Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara

Birth : 1920-08-17, Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland

Death : 2015-10-24

History

Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons, August 17, 1920 - died October 24, 2015) was a native Irish and naturalized American actress and singer, and a natural redhead, who became successful in Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was known for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne. She was one of the longest-lived stars from the "Golden Age" of Hollywood.

Profile

Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara

Movies

John Ford: Dreaming the Quiet Man
Self
Dreaming the Quiet Man’ includes interviews with aficionados of Ford like, Martin, Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovicz, Jim Sheridan, William Dowling, and Joe McBride. There is mesmeric archive and rare photographs of the making of the film. The main location of the documentary is Ford’s ancestral homeland of Connemara, on the west coat of Ireland, where his parents were born. We meet Ford’s cousins, the Feeney’s who tell the story of Ford’s parent’s departure from Ireland after the Great Famine and the young Ford’s return to Ireland in 1922 to visit his cousins the Thornton’s and saw their house being burned down by the infamous Black and Tans. Ford, under the pretense of scouting locations for a movie, gave money to the IRA. We travel to Portland Maine where Ford grew up and went on to become a director in the first bloom of Hollywood. The boy made it good but Ireland was always on his mind.
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
Self (archive footage)
An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western genre forever.
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood
Self
Documentary about the making of 20th Century Fox's 1963 film "Cleopatra," then the most expensive film of all time.
The Last Dance
Helen Parker
A retired school teacher is reminded of her past after she befriends with one of her former students, Todd Cope.
Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'
Self
Documentary about how the creative energies of Darryl F. Zanuck and John Ford combined to forge an enduring masterpiece despite the challenges of wartime production.
Cab to Canada
Katherine
Fact-based story about a Pasadena cab driver who picks up what he believes is a routine fare, an elderly woman on her way to a funeral. However, the wealthy woman is soon is insisting that the cabbie drive her on a cross-country trip that ends up entailing 3100 miles and ending in Vancouver. Initially contentious, the two eventually find a reluctant friendship growing.
The Christmas Box
Mary Parkin
A ski-shop owner reluctantly moves himself, his wife, and his daughter in to an estate as live-in help for an elderly widow. While struggling to balance his career and family life, he has recurring dreams about an angel.
Perry Como's Irish Christmas
Self
Perry Como's last great concert special, filmed in Ireland and screened in 1994. Como appears before an audience of 4,500 in Ireland's celebrated Point Theater, with Irish President Mary Robinson and actress Maureen O'Hara in attendance.
Only the Lonely
Rose Muldoon
Danny Muldoon, a Chicago policeman, still lives with his overbearing mother Rose. He meets and falls in love with Theresa Luna , whose father owns the local funeral parlour. Naturally, his mother objects to the relationship, and Danny and Theresa must either overcome her objections or give up the romance.
John Wayne - Eine amerikanische Legende
The Red Pony
Ruth Tiflin
A young farmboy who can't seem to communicate with his father develops an attachment to a young red pony.
Directed by John Ford
Self (1992)
A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.
Big Jake
Martha McCandles
An aging Texas cattle man who has outlived his time swings into action when outlaws kidnap his grandson.
How Do I Love Thee?
Elsie Waltz
A professor recalls his atheistic father, his devoted mother and his father's blousy mistress.
The Rare Breed
Martha Price
When her husband dies en route to America, Martha Price and her daughter Hilary are left to carry out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West. They enlist Sam "Bulldog" Burnett in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford named Vindicator, to a breeder in Texas, but the trail is fraught with danger and even Burnett doubts the survival potential of this "rare breed" of cattle.
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita
Moira
Two British children travel to Italy in an attempt to break up their runaway mother's affair with an Italian concert pianist.
A Cry of Angels
Hallmark presents the story of how the greatest oratorio, George Frederic Handel's "The Messiah," came to be written in the English language.
McLintock!
Katherine Gilhooley McLintock
Ageing, wealthy, rancher and self-made man, George Washington McLintock is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous farmstead, including high-ranking government men, McLintock's own sons and nearby Native Americans. As McLintock tries to juggle his various adversaries, his wife—who left him two years previously—suddenly returns. But she isn't interested in George; she wants custody of their daughter.
Spencer's Mountain
Olivia Spencer
Clay Spencer is a hard-working man who loves his wife and large family. He is respected by his neighbors and always ready to give them a helping hand. Although not a churchgoer, he even helps a newly arrived local minister regain his flock after he and Clay get into a bit of trouble. If he has one dream in life it's to build his wife Olivia a beautiful house on a piece of land he inherited on Spender's mountain. When his eldest son, Clayboy, graduates at the top of his high school class and has the opportunity to go to college, Clay has only one option left to him.
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
Peggy Hobbs
Banker Roger Hobbs wants to spend his vacation alone with his wife, Peggy, but she insists on a family vacation at a California beach house that turns out to be ugly and broken down. Daughter Katey, embarrassed by her braces, refuses to go to the beach, as does TV-addicted son Danny. When the family is joined by Hobbs' two unhappily married daughters and their husbands, he must help everyone with their problems to get some peace.
The Deadly Companions
Kit Tilden
Ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son, tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.
The Parent Trap
Margaret 'Maggie' McKendrick
Two identical twin sisters, separated at birth by their parents' divorce, are reunited years later at a summer camp, where they scheme to bring their parents back together. The girls, one of whom has been living with their mother and the other with their father, switch places after camp and go to work on their plan, the first objective being to scare off a gold-digger pursuing their father.
Our Man in Havana
Beatrice Severn
Expatriate Englishman Jim Wormold lives in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter. Owning a poorly-performing business, he accepts an offer from the British Secret Service to recruit a network of agents in Cuba. Wormold hasn't got a clue where to start, so he decides to manufacture a list of agents and provide fictional tales for his masters in London, and is soon known as the best agent in the Western Hemisphere. However, it all unravels when the local police decode his cables and start rounding up his 'network' and he learns that he's the target of a group out to kill him.
Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver
A British housewife faces up to the harsh realities of the Second World War.
The Wings of Eagles
Min Wead
The story of Frank W. "Spig" Wead - a Navy-flyer turned screenwriter.
Everything But the Truth
Joan Madison
Upset with the prevarications of the adult world, Willie launches a truth-telling campaign at school, with the blessings of his pretty teacher Joan Madison.
Lisbon
Sylvia Merrill
For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.
Lady Godiva of Coventry
Lady Godiva
Fictionalized account of events leading up the famous nude ride (alas, her hair covers everything) of the militant Saxon lady.
The Red, White and Blue Line
Self
A promotional film for United States Savings Bonds
The Magnificent Matador
Karen Harrison
Karen Harrison is a spoiled, rich, American predator who falls head-over-heels for the brooding, tormented, about-to-retire matador, Luis Santos who has inexplicably run away prior to a corrida that was to occasion the "alternativa" of a young, up-and-coming bullfighter.
The Long Gray Line
Mary O'Donnell
The life story of a salt-of-the-earth Irish immigrant, who becomes an Army Noncommissioned Officer and spends his 50 year career at the United States Military Academy at West Point. This includes his job-related experiences as well as his family life and the relationships he develops with young cadets with whom he befriends. Based on the life of a real person.
Malaga
Joanna Dana
Maureen O'Hara hunts drug smugglers in Africa.
War Arrow
Elaine Corwin
A thrilling Cavalry-versus-Indians adventure starring Jeff Chandler as an Army official recruiting Seminole allies, against his superior's wishes, to stop a planned Kiowa attack.
The Redhead from Wyoming
Kate Maxwell
A saloonkeeper sides with the sheriff for justice after she's framed for rustling.
Against All Flags
Prudence "Spitfire" Stevens
British Naval Officer fights pirates on Madagascar.
The Quiet Man
Mary Kate Danaher
An American man returns to the village of his birth in Ireland, where he finds love and conflict.
Kangaroo
Dell McGuire
In turn-of-the-century Australia, two criminals ingratiate themselves with a rancher in order to swindle him. However, the two partners become rivals for the affection of the rancher's beautiful daughter.
At Sword's Point
Claire - daughter of Athos
France, 1648: Richelieu and Louis XIII are dead, the new king is a minor, and the Duc de Lavalle is in virtually open rebellion, scheming to seize power. As a last resort, Queen Anne summons the heirs of the original Musketeers to her aid...including Claire, daughter of Athos, who when she chooses can miraculously pass as a boy, and wields as fine a sword as any. All their skills will be needed for a battle against increasing odds. One for all and all for one! Written by Rod Crawford
Flame of Araby
Princess Tanya
An Arabian-nights princess and a Bedouin chief contend over possession of a stallion, but unite to oppose the Corsair Lords.
Rio Grande
Mrs. Kathleen Yorke
Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke is posted on the Texas frontier to defend settlers against depredations of marauding Apaches. Col. Yorke is under considerable stress by a serious shortage of troops of his command. Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years), Trooper Jeff Yorke, is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment.
Tripoli
Gräfin D'Arneau
In 1805, the United States battles the pirates of Tripoli as the Marines fight to raise the American flag.
Comanche Territory
Katie Howard
Silver has been found on comanche territory and the government accomplished a peaceful agreement with the indians. When James 'Jim' Bowie comes into the scene he finds the white settlers living near by planning to attack the indians although they know about that agreement and the beautiful Katie seems to play a leading role in this intrigue.
Bagdad
Princess Marjan
An Arab sheik's daughter (Maureen O'Hara) avenges his death, blamed on Hassan (Paul Christian) and his Black Riders.
Father Was a Fullback
Elizabeth Cooper
Coach George Copper's college football team is losing game after game, much to the dismay of stiff-and-stuffy but influential alumni Roger Jessup, and also having trouble at home with his oldest daughter, Connie. The team keeps losing and Coach Cooper is about to lose his job as his efforts to win the last game of the season, against the team's Big Rival, end in disaster. But, unknown to he and his wife, Elizabeth, Connie has sold an article, called "I Was a Bubble Dancer" to a 'True-Confession" magazine, and the girl-who-couldn't-get-a-date becomes suddenly popular and, because of her, the high-school football star from another town decides to play his college-ball for Coach Cooper. Jessup is forced to keep Cooper on as the school's football coach.
Britannia Mews
Adelaide 'Addie' Culver
In Victorian London, young Adelaide is born into luxury, but marries starving artist Henry. His alcoholism and their lack of money lead to many quarrels. During one such fight, Henry slips down a flight of stairs and dies. A neighbor, Mrs. Mounsey, is the only witness, and she blackmails the young widow by threatening to tell the cops that Adelaide killed her husband. Luckily, lawyer Gilbert swoops in to help Adelaide.
A Woman's Secret
Marian Washburn
A popular singer, Marian Washburn, suddenly and unexplainably loses her voice, causing a shake-up at the club where she works. Her worried but loyal piano player, Luke Jordan, helps to promote a new, younger singer, Susan Caldwell, to temporarily replace Marian. Susan finds some early acclaim but decides to leave the club after a few performances. Soon after Susan quits, she is gunned down, and Marian quickly becomes a suspect.
Sitting Pretty
Tacey King
Tacey and Harry King are a suburban couple with three sons and a serious need of a babysitter. Tacey puts an ad in the paper for a live-in babysitter, and the ad is answered by Lynn Belvedere. But when she arrives, she turns out to be a man. And not just any man, but a most eccentric, outrageously forthright genius with seemingly a million careers and experiences behind him.
The Foxes of Harrow
Odalie D'Arceneaux
An Irish rascal and inveterate gambler uses his considerable skills at the gaming tables of New Orleans to become fabulously rich.
Miracle on 34th Street
Doris Walker
Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.
The Homestretch
Leslie Hale Wallace
A young couple's marriage is threatened by the husband's love of horses and the racetrack circuit.
Sinbad the Sailor
Shireen
Daredevil sailor Sinbad embarks on a voyage across the Seven Seas to find the lost riches of Alexander the Great. His first stop is the port of Basra, where his ship is seized and scheduled for auction. In his attempt to win it back, he befriends beautiful concubine Shireen. But when her master, the nefarious Emir, calls her back to duty, Sinbad must interrupt his adventure to save the "Jewel of Persia."
Do You Love Me
Katherine 'Kitten' Hilliard
Katharine Hilliard, mousy dean of a stuffy music school, meets and is insulted by swing band leader Barry Clayton on a train. To "show" him she takes a friend's advice, removes her glasses, and puts on a designer gown. Naturally, she becomes gorgeous. Soon, both Barry and crooner Jimmy Hale are after her, and she finds herself in the midst of triangles and misunderstandings.
Sentimental Journey
Julie Beck Weatherly
An actress becomes taken with Hitty, a young orphan prone to dreaming. Julie soon finds out that she is ill and has only a short time to live. She decides to adopt the child so that her husband Bill will not be alone when she dies. Unfortunately, Bill is not charmed by Hitty.
The Spanish Main
Contessa Francesca
Laurent van Horn is the leader of a band of Dutch refugees on a ship seeking freedom in the Carolinas, when the ship is wrecked on the coast of Cartagene. governed by Don Juan Alvardo, Spainish ruler. Alvarado has Laurent thrown in prison, but the latter escapes, and five-years later is a pirate leader. He poses as the navigator on a ship in which Contessa Francesca, daughter of a Mexican noble, is traveling on her way to marry Alvarado, whom she has never seen. Laurent's pirates capture the ship and Francesa, in order to save another ship, gives her hand-in-marriage to Laurent, who sails her to the pirate hideout. This irks the jealous Anne Bonney and,also, Captain Benjamin Black, who was already irked, anyway. They overpower Laurent and send Francesa to Alvarado, and then Mario du Billar, trusted right-hand man, makes a deal to deliver Laurent to Alvarado also.
Buffalo Bill
Louisa Frederici
Scout William F. Cody (Joel McCrea) marries a U.S. senator's daughter (Maureen O'Hara), fights the Cheyenne and leads a Wild West show.
The Fallen Sparrow
Toni Donne
Imprisoned during the Spanish Civil War, John "Kit" McKittrick is released when a New York City policeman pulls some strings. Upon returning to America, McKittrick hears that a friend has committed suicide, and he begins to smell a rat. During his investigation, McKittrick questions three beautiful women, one of whom has a tie to his refugee past. Pursued by Nazi operatives, McKittrick learns of the death of another friend, and begins to suspect the dark Dr. Skaas.
This Land Is Mine
Louise Martin
Somewhere in Europe, in a city occupied by the Nazis, a gentle school teacher finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance, cowardice and courage.
Immortal Sergeant
Valentine Lee
During WWII, a corporal in the desert reminisces about the love he left behind and faces uncertainty about his strength as a leader.
The Black Swan
Lady Margaret Denby
When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Caribbean of buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.
To the Shores of Tripoli
Mary Carter
Chronicle of a spoiled rich boy who joins the Marines with an off-handed attitude and finally becomes a battle-wise soldier. Academy Award Nominations: Best (Color) Cinematography.
Ten Gentlemen from West Point
Carolyn Bainbridge
This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early 19th Century, Congress appropriated the money to build the school, but opponents who believed it to be an illegitimate expansion of the powers of the federal government decided to sabotage the school. They put the hard-as-nails Major Sam Carter in charge of the academy, and he ruthlessly put the recruits through grueling training -- until only ten prospective soldiers remained. They include Dawson, a patriotic farm boy and Howard Shelton, a selfish playboy who has come to West Point only because of its prestige. The two vie for Carolyn Bainbridge, while they, along with the other eight, try convince Carter that the school is worth keeping.
How Green Was My Valley
Angharad Morgan
At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans (he stern, she gentle) raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life.
They Met in Argentina
Lolita O'Shea
A Texas oil millionaire, after failing to secure oil lands in Argentina, seeks out a famous racehorse in Buenos Aires and orders his representative to buy the nag at any price. The representative, Tim Kelly, has a love affair with Lolita O'Shea, the beautiful daughter of the prize horse's owner.
Dance, Girl, Dance
Judy O'Brien
Judy O'Brien is an aspiring ballerina in a dance troupe. Also in the company is Bubbles, a brash mantrap who leaves the struggling troupe for a career in burlesque. When the company disbands, Bubbles gives Judy a thankless job as her stooge. The two eventually clash when both fall for the same man.
A Bill of Divorcement
Sydney Fairfield
Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda
Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.
Jamaica Inn
Mary Yellan
In coastal Cornwall, England, during the early 19th Century, a young woman who's come there to visit her aunt, discovers that she's married an inkeeper who's a member of a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecking and murder for profit.
My Irish Molly
Eileen O'Shea
Binkie Stuart, a child star whose career briefly flourished before the outbreak of war in 1939, takes the titular role in this heart-warming musical charting the adventures of a little orphan girl in the difficult days of pre-war Ireland. Starring alongside Hollywood siren Maureen O Hara in an early role, Britain's answer to Shirley Temple plays a spirited young girl left in the clutches of a cruel guardian aunt.
Kicking the Moon Around
Secretary
Kicking the Moon Around is a 1938 British musical comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Bert Ambrose, Evelyn Dall and Harry Richman. In an effort to discover whether his fiancee is a golddigger a millionaire's son pretends to have lost all his money. The film marked Maureen O'Hara's screen debut as she made a cameo appearance speaking one line.