Maureen O'Hara

Maureen FitzSimons (17 August 1920 until 24 October 15th, 2015) was an Irish singer, actress and performer who gained fame in Hollywood in the 1940s and into the 1960s. A natural redhead, she was famous for her work as a shrewd and empathetic heroine. Her roles were often in Westerns or adventure films. Her star potential was first noticed by actor Charles Laughton, who brought her to Hollywood and several times she collaborated with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne. O'Hara was born in Dublin, Ireland and was raised Catholic. She had aspired since her earliest years to become an actor. She was trained by the Rathmines Theatre Company from the age of 10 and attended the Abbey Theatre at the age of 14. A screen test was given to her, but the result did not go as well as expected. Charles Laughton, however recognized the potential in her and made arrangements for her to appear alongside him in Alfred Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn (1939). RKO Pictures offered her a contract. The actress also moved to Hollywood the same year to play alongside the director in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. From then, she proceeded to have a lengthy and extremely successful career and earned the name "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) and 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. This was followed by The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963) as well as Big Jake (2001). Such was her strong chemistry with Wayne that many believed they were married or engaged. O'Hara began to assume more motherly roles in the 1960s as she got older. She was in films like The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (611) and The Rare Breed (1966). In 1971, she retired from the film industry. However, she returned to the industry 20 years later , to co-star with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991).