Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons; 17 August 1920 - - 24 October 2015) was an Irish performer and actress who was a star in Hollywood from the 1940s until the  60s. Her natural redhead was and was famous for her passion-driven but shrewd heroines, especially in Westerns and adventure films. Charles Laughton was the first to notice her star power and brought her to Hollywood. She also had numerous collaborations alongside John Ford and John Wayne who was a friend for a long time and director. O'Hara was born in Dublin, Ireland and was raised Catholicly. She aspired from at an early age to be an actor. She trained with the Rathmines Theatre Company from the age of 10 and was at the Abbey Theatre beginning at the age of 14. Screen test was offered to her, but the result did not go as well as expected. Charles Laughton, however recognized the potential in her and agreed to allow her to join him on stage in Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939). She relocated to Hollywood the same year to be a part of his in the production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and was offered an acting contract by RKO Pictures. From her first film, she went on to enjoy a long and very successful career and earned the name "the Queen of Technicolor". She was 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). O'Hara was first seen in Rio Grande (1950), alongside John Wayne (the actor with whom she most closely associates). This was followed by The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963) and Big Jake (2001). It was widely believed that Wayne and O'Hara were in the same relationship or were married due to their intense rapport. O'Hara became more motherly as she aged, appearing in films like The Deadly Companions (1961) and The Parent Trap(61) and The Rare Breed (1966). In 1971, she resigned from the film industry. But she returned to the film industry 20 years later to star alongside John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991).