen O'Hara as his girlfriend, and Thomas Mitchell as the title character...
|
Valentine Lee |
"The studio publicized [the love scene between O'Hara and Henry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
] as Hank's last screen kiss before going to war." |
| This Land Is Mine |
Louise Martin |
O'Hara's last film with Charles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
. |
| The Fallen Sparrow The Fallen Sparrow is a 1943 spy film starring John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, and Walter Slezak. It was based on the novel of the same name by Dorothy B. Hughes. An American returns home to find out who murdered his friend.-Plot:...
|
Toni Donne |
O'Hara: "With John GarfieldJohn Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
, (my shortest leading man, an outspoken Communist and a real sweetheart)..." |
| 1944 |
Buffalo Bill Buffalo Bill Technicolor is a biographical Western about the life of the legendary frontiersman, starring Joel McCrea and Maureen O'Hara with Linda Darnell and Anthony Quinn in supporting roles.-Cast:*Joel McCrea as Buffalo Bill Cody...
|
Louisa Frederici CodyWilliam Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
|
"I didn't feel Joel McCreaJoel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
was tough enough to play the lead in a western. He was a very nice man, a good actor, but not rugged like DukeMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
or Brian KeithBrian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
. Critics mostly panned the film. I think the picture did so well with audiences because of its masterful use of Technicolor." |
| 1945 |
The Spanish Main The Spanish Main is an adventure film starring Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak and Binnie Barnes, and directed by Frank Borzage. It was RKO's first all-Technicolor film since Becky Sharp ten years before....
|
Contessa Francesca |
O'Hara: "Pairing me with Paul Henreid, one of my more decorative roles." |
| 1946 |
Sentimental Journey Sentimental Journey is a 1946 film directed by Walter Lang. It stars John Payne and Maureen O'Hara.-Cast:*John Payne as William O. Weatherly*Maureen O'Hara as Julie Beck / Weatherly*William Bendix as Donnelly aka Uncle Don...
|
Julie Beck / Weatherly |
"Sentimental Journey was every bit the smash hit that I thought it would be. It was a rip-your-heart-out tearjerker that reduced my agents and the toughest brass at Fox to mush when they saw it." |
| Do You Love Me |
Katherine "Kitten" Hilliard |
"The musical Do You Love Me? was one of the worst pictures I ever made. Neither Dick Haymes Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes was an Argentine actor and one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, who was an actor, television host, and songwriter....
nor Harry JamesHenry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
could save it." |
| 1947 |
Sinbad the Sailor |
Shireen |
"Playing Shireen, the glamorous adventuress who helps Sinbad (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) find the hidden treasure of Alexander the Great. Ridiculous. The picture made a pot of money for RKO – action-adventures almost always did." |
| The Homestretch |
Leslie Hale |
| Miracle on 34th Street Miracle on 34th Street is a 1947 Christmas film written by George Seaton from a story by Valentine Davies, directed by George Seaton and starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn...
|
Doris Walker |
"I have been mother to almost forty children in movies, but I always had a special place in my heart for little NatalieNatalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
. She always called me Mamma Maureen and I called her Natasha...when Natalie and I shot the scenes in Macy'sMacy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
, we had to do them at night because the store was full of people doing their Christmas shopping during the day. Natalie loved this because it meant she was allowed to stay up late. I really enjoyed this time with Natalie. We loved to walk through the quiet, closed store and look at all the toys and girls' dresses and shoes. The day she died, I cried shamelessly." |
| The Foxes of Harrow The Foxes of Harrow is an adventure film directed by John M. Stahl and produced by William A. Bacher. The film Rex Harrison, Maureen O'Hara, Richard Haydn with Victor McLaglen, Vanessa Brown, Patricia Medina, Gene Lockhart, and Hugo Haas...
|
Odalie "Lilli" D'Arceneaux |
"With Rex HarrisonSir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
and Victor McLaglenVictor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
at 20th Century-Fox. Harrison and I disliked each other from the outset. Hollywood might have called him the greatest perfectionist among actors, but I found him to be rude, vulgar, and arrogant." |
| 1948 |
Sitting Pretty |
Tacey King |
"With Robert Young Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...
...it made a fortune, even winning the Box Office Award for that year." |
| 1949 |
A Woman's Secret A Woman's Secret is a 1949 film noir. It was based on the novel Mortgage on Life by Vicki Baum. It was directed by Nicholas Ray and starred Maureen O'Hara, Gloria Grahame and Melvyn Douglas.-Plot summary:...
|
Marian Washburn |
"I made no attempt to keep it a secret that I thought the story stank. Dore Schary Isadore "Dore" Schary was an American motion picture director, writer, and producer, and playwright who became head of production at MGM and eventually president of the studio...
reminded me that I still had a one-picture-a-year obligation to RKO...I starred opposite Melvyn DouglasMelvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
as a frustrated talent manager who shoots her star client in a jealous rage. Schary was in love with Gloria GrahameGloria Grahame was an American Academy Award–winning actress.Grahame began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 she made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It's a Wonderful Life , MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her contract to RKO Studios...
. And to provide more real-life drama, Gloria Grahame was also in a relationship with director Nicholas RayNicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
, and was pregnant." |
| The Forbidden Street |
Adelaide "Addie" Culver |
Alternative title: Britannia Mews (UK). "Shot in London. The only reasons for you to watch this picture today on television are to see Dana Andrews Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
do a nice job in a dual role, or to watch the fine character actress Sybil ThorndikeDame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
steal the picture." |
| Father was a Fullback Father was a Fullback is a 1949 black-and-white Twentieth Century Fox film based on a comedy by Clifford Goldsmith. The film is about a college American football coach and his woes...
|
Elizabeth Cooper |
O'Hara: "A comedy stinkeroo that got more yawns than laughs." |
| Bagdad Bagdad is a 1949 adventure film starring Maureen O'Hara, Paul Hubschmid, and Vincent Price.It tells the story of a Bedouin princess who returns to Baghdad after being educated in England. She finds that her father has been murdered by a group of renegades. She is hosted by the Pasha , the corrupt...
|
Princess Marjan |
"An escapist adventure and my first picture with Universal. They called these tits and sand pictures. We shot the film on location in the Alabama Hills Alabama Hills are a "range of hills" and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California....
of Lone Pine, CaliforniaLone Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3727 feet . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the...
." |
| 1950 |
Comanche Territory Comanche Territory is a 1950 Technicolor Western directed by George Sherman, starring Maureen O'Hara and Macdonald Carey. Jim Bowie is sent into Comanche country by the government on a mission to draw up a treaty allowing the government to mine silver on the Indian's turf.-Plot synopsis:A treaty...
|
Katie Howard |
"The film in which I mastered the American bullwhip. By the time the picture was over, I could snap a cigarette out of someone's mouth." |
| Tripoli |
Countess D'Arneau |
Directed by O'Hara's second husband, William Houston Price. "To be fair, Will did a credible job of directing the picture. He managed to stay sober during the production." |
| Rio Grande Rio Grande is a 1950 Western film. It is the third installment of John Ford's "cavalry trilogy," following two RKO Pictures releases: Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ....
|
Mrs. Kathleen Yorke |
"The final instalment of John Ford's cavalry trilogy, based on three short stories by James Warner Bellah James Warner Bellah was a popular American Western author from the 1930s to the 1950s...
that Ford had read in the Saturday Evening Post." "From our very first scenes together, working with John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
was comfortable for me." |
| 1951 |
Flame of Araby |
Princess Tanya |
"Cast as a Tunisian princess – I wasn't up to making another lousy picture and wanted to save myself for a great performance in The Quiet Man. But Universal made their intentions known right away: Make the movie or be suspended. I had no choice but to make it." |
| 1952 |
At Sword's Point At Sword's Point is a 1952 Technicolor Drama directed by Lewis Allen, starring Cornel Wilde and Maureen O'Hara. The film was completed in 1949, but was not released until 1952....
|
Claire |
"The plot of the movie is a little hard to swallow, but it was fun as hell. The sons of the original Musketeers ride to the rescue, with just one exception. I play Claire, the daughter of Athos. Cornel WildeCornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
was cast as my leading man, (D'Artagnan). I trained rigorously for six weeks with Fred Cavens and his son to perfect my stunt sequences. Fred Cavens was an outstanding Belgian military fencing master and had trained all the great swashbucklers in Hollywood. Physically, I've never worked harder for a role." |
| Kangaroo Kangaroo is a 1952 American film directed by Lewis Milestone.The film is also known as The Australian Story .- Plot summary :...
|
Dell McGuire |
An Irish immigrant, Michael McGuire (Finlay Currie Finlay Jefferson Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen and television.Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1878. His acting career began on the stage. He and his wife Maude Courtney did a song and dance act in the US in the 1890s. He made his first film in 1931...
), and his daughter Dell (O'Hara) are Australian cattle ranchers who face poverty and death during the drought of 1900. O'Hara: "The director Lewis MilestoneLewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
rewrote Martin Berkeley's story. He destroyed a good, straightforward western. Though I hated every minute of the work, I absolutely loved Australia and the Australian people...most of the film was shot in the desert near Port Augusta-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...
." |
| The Quiet Man The Quiet Man is a 1952 American Technicolor romantic comedy-drama film. It was directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald. It was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story by Maurice Walsh...
|
Mary Kate Danaher |
O'Hara: "I have often said that The Quiet Man is my personal favourite of all the pictures I have made. It is the one I am most proud of, and I tend to be very protective of it. I loved Mary Kate Danaher. I loved the hell and fire in her. As I readied to begin playing her, I believed that my most important scene in the picture was when Mary Kate is in the field herding the sheep and Sean Thornton sees her for the very first time. It's a moment captured in time, and it's love at first sight. I felt very strongly that if the audience believed it was love at first sight, then we would have lightning in a bottle. But if they didn't, we would have just another lovely romantic comedy on our hands. The scene comes off beautifully." |
| Against All Flags Against All Flags is a 1952 American pirate film starring Errol Flynn as Brian Hawke, Maureen O'Hara as Prudence "Spitfire" Stevens and Anthony Quinn as Roc Brasiliano...
|
Prudence "Spitfire" Stevens |
With Errol FlynnErrol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
. O'Hara: "I respected him professionally and was quite fond of him personally. Of course there was one glaring inconsistency with his professionalism. Errol also drank on the set, something I greatly disliked. You couldn't stop him; Errol did whatever he liked. If the director prohibited alcohol on the set, then Errol would inject oranges with booze and eat them during breaks." |
| 1953 |
The Redhead from Wyoming The Redhead from Wyoming is a 1953 American western drama film produced by Leonard Goldstein and directed by Lee Sholem. It stars Maureen O'Hara as a saloon proprietress who becomes embroiled in a cattle war and Alex Nicol as the sheriff who tries to prevent it...
|
Kate Maxwell |
"Another western stinkeroo for UniversalUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. It was disappointing to be working on such a lousy picture while I was receiving praise for such a highly regarded piece of filmmaking.(The Quiet Man)" |
| War Arrow War Arrow is a 1953 western film directed by George Sherman and starring Jeff Chandler and Maureen O'Hara.-Plot synopsis:Major Howell Brady , a cavalry officer, is sent to Fort Clark, Texas, to subdue a Kiowa uprising that has been raiding villages on Seminole reservations...
|
Elaine Corwin |
"A second picture with Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler was an American film actor and singer in the 1950s.-Early life:Chandler was born Ira Grossel to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Anna and Phillip Grossel. He attended Erasmus Hall High School, the alma mater of many stage and film personalities...
. Jeff was a real sweetheart, but acting with him was like acting with a broomstick." |
| 1954 |
Malaga Malaga is a 1954 British film starring Maureen O'Hara as a former O.S.S. James Bond type secret agent and Macdonald Carey as a smuggler. It was directed by Richard Sale on location in Malaga and set in the international city of Tangiers...
|
Joanna Dana |
Alternative title: Fire over Africa. |
| 1955 |
The Long Gray Line The Long Gray Line is a 1955 American drama film directed by John Ford based on the life of Marty Maher. Tyrone Power stars as the scrappy Irish immigrant whose 50-year career at West Point took him from dishwasher to non-commissioned officer and athletic instructor.Maureen O'Hara, one of Ford's...
|
Mary O'Donnell |
"This was the fourth picture I'd made with John FordJohn Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, and it was by far the most difficult." |
| The Magnificent Matador |
Karen Harrison |
With Anthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
. "Critics disliked it, and found it dull." |
| Lady Godiva of Coventry Lady Godiva of Coventry is an American historical film, directed by Arthur Lubin and released in 1955. It starred Maureen O'Hara in the title role.-Synopsis:...
|
Lady GodivaGodiva , often referred to as Lady Godiva , was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants...
|
"I was not in the nude, as the studio claimed to the press. I wore a full-length body leotard and underwear that was concealed by my long tresses. An unexpected pleasure on the film was watching a promising young actor named Clint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
cut his teeth on it." |
| 1956 |
Lisbon Lisbon is a 1956 American crime film produced and directed by Ray Milland and starring Milland, Maureen O'Hara, Claude Rains, Edward Chapman, and Jay Novello. An American smuggler based in Lisbon is hired to rescue a wealthy industrialist from behind the Iron Curtain.The film was shot on location...
|
Sylvia Merrill |
"A RepublicRepublic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
melodrama, full of mystery, international intrigue, and murder. For the first time in my career I got to play the villain, and Bette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
was right - bitches are fun to play." |
| Everything But the Truth |
Joan Madison |
"A lousy comedy for Universal. John ForsytheJohn Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
was wonderful to work with, though." |
| 1957 |
The Wings of Eagles The Wings of Eagles is a 1957 Metrocolor film about Frank "Spig" Wead and US Naval aviation from its inception through World War II. The film is a tribute to Wead from his friend, director John Ford....
|
Min Wead |
"The film was the true story of an old friend of John Ford, Frank Spig WeadFrank Wilbur "Spig" Wead was a U.S. Navy aviator turned screenwriter who helped promote United States Naval aviation from its inception through World War II.-Military service:A 1916 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Wead began to promote Naval Aviation after World War...
, a naval aviator who later became a Hollywood screenwriter after breaking his back in a nasty fall...I never worked with John Ford again." |
| 1959 |
Our Man in HavanaOur Man in Havana is a 1959 film directed and produced by Carol Reed and starring Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara, Ralph Richardson, Noel Coward and Ernie Kovacs. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Graham Greene...
|
Beatrice Severn |
"When we arrived in Havana Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
on April 15, 1959, Cuba was a country experiencing revolutionary change. Only four months before , Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and his supporters had toppled Fulgencio BatistaFulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
...Che GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
was often at the Capri Hotel. Che would talk about Ireland and all the guerilla warfare that had taken place there. He knew every battle in Ireland and all of its history. And I finally asked, "Che, you know so much about Ireland and talk constantly about it. How do you know so much?" He said, "Well, my grandmother's name was Lynch and I learned everything I know about Ireland at her knee." He was Che Guevara Lynch! That famous cap he wore was an Irish rebel's cap. I spent a great deal of time with Che Guevara while I was in Havana. Today he is a symbol for freedom fighters wherever they are in the world and I think he is a good one." |
| 1961 |
The Deadly Companions The Deadly Companions is a 1961 Western. It was directed by Sam Peckinpah and starred Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran and Chill Wills. The film is based on A.S. Fleischman's novel of the same name. The film was Peckinpah's motion picture directorial debut...
|
Kit Tilden |
"About a drifter running from his past. Sam Peckinpah David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
's feature-film debut...Peckinpah later reached icon status as a great director of westerns, but I thought he was just awful. I found him to be one of the strangest and most objectionable people I had ever worked with." |
| The Parent Trap |
Margaret "Maggie" McKendrick |
"The Parent Trap wouldn't have been as special without the remarkable performances by Hayley Mills Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...
. I use the plural here because she really did bring two different girls to life in the movie. Sharon and Susan were so believable that I'd sometimes forget myself and look for the other one when Hayley and I were standing around the set." |
| 1962 |
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation is a 1962 American comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara. The film is based on a novel by Edward Streeter and features a popular singer of the time, Fabian.- Plot :Mr...
|
Peggy Hobbs |
O'Hara: "A simple story about a man and his wife who take a family vacation with their children and grandchildren in an old dilapidated house on the beach...I discovered that in a Jimmy StewartJames Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
picture, every scene revolves around Jimmy Stewart. I was never allowed to really play out a single scene in the picture. He was a remarkable actor, but not a generous one." |
| 1963 |
Spencer's Mountain Spencer's Mountain is a 1963 family film written, directed, and produced by Delmer Daves from a novel by Earl Hamner, Jr. The novel and film became the basis for the popular television series The Waltons, which followed in 1972...
|
Olivia Spencer |
"On location in Jackson HoleJackson Hole, originally called Jackson's Hole, is a valley located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the western border with Idaho. The name "hole" derives from language used by early trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to descend along...
, WyomingWyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
. The picture is loosely based on the novel by Earl Hamner, Jr. about his life growing up in poverty on Spencer's Mountain, under the roof of God-fearing parents.Henry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
told me that he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life until Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
's mother persuaded him to try his hand at acting. Fonda was the gifted, tough, and classy kind of leading man that I most enjoyed working with." |
| McLintock! McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The film is notable, perhaps even infamous, for its two spanking scenes, in which mother and daughter are each paddled with coal shovels: the daughter by her...
|
Katherine Gilhooley McLintock |
"There are so many great scenes in the picture. Audiences always rave about the fight sequence that takes place at the mine dump and ends in the mud. A total of forty-two cast members took part in the brawl, and nearly all of us ended up sliding down the bank into the mud pit below. The most dangerous stunt I perform in the picture was the fall from the ladder into the water trough." |
| 1965 |
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita The Battle of the Villa Fiorita is a 1965 British drama film directed by Delmer Daves. It stars Maureen O'Hara and Rossano Brazzi. Set in contemporary Italy, it tells of three children aware that their mother has left them for a lover and both stay at the Villa Fiorita...
|
Moira |
O'Hara: "Late April 1964, to Italy to make the film with Rossano Brazzi -Biography:Brazzi was born in Bologna to Adelmo and Maria Brazzi. He attended San Marco University in Florence, Italy, where he was raised from the age of four...
. I began the picture with high hopes, but the picture quickly turned into a disaster. Rossano Brazzi wasn't right for the part." |
| 1966 |
The Rare BreedThe Rare Breed is a 1966 American western film starring James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Juliet Mills and Ben Johnson and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Loosely based on the life of rancher William Burgess, the film follows Martha Price's quest to fulfill her deceased husband's dream...
|
Martha Price |
|
| 1970 |
How Do I Love Thee? |
Elsie Waltz |
"With Jackie GleasonJackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
. It was a terrible film. The script was awful, and the director couldn't fix it. I liked Gleason very much. He was a very kind and funny man, but he drank too much." |
| 1971 |
Big Jake Big Jake is a 1971 Western film, filmed on location in Durango, Mexico, starring John Wayne and directed by George Sherman.Big Jake was released to box-office success and generally-positive critical reviews, despite a mixed reaction by John Wayne fans....
|
Martha McCandles |
"We shot the picture in October 1970, in Durango Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...
, Mexico. Reuniting Duke (John Wayne) and me in our last picture together." |
| 1991 |
Only the Lonely Only the Lonely is a 1991 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Chris Columbus. It starred John Candy, Ally Sheedy, Maureen O’Hara and Anthony Quinn. The plot is similar to the earlier award-winning film Marty.-Plot:...
|
Rose Muldoon |
"John Candy John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
was one of my all-time favorite leading men. He was pleasant and courteous. The depth of John Candy's talent did surprise me. I didn't expect it to be so great. It didn't take long for me to see that he was not only a comedic genius but an actor with an extraordinary dramatic talent. He reminded me a great deal of Charles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
." |
| 1994 |
A Century of Cinema A Century of Cinema is a 1994 documentary directed by Caroline Thomas about the art of filmmaking , containing numerous interviews with some of the most influential film personalities of the 20th century....
|
Herself |
| Television |
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1958 |
The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars. The program was of course sponsored by Chevrolet...
|
As herself |
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
variety showA variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
guest |
| 1960 |
Mrs. Miniver |
Mrs. Miniver |
Television movie |
| DuPont Show of the Month DuPont Show of the Month, an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series, aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour anthology drama series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson .During the Golden Age of Television, DuPont...
|
Lady Marguerite Blakeney |
1 episode |
| The Bell Telephone Hour The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
|
Hostess |
1 episode |
| 1963 |
Hallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
|
Susanna Cibber |
1 episode |
| 1966 |
The Garry Moore Show |
Sara Longstreet |
1 episode. From the stage play High Button Shoes High Button Shoes is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by George Abbott and Stephen Longstreet. It was based on the semi-autobiographical 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Longstreet...
. |
| 1973 |
The Red Pony |
Ruth Tiflin |
Television movie. With Henry Fonda. O'Hara: "I received a lovely letter from actress Shirley BoothShirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
telling me that the scene with my son upstairs was one of the very best she had ever seen on film." O'Hara did not make another film until Only the Lonely. |
| 1995 |
The Christmas Box The Christmas Box is an American novel written by Richard Paul Evans and self-published in 1993. A Christmas story purportedly written for his children, the book was advertised locally by Evans, who was working at the time as an advertising executive. He placed the book in Utah stores and it...
|
Mary Parkin |
Television movie |
| 1998 |
Cab to Canada |
Katherine Eure |
Television movie |
| 2000 |
The Last Dance |
Helen Parker |
Television movie |