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October 24, 2015 6:10 PM   Subscribe

Maureen O'Hara, Irish-born star of The Quiet Man and more, dies aged 95. [The Guardian]
The actor Maureen O’Hara has died, her manager said on Saturday. She was 95. O’Hara, who was born Maureen FitzSimons in Dublin in 1920, starred in John Ford’s 1941 Oscar-winning drama How Green Was My Valley, set in Wales, and The Quiet Man, Ford’s Irish-set 1952 film that starred John Wayne. She starred with Wayne in a number of films, including the western Rio Grande, also directed by Ford. She also had notable successes working with Charles Laughton (Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and Andrew V McLaglen (McLintock!), and starred in the perennial Christmas hit Miracle on 34th Street, in 1947, and the Disney children’s hit The Parent Trap in 1961.
posted by Fizz (39 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by Fizz at 6:10 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by Carillon at 6:24 PM on October 24, 2015



posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:25 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


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So many unforgettable roles by an extraordinary woman.
posted by Salieri at 6:27 PM on October 24, 2015 [3 favorites]


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posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:27 PM on October 24, 2015


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I was just wondering if there were any Golden Age of Hollywood actors left and concluding that the answer was probably no, but it turns out there are several of them. Kirk Douglas, Olivia de Havilland and Angela Lansbury are still alive, for instance.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:28 PM on October 24, 2015 [5 favorites]


Such a talent, the type of actress who left an indelible imprint on your mind after watching her on screen.
posted by Fizz at 6:41 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


One of the greats.

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posted by Thorzdad at 6:44 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by Melismata at 6:55 PM on October 24, 2015


She was one of the best of them.

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posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 7:07 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by jim in austin at 7:15 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by 1066 at 7:25 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by kinnakeet at 7:35 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by allthinky at 7:42 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:43 PM on October 24, 2015


Proof the Oscars suck.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:47 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh, that red hair is no lie.

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posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:25 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by Cash4Lead at 8:34 PM on October 24, 2015


I'm pretty certain she's the only reason my 5-year-old likes the "old" Parent Trap more than the new one.
posted by bunglin jones at 9:15 PM on October 24, 2015 [3 favorites]


She was really great. I watched her movies with my Dad and we both loved her.

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posted by Kevin Street at 10:04 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by evilDoug at 10:13 PM on October 24, 2015


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posted by Archer25 at 10:13 PM on October 24, 2015


What an amazing woman.

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posted by MissySedai at 10:26 PM on October 24, 2015


She was gloriously beautiful in The Quiet Man and her scenes with Barry Fitzgerald therein were a delight.
posted by y2karl at 12:31 AM on October 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by Iridic at 1:36 AM on October 25, 2015


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posted by supercrayon at 4:26 AM on October 25, 2015


Esmeralda!

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posted by fairmettle at 5:50 AM on October 25, 2015


Watching The Quiet Man is an annual St. Patrick's Day ritual at my parents. I have watched the Queen of Technicolor so many times, I can't even count. It was a weird moment in elementary school talking about the movie like it was something everyone watched all the time and getting completely blank stares back.

Huge bucket of win for Maureen O'Hara.



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posted by Suffocating Kitty at 6:40 AM on October 25, 2015


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Her work with John Wayne was stellar. She was the only co-star (besides Angie Dickinson) that made the duke seem lovable.
posted by valkane at 7:20 AM on October 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Love her mordant commentary on all of her films here (one sample of which is quoted in the OP title). It's fun to read. She was one of the last greats of the studio era -- very few of them left alive, and even fewer who have/had the good health to keep on gamely appearing at public events and celebrating old-time Hollywood well into their 90s. May she rest in peace.
posted by blucevalo at 7:26 AM on October 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think her Irishness gave her license to play a sort of character that women are even now rarely allowed to play: especially in The Quiet Man, but often present in her roles, is that she is the woman whose needs must be met. I mean, much of the plot of The Quiet Man revolves around John Wayne making huge changes in his life to satisfy her. John Wayne! Usually the world changes to satisfy his whims.
posted by maxsparber at 8:49 AM on October 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


A gentle harrumph at the mild aspersions being cast on John Wayne. My suggestion is to watch any of the work he did with Donna Reed, as well as "Stagecoach" and of course "The Searchers." As a child of the seventies, I had Concepts Galore about John Wayne, all of them bad, and a few years of steady viewing of classic films (and reading classic film blogs) has dispelled just about all of them.

And an Irish lament on the passing of Ms. O'Hara. Technicolor met its match in her, as, apparently, did John Wayne and John Ford. Check out Sheila O'Malley's comments on her autobiography.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 12:04 PM on October 25, 2015


Dang.
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posted by Glinn at 12:31 PM on October 25, 2015


She was wonderful as the strong working woman & logic-loving mother in Miracle on 34th Street.

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posted by jilloftrades at 12:38 PM on October 25, 2015


I wanted to link to a clip from At Sword's Point, but the ones I can find don't show O'Hara in all her sword-wielding, swashbuckling, musketeering glory, but for those who haven't seen it, the movie proves she earned the title of action star. (Admittedly, it's not the best sword-fighting movie in the world, but it's competent, and so is her work.) I think the first time I came across one of her movies as a kid was when I saw The Black Swan where she put Jamie-boy (Tyrone Power) in his place. In interviews and DVD commentaries, she always came across as a strong, smart, classy lady.
posted by sardonyx at 1:30 PM on October 25, 2015


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posted by Gelatin at 8:48 AM on October 26, 2015




Damn. Now I need to go home and watch The Quiet Man again.

(Did she get acting credit for being in E.T.? She should have. The clip from The Quiet Man was an integral scene.)
posted by caution live frogs at 1:36 PM on October 26, 2015


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Sky Arts aired Discovering: Maureen O'Hara in the UK just a few days before her death, ironically: an affectionate & informative appreciation of a great career.
posted by On the Corner at 3:02 AM on October 27, 2015


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