And she was the first Irish Hollywood superstar. She was a survivor in a difficult world where the casting couch prevailed and powerful men made all the decisions. Maureen would not submit to their demands. She was the spiritual leader of the MeToo movement. If she were alive today, she'd be on the front line, offering incendiary soundbites and kicking the establishment in the behind. As the th anniversary of her birth approaches, what better subject for a documentary than an Irish woman who was ahead of her time and a force to be reckoned with on the world stage?
That was my plan. The first thing I decided to do was get in touch with her family to ask if they would participate. He has worked hard to have her remarkable achievements recognised and to ensure her legacy is maintained. It was important to me to have him in the film. When I finally got talking to Conor, I mentioned I had met his grandmother when I was a kid and proceeded to tell him the story of the Glengarriff pub. He seemed shocked and I couldn't understand why.
Then, he explained. It turned out Maureen had told him about our encounter many times down through the years. He knew every detail as he had listened to her retell the story over and over at dinner parties. Turns out that encounter had amused Maureen as much as it had thrilled me. So, there we were on the phone 30 years later - and here's that kid telling Conor about his plans to make a documentary about his grandmother. He was blown away by the sheer serendipity of the situation and agreed to shoot an interview and now I'm right in the middle of making a film about the life and career of one of my heroes over 30 years after I bugged her for an entire evening.
And what a life and career it was. She was born Maureen FitzSimons on August 17, , one of six children. All of the family were involved in the arts, with the exception of one sister who became a nun. Her brothers had successful careers as character actors in Hollywood, while two sisters worked in the British film industry.
Maureen was greatly influenced by her parents, particularly her father. Charles FitzSimons was in the clothing business, and he had an interest in Shamrock Rovers, leading Maureen to become a lifelong supporter.
As a child, she never missed a match and even worked in the grounds as a cleaner. Later, she was instrumental in bringing Shamrock Rovers to Hollywood in , where they participated in a US soccer season. Maureen was equally obsessed with acting and singing. She had a beautiful singing voice, which she inherited from her mother Marguerite, a former operatic contralto.
She joined the Rathmines Theatre Company at the age of 10 and started appearing in amateur productions. She was good and soon managed to get an audition for the Abbey. She landed a part in The Merchant of Venice at only 15 years of age and began to be noticed by the critics.
Her mother agreed to allow her go on condition that she came too. He had just established his own production company and was looking for fresh talent. Although the screen test had not gone well and Maureen was determined to return to Ireland, Laughton saw something in her and asked her to read for him again. She refused because she was unprepared, and this attitude impressed Laughton so much that he offered her a seven-year contract.
She immediately appeared in a low-budget musical called My Irish Molly Laughton then secured her first leading role, in Jamaica Inn , directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
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Where is Maureen O'Hara buried? Her strong-willed characters, which were complimented by her fiery red hair, green eyes, and peaches and cream complexion, earned her the nickname "Queen of Technicolor. O'Hara shared great screen chemistry with Wayne and served as his leading lady in a succession of films over the next few years. In the early s, O'Hara shifted her career focus. She showcased her attractive singing voice in a series of television appearances, record albums, and the Broadway musical Christine A number of lighter roles in family comedies followed, including the Hayley Mills vehicle The Parent Trap , 's Mr.
Shortly after, O'Hara retired to St. Croix, Virgin Islands with her third husband, aviator Charles F. Blair, whom she married in Upon Blair's death in , O'Hara briefly assumed her late husband's position as president of Antilles Airboats a Caribbean commuter airline. She also wrote a general interest column for the tourist magazine The Virgin Insider. Following a year hiatus, O'Hara returned to film acting with a role in the bittersweet comedy Only the Lonely For the remainder of the s, she landed parts in a string of television movies, including The Christmas Box and Cab to Canada O'Hara was briefly married to George Hanley Brown in their marriage was annulled in Later that year, she wed director William Price.
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