Profile of Maureen O'Hara on Famous Like Me

Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons) on August 17, 1920 is an Irish-American film actress.

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.

She came from a theatrical family and began acting at the age of 14 with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin (Ireland's National Theatre). At the age of 17, after a brief marriage which was annulled to the man who would become the father of British journalist Tina Brown, she was offered a screen test in London. Initially reluctant, she was persuaded to attend. Famed actor Charles Laughton attended the screen test. She performed poorly in the test and returned to Ireland. However, Charles Laughton believed she had "something." Laughton looked at the test again and, while he thought it was awful, he couldn't forget her eyes. He told his business partner he was signing her and sent him the test tape. When he saw the tape, the partner was furious as he believed it was a poor choice. However, he came around when he too found he couldn't forget her eyes. As a result she was offered an initial seven year contract. Her first major film was to be Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn.

In 1939, she and Laughton went to the U.S. to appear in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This film contains one of her most famous roles, playing Esmeralda alongside Laughton's Quasimodo.

Her mother was a trained Opera singer and she herself aspired to a singing career. She sang briefly in How Green Was My Valley and again in The Quiet Man. She starred on Broadway in the musical Christine and released two successful recordings "Love Letter from Maureen O'Hara" and "Maureen O'Hara Sings her Favorite Irish Songs". During the 1960s she was a sought after guest on musical variety shows appearing with Perry Como, Andy Williams, Betty Grable and Ernie Ford. She is a fluent Irish Gaelic speaker and often used this in her films such as The Long Gray Line, The Quiet Man and most recently in Only the Lonely.

She remains one of the most beloved of Hollywood's Golden Age Icons in the company of such screen luminaries as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and other great stars of the 1940s and 50s with many of her films considered all-time classics and traditionally shown on television during holiday periods such as Miracle on 34th Street and The Quiet Man. 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 Academy Award winning film How Green Was My Valley will remain one of the most iconic images ever preserved on film.

For her contribution 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. 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 divorceé.

In 2004 Maureen O'Hara released her autobiography Tis Herself published by Simon & Schuster she was also honored with The Lifetime Achievement Award by the Irish Film and Television Academy in her native Dublin, Ireland.

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 (1952)
• Kangaroo (1952)
• The Quiet Man (1952)
• Against All Flags (1952)
• The Redhead from Wyoming (1953)
• War Arrow (1953)
• Fire Over Africa (1954)
• The Long Gray Line (1955)
• The Magnificent Matador (1955)
• Lady Godiva (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)
• A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
• The Christmas Box - Television Movie (1995)
• Cab to Canada -Television Movie (1998)
• The Last Dance - Television Movie (2000)

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