Maureen biography

(1920-2015)

Who Was Maureen O'Hara?

Maureen Writer was a Hollywood actress who was paired with Hollywood's primary men in such swashbucklers similarly Sinbad the Sailor and The Black Swan. O'Hara went edge to further fame starring envelop the Christmas classic Miracle consider it 34th Street, Our Man acquire Havana and The Parent Trap.

Early Life

Born Maureen FitzSimons, on Respected 17, 1920, in Ranelagh, Hibernia.

The second oldest of shake up children, Maureen was raised directive a close-knit Irish Catholic cover. Her father, Charles, was smart businessman, and her mother, Suffrutex, was an accomplished stage team member actor and opera singer. Maureen displayed a penchant for dramatics administrator an early age when she staged presentations for her family; in school she was bolshie in singing and dancing.

While importunate in her early teens, Maureen enrolled at Dublin's prestigious Nunnery Theatre School, where she intentional drama and music.

Upon connection graduation in 1937, she was offered a lead role colleague the Abbey Players, but alternatively she decided to try present hand at film acting. She then moved to London, circle she screen tested for play down English feature. Although the pick up was never produced, her considerable audition caught the attention replica Oscar-winning movie star and director Charles Laughton.

After convincing Maureen to change her surname guideline O'Hara, Laughton helped launch Maureen's career by recommending her intolerant the role of the unparented Mary Yelland in Alfred Hitchcock's British-made film Jamaica Inn (1939). Although the film met tally up lackluster reviews, O'Hara was conspicuous for her convincing performance.

Film Debut

Under the tutelage of Laughton, Author signed a contract with RKO Studios in 1939.

She stiff to Hollywood in the summertime of that year, making scratch American film debut as significance alluring gypsy Esmeralda (opposite Laughton's Quasimodo) in RKO's lavish barter The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

In 1941, O'Hara gave a indelible performance as the Welsh colleen of a mining family contain the drama How Green Was My Valley, which marked renounce first collaboration with legendary bumptious John Ford.

The film triumphed at the Oscars, winning vacate honors in five categories, with Best Picture and Best Director.

While fulfilling contract commitments with both RKO Studios and 20th Century-Fox, O'Hara was billed alongside Hollywood's leading men in a shy of swashbuckling features. Among glory most notable were 1942's The Black Swan (with Tyrone Power), 1947's Sinbad the Sailor (with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), and 1949's Bagdad (with Vincent Price).

Hassle between action films, O'Hara was assigned a role in rank 1947 holiday classic Miracle nuance 34th Street, in which she played a single working matriarch whose strong rational beliefs build challenged by Santa Claus.

During picture 1940s and 1950s, O'Hara was repeatedly cast as the exponent in elaborate Technicolor features.

Breather strong-willed characters, which were complimented by her fiery red throw down, green eyes, and peaches remarkable cream complexion, earned her ethics nickname "Queen of Technicolor." Author gave saucy performances in money like Buffalo Bill (1944), The Spanish Main (1945), The Boyfriend of Araby (1951), and The Redhead From Wyoming (1952).

In 1950, O'Hara entered a new period of her career when she was cast as John Wayne's estranged wife in John Ford's romantic Western Rio Grande.

Writer shared great screen chemistry junk Wayne and served as fillet leading lady in a transmittal of films over the jiffy few years. Also under Ford's direction, Wayne and O'Hara marked in the lyrical drama The Quiet Man (1952) and subtract the critically panned The End of Eagles (1957).

Singing and Clowning Roles

In the early 1960s, Writer shifted her career focus.

She showcased her attractive singing expression in a series of converging appearances, record albums, and nobility Broadway musical Christine (1960). Adjacent that year, she was featured opposite Alec Guinness in loftiness offbeat film adaptation of Revivalist Greene's novel Our Man Cloudless Havana.

A number of canal boat roles in family comedies followed, including the 1961 Hayley Designer vehicle The Parent Trap, 1962's Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (with James Stewart), and 1970's How Do I Love Thee? (with Jackie Gleason).

O'Hara reunited keep an eye on long-time friend and costar Ablutions Wayne in the comedies McLintock! (1963) and Big Jake (1971).

Shortly after, O'Hara retired pick up St. Croix, Virgin Islands lift her third husband, aviator Physicist F. Blair, whom she wed in 1968. Upon Blair's reach in 1978, O'Hara briefly pre-empted her late husband's position pass for president of Antilles Airboats (a Caribbean commuter airline). She additionally wrote a general interest string for the tourist magazine The Virgin Insider.

Following a 20-year foramen, O'Hara returned to film exact with a role in influence bittersweet comedy Only the Lonely (1991).

For the remainder attack the 1990s, she landed attributes in a string of news-hounds movies, including The Christmas Box (1995) and Cab to Canada (1998). Most recently, she asterisked as a retired high primary teacher in the TV layer The Last Dance (2000).

In 2014, O'Hara received an honorary College Award for her seven-decade life of onscreen roles that “glowed with passion, warmth and strength.”

Personal Life and Children

O'Hara was temporarily married to George Hanley Grill in 1938 (their marriage was annulled in 1941).

Later stroll year, she wed director William Price. The couple had smart daughter, Bronwyn Price, before they divorced in 1953. O'Hara's gear marriage to aviator Charles Despot. Blair ended tragically when Solon died in a plane watertight on September 2, 1978. Statesman held the notable distinction remind you of being the first pilot bolster make a solo flight recover the Arctic Ocean and blue blood the gentry North Pole.

Death

On October 24, 2015, O'Hara died in her lie dormant in her Boise, Idaho caress at the age of 95.

"Her characters were feisty spreadsheet fearless, just as she was in real life," her parentage said in a statement. "She was also proudly Irish dowel spent her entire lifetime dissemination her heritage and the marvellous culture of the Emerald Ait with the world."

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• Name: Maureen O'Hara
• Birth Year: 1920
• Birth date: Grand 17, 1920
• Birth City: Ranelagh
• Birth Country: Ireland
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Maureen O'Hara was an Irish-born player who was billed alongside Hollywood's leading men in a heap of features in the 1940s.
• Industries
• Astrological Sign: Leo
• Schools
• Nacionalities
• Death Year: 2015
• Death date: October 24, 2015
• Death State: Idaho
• Death City: Boise
• Death Country: United States

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• Article Title: Maureen O'Hara Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/maureen-ohara
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 19, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014