Maureen O’Hara

Maureen O'Hara Headshot

Actress • Singer

Birth Date: August 17, 1920

Death Date: October 24, 2015

Birth Place: Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland

So striking in appearance that Technicolor inventor Herbert Kalmus was said to have used her red-haired and green-eyed image to promote his creation, Maureen O'Hara was an Irish-born actress whose versatility allowed her to move gracefully from dramas to comedies and even period adventures. She was a favorite of director John Ford, who cast her in five of his films, including "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), "Rio Grande" (1950) and "The Quiet Man" (1952). Her co-star in two Ford films was John Wayne, and their on-screen chemistry lead to several collaborations; she was also well-paired with James Stewart, with whom she appeared twice. She retired in the early 1970s and enjoyed a successful second career as a magazine publisher and later the first woman president of an airline company. After retiring from the screen for the second and final time in 2000, O'Hara lived a peaceful life under her death on October 24, 2015 at the age of 95.

Born Maureen FitzSimmons in Ranelagh, a suburb of Dublin, on August 17, 1920, she was one of six children born to Charles Stewart Parnell FitzSimmons (one of the owners of the Shamrock Rovers football club) and opera singer Marguerita Lilburn; three of her siblings, brothers James and Charles and sister Margot, would also become actors. O'Hara wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, and thus, was accepted into Dublin's prestigious Abbey Theatre at the age of 14. Stage roles and appearances on Irish radio soon followed. At age 18, she traveled to London for bit parts in two films, "Kicking the Moon Around" and "My Irish Molly" (both 1938). While in London, she was offered a screen test, which came to the attention of acclaimed actor-producer-director Charles Laughton, who was casting for roles in "Jamaica Inn" (1939), a new period drama he was making with Alfred Hitchcock. Laughton became convinced of O'Hara's screen presence after watching her test, and offered her a seven-year contract with his production company, Mayflower Pictures. He also suggested she change her surname to the more marquee-friendly "O'Hara." Their first collaboration would be "Jamaica Inn," an adaptation of the Daphne du Marier story of a young orphan (O'Hara) who discovers that her uncle is the leader of a gang of pirates. Its success led to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939), with Laughton as Quasimodo and O'Hara as Esmeralda, the fiery gypsy he loves. Her performance would soon establish her screen persona as a fiercely independent woman who could hold her own with any man.

While traveling aboard the Queen Mary to film "Hunchback," O'Hara met and was wooed by British director George Hanley Brown. The couple married aboard the ship, but the union was annulled just two years later. Her career hit a slight lull in 1940 when Laughton sold her contract to RKO due to the outbreak of World War II, which made filming in London impossible. But in 1941, director John Ford gave her career a boost by casting her as Angharad, the strong-willed female lead in his stirring family drama "How Green Was My Valley." The film was such a hit and O'Hara such an integral part of its success that her stardom - mainly as a WWII pin-up - happened overnight.

For the next two decades, O'Hara was an exceptionally popular leading lady in a wide variety of features. She seemed equally at home in mainstream dramas like "This Land Is Mine" (1943), as the love object and motivation for meek schoolteacher Charles Laughton to go to war, as she did in comedies like the seasonal favorite "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), as the Macy's employee who hires Edmund Gwenn's Santa Claus, or "Sitting Pretty" (1948), which marked the first screen appearance of Clifton Webb as the acerbic Mr. Belvedere. But O'Hara was also well-equipped for period pieces like "The Black Swan" (1942), "Sinbad the Sailor" (1947), and "At Sword's Point," (1952) in which she was romanced by swashbucklers Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks and Cornel Wilde (and more than held her own with a rapier in the latter film).

Her best work, however, came in Ford's films, where her Irish beauty and spirit were given their strongest showcase. She was the estranged wife of John Wayne's cavalry colonel in "Rio Grande" (1950), which concluded the trilogy he began with "Fort Apache" (1948) and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949). Its success paved the way for the Oscar-winning "The Quiet Man" (1952), an enormously effective drama-romance with Wayne as an American in Ireland who fights the local bully (Victor McLaglen) to win the hand of his headstrong sister (O'Hara). The wind-blown image of Wayne dragging O'Hara out of the door of her home became an iconic image. The picture established Wayne as a viable romantic lead, and his palpable on-screen chemistry with O'Hara yielded several subsequent reteamings, including "The Wings of Eagles" (1957), with Wayne as real-life Navy pilot Frank "Spig" Wead, whose wife (O'Hara) supported him through a traumatic and paralyzing accident. During this exceptionally busy period, O'Hara also found time to marry her second husband, director Will Price, with whom she had a daughter, Bronwyn (who followed her mother into acting in the 1960s). Price's problems with alcohol lead to a divorce in 1952.

O'Hara also managed to make frequent appearances on television during the medium's early days of the 1950s and into the 1960s, which gave her ample opportunity to show off her vocal talents on variety shows. Her singing abilities were also put to excellent use in the short-lived 1960 Broadway musical "Christine," which was based on material by Pearl Buck. O'Hara later recorded two well-received albums, Love Letters from Maureen O'Hara and Maureen O'Hara Sings Her Favorite Irish Songs.

O'Hara brought life to several standard-issue matriarchal roles as the 1950s gave way to the 1960s; she was the mother of identical twins (Hayley Mills) who conspire to reunite her with their father (Brian Keith) in Disney's hit "The Parent Trap" (1961), and earned a Laurel nomination as James Stewart's wife in the genial family comedy "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" (1962). She later served as mother to Henry Fonda's oversized brood in "Spencer's Mountain" (1963), which was drawn from the same novel by Earl Hamner that inspired "The Waltons" (CBS, 1972-1981). Her on-screen fire was also tapped on several occasions; most notably in the Western "McClintock!" (1963), which attempted to respark the energy between her and Wayne, and "The Rare Breed" (1966), which cast her as a widowed rancher who hires James Stewart to help her manage her late husband's cattle empire. Her final big-screen appearance came in the lackluster 1971 Western "Big Jake," with - not surprisingly - John Wayne as her estranged screen husband.

In 1968, O'Hara married famed aviator and Air Force Brigadier General Charles Blair, and retired from acting after co-starring with Henry Fonda in the Emmy- and Peabody-winning TV movie "The Red Pony" (1973). With Blair, she co-managed a commuter seaplane service called Antilles Airboats, as well as owned and published The Virgin Islander, which also featured a monthly column penned by O'Hara. The happy union came to a tragic end in 1978 when Blair was killed in a plane crash. Though devastated by the accident, she assumed control of the airline and became the first woman to head a scheduled commercial air service in the United States.

Though quite happy in her retirement, with residences in Ireland, St. Croix, New York City and Los Angeles, O'Hara returned to acting several times in the 1990s and 2000s. Her brother Charles, who had become a successful producer, received a script from Chris Columbus, which included a role he had penned specifically for her. On her brother's advice, she took the part of John Candy's overbearing Irish mother who makes life difficult for her lovelorn son, in "Only the Lonely" (1991). She received excellent reviews for her comic performance. Polson Productions later lured her back into the spotlight for three TV movies between 1995 and 2000, including "The Christmas Box" (1995) and "The Last Dance (2000), in which she was top-billed as a lonely retired teacher.

O'Hara's long and distinguished career was celebrated on several occasions, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and induction into the Western Performers Hall of Fame in 1993. She penned her autobiography, Tis Herself, in 2004, shortly before receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Film and Television Academy in her hometown of Dublin. Maureen O'Hara died of undisclosed natural causes at her home in Boise, Idaho on October 24, 2015. She was 95 years old.

Credits

John Wayne: The Unquiet American

Self
Show
2003

Queen of the Sky

Actor
Show
2001

The Last Dance

Actor
Helen Parker
Movie
2000

Cab to Canada

Actor
Katherine Eure
Movie
1998

The Christmas Box

Actor
Mary Parkin
Movie
1995

Only the LonelyStream

Actor
Rose Muldoon
Movie
1991
65%

That's Action!

Actor
Movie
1977

The Red Pony

Actor
Ruth Tiflin
Movie
1973

Big JakeStream

Actor
Martha McCandles
Movie
1971
75%

How Do I Love Thee?

Actor
Elsie Waltz
Movie
1970

Who's Afraid of Mother Goose?

Actor
Mother Goose
Show
1967

The Rare Breed

Actor
Martha Price
Movie
1966
29%

The Battle of the Villa Fiorita

Actor
Moira
Movie
1965

A Cry of Angels

Actor
Susanna Cibber
Show
1963

Spencer's MountainStream

Actor
Olivia Spencer
Movie
1963
80%

McLintock!Stream

Actor
Katherine Gilhooley McLintock
Movie
1963
57%

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

The Deadly Companions

Actor
Kit Tildon
Movie
1962

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Actor
Peggy Hobbs
Movie
1962

Theatre '62

Actor
Show
1961

The Parent TrapStream

Actor
Maggie McKendrick
Movie
1961
90%

Talent Search

Guest
Show
1960

Our Man in Havana

Actor
Beatrice Severn
Movie
1960

Ford Startime

Actor
Show
1959

The Wings of Eagles

Actor
Min Wead
Movie
1957

Lisbon

Actor
Sylvia Merrill
Movie
1956

Everything but the Truth

Actor
Joan Madison
Movie
1956

The HoneymoonersStream

Guest Star
Series
1955
100%

The Magnificent Matador

Actor
Karen Harrison
Movie
1955

The Long Gray LineStream

Actor
Mary O'Donnell
Movie
1955
90%

Lady Godiva

Actor
Lady Godiva
Movie
1955

Fire Over Africa

Actor
Joanna Dana
Movie
1954

Malaga

Actor
Joanna Dana
Movie
1954

War Arrow

Actor
Elaine Corwin
Movie
1953

The Quiet ManStream

Actor
Mary Kate Danaher
Movie
1952
91%

Against All Flags

Actor
Prudence `'Spitfire'` Stevens
Movie
1952

The Redhead From Wyoming

Actor
Kate Maxwell
Movie
1952
50%

Flame of Araby

Actor
Princess Tanya
Movie
1952

Kangaroo

Actor
Dell McGuire
Movie
1952

At Sword's Point

Actor
Claire
Movie
1952

What's My Line?Stream

Guest
Game Show
1950

Tripoli

Actor
Countess D'Arneau
Movie
1950

Rio GrandeStream

Actor
Mrs. Kathleen York
Movie
1950
71%

Comanche Territory

Actor
Katie Howard
Movie
1950

The Forbidden Street

Actor
Adelaide "Addie" Culver
Movie
1949

A Woman's Secret

Actor
Marian Washburn
Movie
1949
43%

Father Was a Fullback

Actor
Elizabeth Cooper
Movie
1949

Bagdad

Actor
Princess Marjan
Movie
1949

Sitting Pretty

Actor
Tacey King
Movie
1948

Sinbad the SailorStream

Actor
Shireen
Movie
1947
80%

The Foxes of Harrow

Actor
Odalie "Lilli" D'Arceneaux
Movie
1947

Miracle on 34th StreetStream

Actor
Doris Walker
Movie
1947
96%

The Homestretch

Actor
Leslie Hale
Movie
1947

Do You Love Me?

Actor
Katherine "Kitten" Hilliard
Movie
1946

Sentimental Journey

Actor
Julie Beck/Weatherly
Movie
1946

The Spanish Main

Actor
Contessa Francesca
Movie
1945

Buffalo Bill

Actor
Louisa Frederici Cody
Movie
1944

The Fallen Sparrow

Actor
Toni Donne
Movie
1943

This Land Is MineStream

Actor
Louise Martin
Movie
1943
71%

The Immortal Sergeant

Actor
Valentine Lee
Movie
1943

Ten Gentlemen From West Point

Actor
Carolyn Bainbridge
Movie
1942

The Black SwanStream

Actor
Lady Margaret Denby
Movie
1942
83%

To the Shores of Tripoli

Actor
Mary Carter
Movie
1942

How Green Was My ValleyStream

Actor
Angharad Morgan, Eldest Daughter
Movie
1941
93%

They Met in Argentina

Actor
Lolita O'Shea
Movie
1941

My Irish Molly

Actor
Eileen O'Shea
Movie
1940

Dance, Girl, Dance

Actor
Judy O'Brien
Movie
1940

Never to Love

Actor
Sydney Fairfield
Movie
1940

The Hunchback of Notre DameStream

Actor
Esmeralda
Movie
1939
94%

Jamaica Inn

Actor
Mary
Movie
1939

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