Maureen O'Hara

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Maureen O'Hara
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Background information
Birth name Maureen FitzSimons
Born Aug 17, 1920
Years active 1938 - 2000
Spouse(s) George H. Brown (1939-1941)
Will Price (1941-1953)
Charles F. Blair (1968-1978)
Children Bronwyn FitzSimons (b.1944)
Awards IFTA Life Achievement Award
2004 Lifetime Achievement

This article is about a Movie Star

Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons on ✦August 17, 1920 in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish film actress and singer. Born to Charles Stewart Parnell 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. Her father was part owner of Irish football club 'Shamrock Rovers'. She is fluent in Irish and used this in her films The Long Gray Line, The Quiet Man, and Only the Lonely.

Biography

Beginnings

Maureen FitzSimons came from a theatrical family. She auditioned and was accepted into the prestigious Abbey Theatre in Dublin at the age of 14. Her dream then was to become an opera singer. Maureen's mother was an accomplished operatic contralto and later became a successful woman's clothier.

Maureen also attended the Ena Mary Burke School of Elocution in Dublin and at age 14 auditioned and was accepted into the famed performing arts school at the Abbey Theater. She was offered a screen test in London. The test proved to be a huge disappointment for Maureen. The studio adorned her in a gold lamé gown and heavy make-up with an ornate hairstyle. Her thoughts were, "If this is the movies, I want nothing to do with them!" In short, the screen test was awful. Famed actor Charles Laughton later saw the test, and despite the overdone makeup and costume, he was haunted by her beautiful eyes.

Laughton believed Maureen had "something special" and subsequently told his business partner Erich Pommer. Pommer saw the film, and he agreed wholeheartedly with Laughton. As a result, O'Hara was offered an initial seven-year contract with their new movie company "Mayflower Pictures." Her first major film was Jamaica Inn, (1939), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Laughton was so pleased with her performance in Jamaica Inn, that he cast her in the role of Esmeralda opposite him in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was to be filmed at RKO Studios in Hollywood that same year. Just hours before boarding the Queen Mary to sail to America, a young man from the studio, George Brown, who had a crush on her, convinced her to marry him. Her mother and Laughton found out about it, and she was whisked away from the altar to the boat. The marriage was never consummated and was later annulled.

After the successful completion of Hunchback, World War II began, and Laughton, realizing their studio could no longer film in London, sold her contract to RKO. RKO cast her first in low-budget films, and she was rescued by famed director John Ford, who cast her as Angharad in How Green Was My Valley.

In 1946, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Maureen had a beautiful soprano voice and her first love was always singing. Unfortunately the studio heads never capitalized on her music talent because she was already big box office playing in many diverse genres of film. However, she was able to channel her love of singing to TV. In the late 50's and early 60's she was a sought after guest on musical variety shows appearing with Perry Como, Andy Williams, Betty Grable and Tennessee Ernie Ford. In 1973, she appeared on Ford's Fabulous Fordies TV special. In 1960 she starred on Broadway in the musical Christine and released two successful recordings, Love Letters from Maureen O'Hara and Maureen O'Hara Sings her Favorite Irish Songs.

She is one of the most beloved of Hollywood's Golden Age icons and at the height of her career was considered one of the world's most beautiful women. She is best remembered for her chemistry with legendary John Wayne. She made five films with him - Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, McLintock!, and Big Jake. 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's Academy Award-winning film How Green Was My Valley will remain one of the most iconic images ever preserved on film.

Marriage, retirement, and comeback

Maureen married her third husband, Charles Blair, in 1968. Blair was a pioneer of transatlantic 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 getting into the argument, she thought Blair and Wayne were expecting, she agreed that it was time to stop. Blair later died in 1978 when the engine of a Grumman Goose he was flying from St. Croix to St. Thomas exploded. Though completely devastated, Maureen, with memories of ten of the happiest years of her life, soldiered on. 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 USA. Later Maureen sold the airline with the permission of the shareholders.

O'Hara remained retired from acting until 1991 when she starred in the film Only the Lonely. In this role she played Rose Muldoon, the mother of Danny Muldoon, played by John Candy.

In the DVD of the film The Black Swan, O'Hara's commentary can be heard along with film critic Rudy Behlmer.

Achievements

She was named Irish America Magazine's "Woman of the Year" in 2005 - with festivities held at the Plaza Hotel in NYC.

She was given the Heritage Award by the Ireland-American Fund in 1991.

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. She was also awarded the Golden Boot Award. She wrote the foreword for the cookbook "At Home in Ireland." In March 1999 Maureen was selected to be the Grand Marshal of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade In 2007 she wrote the forward for the Biography of her dear friend, actress Anna Lee.

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.

In 2006, Maureen O'Hara Blair attended the Grand Reopening and Expansion of the Flying Boats Museum in Foynes, Limerick, Ireland - as a patron of the Museum. A significant portion of the Museum is dedicated to her late Husband Charles Blair.

In 2001 Maureen dedicated her late husband's seaplane (Sikorsky VS-44A) "The Queen of the Skies" into the New England Air Museum. The restoration of the plane took 8-years and time was donated by former pilots and mechanics in honor of Charles Blair. It was a very emotional and moving tribute for Maureen.

Now officially retired, she divides her time between homes in: Glengarriff, County Cork, Arizona, and the Virgin Islands.

Pin-up Gallery


Filmography

  • 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 (aka Sons of the Musketeers) (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 of Coventry (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)

External links

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Wikipedia article: Maureen O'Hara
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 Note:   Maureen O'Hara was a volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen
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