Actress Maureen O’Hara Dies at the Age of 95

Beautiful yesteryear actress, Maureen O’ Hara died on Saturday in her sleep.  O’Hara was one of the most famous actresses during the early 1950s.

As the news of her demise spread across the internet, she was remembered by many celebrities. Jessica Chastain, Mara Wilson and George Takei were some of the many celebrities who tweeted about her death. Many other remembered Maureen’s brilliant movies on the eve of her death. Within 2 hours, she was trending on Twitter as well as on Facebook.

O’Hara was very close to her family. She was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and more importantly, a friend. “She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family as they celebrated her life listening to music from her favourite movie, ‘The Quiet Man’,” family statement said.

Life of Maureen O’Hara

O’Hara was born in the suburbs of Dublin, Ireland. Her actual name was Maureen Fitzsimons. Her mother was an accomplished contralto while her father was a businessman and partial owner of a soccer team. She grew up with five other siblings.

With her sky rocketing career, she soon received  dual citizenship in both Ireland and the United States of America.

Marriage

At the young age of 19, she secretly married film producer, George H. Brown in 1939 but the marriage ended as soon as it began. She was divorced by 1941. Later, she married William Houston Price, an American film director, but this marriage too was over by 1953. She also had a relationship with Mexican politician and banker, Enrique Parra from 1953-67.

Her third husband was Charles F. Blair who she married in 1968 but after ten years of marriage Blair died in a tragic crash. O’Hara was then elected as the CEO and president of Blair’s airline.

Maureen O’Hara ‘s career

The world of fame didn’t come that easily to Maureen. Things got even tougher when she was signed by RKO studio, who casted her in many low-budget films. She started her career in film with co-stars including Tyrone Power in 1942 for ‘The Black Swan’, Douglas Fairbanks in 1947 for ‘Sindbad the Sailor’ and Sir Alec Guinness in 1960 for ‘Our Man in Havana’.

‘The Quiet Man” is still claimed as one of her best films. The movie had John Wayne by her side and Ford as the director. In fact, Ford was so impressed by her that he casted her in five more films, including ‘How Green was my valley’ in 1941.

Infact, ‘How Green Was My Valley’ went on to win five Oscars including best picture and best director for the talented John Ford

During her time in the movies, she became the queen of techni colour because of her amazing chemistry with the camera. She had fiery red hair and a beautiful personality.

She took a long break in between and only came back to acting in 1991 with ‘Only The Lonely’. After that, she kept herself busy by working in some made-for-TV films.

Maureen O’Hara is survived by her daughter, Bronwyn Fitzsimons, grandson, Connor Fitzsimons and two great grand-children. And of course, her numerous fans who would always remember her.