Maureen O'Hara

Maureen FitzSimons, born 17 August 1920 and died 24 October 2015), was an Irish actress from Ireland. She became a star in Hollywood during the 1940s until the 1960s. She was a natural redhead and was famous for her work as sensual and passionate heroines. She often appeared in Westerns or adventure films. Charles Laughton was the first to notice her star power and brought her to Hollywood. She worked alongside John Ford and John Wayne as a frequent friend and director. O'Hara was born in Dublin, Ireland by a Catholic family and wanted to be an actress at a young age. She began her training with the Rathmines Theatre Company from the age of 10 and attended the Abbey Theatre at 14 years old. Screen tests were given to her, but the result was not a success. Charles Laughton, however recognized her potential and agreed to allow her to star with him in Alfred Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn (1939). RKO Pictures gave her a contract. She would go on to have a long, successful career and was nicknamed "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) as well as the classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with John Payne and Natalie Wood, and Comanche Territory (1950). O'Hara appeared in Rio Grande (1950) as O'Hara, a character played by John Wayne, her most close friend. The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (57), and McLintock were followed by McLintock. (1963), Big Jake (1971). There was a widespread assumption that Wayne and O'Hara were either in an affair or were married due to their intense chemistry. In the 1960s, O'Hara more and more changed roles to motherly ones as she aged, appearing in films like The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (1961) as well as The Rare Breed (1966). O'Hara resigned from the film industry in 1971 but returned twenty years later to make an appearance in a film with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991).