Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons; 17 August 1920 24 October 2015 -) was an Irish actress and singer, who became successful in Hollywood throughout the 1940s to  60s. Her natural redhead look led her to be a sought-after choice for playing strong but intelligent characters in Westerns and adventure movies. Charles Laughton was the first to see her potential as a star 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 and was raised Catholicly. She was destined from at an early age to be an actor. As a young girl, she trained at the Rathmines Theatre Company and the Abbey Theatre. A screen test was administered to her, but the result was not satisfactory. Charles Laughton, however was able to see potential and agreed to allow her to join him on stage in Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939). She relocated to Hollywood in the same year to join him in the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and was offered a contract by RKO Pictures. From her first film, she went on to have a lengthy and extremely successful career and earned the name "the Queen of Technicolor". In films like How Green Was My Valley (1941) and her first collaboration, The Black Swan with Tyrone Power (1942), The Spanish Main with Sinbad the Sailor (1947) The Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947) in which she was joined by John Payne (and Natalie Wood), and Comanche Territory (1950), she was in. O'Hara made her debut film together with John Wayne, the actor who is closely associated, in Rio Grande (1950). The Quiet Man (1952) The Wings of Eagles(57), McLintock were the next films. (1963) and Big Jake (1971). There was a widespread assumption that Wayne and O'Hara were in marriage or in a relationship due to their intense rapport. O'Hara began to take on more mommy roles in the 1960s as she grew older. She was in films such as The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (611) and The Rare Breed (1966). She resigned from the business in 1971, but returned 20 years later with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991).