Maureen O'Hara

Maureen FitzSimons, born 17 August 1920 and died 24 October 2015), was an Irish actress. She was a popular actress in Hollywood during the 1940s until the 1960s. Her natural redhead look has made her a favorite choice for her strong and intelligent characters in Westerns and adventure movies. Charles Laughton, an actor who was the first to see her talent as a star, took her to Hollywood. There were numerous times she also worked with John Ford, longtime friend John Wayne and John Ford. O'Hara was born in Dublin, Ireland by a Catholic family. She was determined to be an actress at the age of 10. She was trained by the Rathmines Theatre Company from the age of 10 and attended the Abbey Theatre as young as 14 years old. After getting through a screen test she was turned down. But Charles Laughton recognized her potential and offered to have her star in Alfred Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn in 1939. RKO Pictures gave her a contract. She would go on to have an extensive, lucrative career, and was dubbed "the Queen of Technicolor". She appeared in films such 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) as well as the classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with John Payne and Natalie Wood, and Comanche Territory (1950). The first time she was seen was in Rio Grande (1950), with John Wayne (the actor with whom she has the most connection). The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (57), and McLintock followed. (1963) and Big Jake (2001). Her chemistry was so strong with Wayne that many assumed they were either married or together. O'Hara started to play more motherly roles in the 1960s , as she grew older. She appeared in films like The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (611) and The Rare Breed (1966). She left the industry in 1971, however, she returned twenty years later to make an appearance in a film with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991).