Movie Musings: Disney and More

Maureen O’Hara: One of the Boys

Maureen FitzSimons was born in Ranelagh, Ireland (a suburb of Dublin) on August 17th, 1920. As a child, she developed a love for both sports and performing and excelled a great deal in each. Surprisingly, she was able to win every award for performing her country offered to young people, and as a result of that, decided to pursue performing full-time. At the age of 14, she was accepted into the Abbey Theatre where she was able to pursue classical theatre as well as operatic singing. Five years later, when she was 19, she screen-tested for a role in the film Jamaica Inn (1939) and was cast opposite Charles Laughton, who in addition to playing the leading male role in the movie, was also an uncredited producer. (The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.) Before she was officially cast, however, Laughton told FitzSimons that she would need a shorter last name for the marquee and offered her the choices of O’Hara or O’Mara. And thus, Maureen FitzSimons became Maureen O’Hara.

Now officially under contract to Charles Laughton, her second film was also her American film debut: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) which also starred Laughton, as well as Thomas Mitchell and Edmond O’Brien. This film was a hit, and her Laughton contract was purchased by the film’s production company, RKO Radio Pictures. She was also fortunate enough to find herself an agent, Lew Wasserman. During “Hunchback”, World War II broke out, and the United States Government ruled that any foreigners who had recently relocated to America had to stay in America and could not go to their home countries. 

Devastated, Maureen O’Hara continued to make films produced in America, including: A Bill of Divorcement (1940), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) in which she starred opposite good friend, Lucille Ball, and How Green Was My Valley (1941), which won the Best Picture Oscar. When WW2 finally ended, the U. S. finally allowed all foreigners to return home, and quick as a flash, Maureen got on the first airplane back to Ireland. As soon she was home, she was overjoyed to be reunited with her parents and her three sisters and two brothers. Then, out of nowhere, she received a long distance phone call from Wasserman that Fox wanted her to come back to America to make a film called Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Infuriated, she did not want to come back, but she was persuaded to honor her contract and return. Once she had returned, she read the script for the film, instantly changed her attitude, and was delighted to make the film.

In 1950, Maureen O’Hara made her first film with frequent co-star/close friend John Wayne: Rio Grande, directed by John Ford. It would be the first of five pairings for Wayne and O’Hara. At this point, Ford had completed another script for a movie to be titled The Quiet Man (1952), also starring Wayne and O’Hara. Ford had desperately been wanting to make “The Quiet Man,” but originally no studio wished to finance the film. However, the head of Republic Pictures, Herbert J. Yates, agreed to finance “The Quiet Man” if Ford would produce “Rio Grande” first. “Rio Grande,” was a hit, so Ford got the money to produce “The Quiet Man,” also a big hit. Wayne and O’Hara were again directed by Ford in The Wings of Eagles (1957). They were directed by Andrew V. McLaglen in McLintock! (1963) who was the son of Victor McLaglen, who portrayed O’Hara’s on-screen brother in “The Quiet Man.” On their fifth and final pairing, they were directed by George Sherman in Big Jake (1971).

 

Maureen O’Hara generally had a good working relationship with all of her leading men. Besides being close with John “the Duke” Wayne, she was also very close with Anthony Quinn. With Quinn, she made the films The Black Swan (1942), Buffalo Bill (1944), Sinbad, the Sailor (1947), Against All Flags (1952), and The Magnificent Matador (1955). 1961 was also a busy year for Maureen O’Hara. She made two films opposite good friend Brian Keith, The Deadly Companions and Walt Disney’s The Parent Trap. “Parent Trap.” (The only film O’Hara made for the Walt Disney Studios.) She made Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation in 1962 with Jimmy Stewart, and after starring in the made-for-television movie The Red Pony (1973), O’Hara retired from movies However,  she was  coaxed out of retirement four more times: Only the Lonely (1991), and three more television movies: The Christmas Box (1995), Cab to Canada (1998) and The Last Dance (2000). 

In Only the lonely, playing the fiery, outspokenness, overbearing mother of John Candy’s Director Chris Columbus knew only O’Hara was right for the party and considered the character an extension of Mary Kate Danaher, the fiery young woman that O’Hara had portrayed in “The Quiet Man.” While “Only the Lonely,” was in production John Candy discovered that he happened to have a trailer on-location much bigger than O’Hara’s and knowing that she was a much bigger star then he, insisted she take his big trailer and he would move into the smaller one. They became close on the film as a result. “Only the Lonely,” would also be her sixth pairing with Anthony Quinn as well as her final theatrical film appearance.

Throughout her entire career, Maureen O’Hara was never once nominated for any major awards as an actress: no Oscars, no Golden Globes, no Tonys, no Emmys, no nothing! She was, however, awarded an Honorary Oscar for “Lifetime Achievement,” on November 4th, 2014. She passed away of natural causes on October 24th, 2015 at 95 years of age. She leaves behind a legacy of films where she portrayed strong female characters, sometimes rebellious and tomboyish, but always plain-spoken, and kind.