Pub GuideMaureen O'Hara
date of birth: August 17, 1920
place of birth: Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland
Maureen FitzSimons, the actress more commonly known by the stage name Maureen O'Hara, was the first child born to businessman father Charles and renowned actress and opera diva mother Marguerite. O'Hara inherited her mother's penchant for the performing arts at an early age and often put on shows in school and at home.
O'Hara honed her acting and musical abilities by enrolling in the celebrated Abbey Theatre in Dublin and after graduating she moved to England to pursue film. In London she met Oscar winner Charles Laughton, who not only persuaded the young actress to change her name to O'Hara, but jumpstarted her Hollywood career by helping her get cast in Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939). Starring in films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, O'Hara's career was galvanized by her starring role in John Ford's Oscar winning film How Green Was My Valley (1941). The film would not be O'Hara's last collaborating feature with Ford however, as she most notably starred in the classic Irish-American film The Quiet Man (1952).
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, O'Hara starred alongside the most noted leading men of her day such as Tyrone Power and Vincent Price, and was part of classics such as Miracle on 34th Street (1947). She was known for her portrayals of powerful women, as well as her striking combination of red hair and green eyes which added to her Irish allure both on and off screen. With a career spanning over five decades, O'Hara is one of the most respected actresses and screen sirens of her day, as well as a highly regarded figure in Irish-American life. She served as the Grand Marshal of New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade in 1999, marking her importance not only in an Irish-American sphere, but on the global stage. Married three times and now officially retired from acting, O'Hara splits her time between homes in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and in County Cork, Ireland.
Maureen O'HaraLatest News
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