Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons 17 August 1920 until 24 October, 2015) was an Irish singer and actress who achieved success in Hollywood through the 1940s and into the  in the 1960s. Her natural redhead was who was well-known for her fiery but shrewd heroines, especially in Westerns and adventure films. Charles Laughton was the first to see her potential as a star and brought her to Hollywood. She worked alongside John Ford and John Wayne, a longtime friend and director. O'Hara was born in Dublin, Ireland and was raised Catholicly. She had aspired since her earliest years to become an actor. O'Hara began her training at the Abbey Theatre and the Rathmines Theatre Company when she was just 10 years old. Screen test was offered to her, but it was not a success. Charles Laughton, however was able to see potential and offered her the opportunity to appear alongside him in Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939). She relocated to Hollywood the same year to appear with him in the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and was offered a contract by RKO Pictures. She enjoyed an impressive, long-running career, and was dubbed "the Queen of Technicolor". Her appearances in films include as How Green Was My Valley (1941) (her first collaboration with John Ford), The Black Swan with Tyrone Power (1942), The Spanish Main (1945), Sinbad the Sailor (1947) The Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with John Payne and Natalie Wood, and Comanche Territory (1950). O'Hara was in Rio Grande (1950) as O'Hara along with John Wayne, her most close friend. The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (57) and McLintock followed. (1963) as well as Big Jake (1971). Such was her strong chemistry with Wayne that many assumed they were together. In the 1960s, O'Hara increasingly took on more motherly roles as she got older, appearing in films like The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (1961) and The Rare Breed (1966). O'Hara left the industry in 1971. The actress returned to the industry twenty years later and appeared in John Candy (1991).

 





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