Maureen O'Hara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Maureen Fitzsimons
Born August 17, 1920 (1920-08-17) (age 87)
Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland
(now Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland)
Occupation Film Actress
Spouse(s) George H. Brown, Will Price, General Charles F. Blair
Official site
http://www.moharamagazine.com/ Official Website
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 Ireland's leading 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 Theater 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. 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 hair style. 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, "Jamaica Inn," was to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1939).
Laughton was so pleased with her performance in "Jamaica Inn," that he cast her in the role of Esmeralda opposite him in "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 later annulled.
After successful completion of "Hunchback," WW-2 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 Anghared in "How Green was My Valley."
In 1946, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Maureen's first love was always singing. 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. Throughout the 1960s she was a sought after guest on musical variety shows appearing with Perry Como, Andy Williams, Betty Grable and Ernie Ford. In 1973, she appeared on Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Fabulous Fordies" TV special.
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," "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.
When Roddy McDowall was profiled on This Is Your Life, Maureen O'Hara was a guest on the show. She related a story about how Roddy McDowall had promised to marry her when he was 21. When it came time for his 21st party, Maureen came, and asked Roddy when they were leaving, and apparently he had forgotten. By the time of the episode in the early 1990's, he must have remembered again because he got down on his knees, and proposed to Maureen there, and then. She said yes, but whether it was for real, or a joke, is still in dispute.
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. Many anecdotes are presented in the dialogue between the two.
Achievements
In 1991 she was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship in recognition of her contributions to film.
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 wrote the foreward for the cook book "At Home in Ireland" written by Ava Astaire McKenzie (daughter of Fred Astaire) published in 1998 by Roberts Rhinehart Publishers ISBN-1-57098-204X. 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.
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.
She divides her time between homes in: Glengarriff, County Cork, Beverly Hills, California, Arizona, New York and the Virgin Islands.
Siblings
Maureen was one of six children, her siblings: James, Florrie and Charles B. Fitzsimons are deceased. Surviving are Sister Margaret Mary, a nun, and Mrs. Margot Edwards.
