On Saturday, October 24, 95-year-old legendary actress Maureen O'Hara died, in her sleep in her home in Boise, Idaho.
In a statement to The Irish Times, her family confirmed that, "It is with a sad heart that we share the news that Maureen O'Hara passed away today in her sleep of natural causes," her family said. "She passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family as they celebrated her life listening to music from her favorite movie, The Quiet Man."
Maureen began her acting career at the age of six and at age fourteen joined the renowed Abbey Theater. She was second of six children born to Charles and Marguerita FitzSimons. Her father was a high-fashion clothier, while her mother was an actress and operatic contralto.
In 2004 she wrote a memoir 'Tis Herself, where she shared her disappointment when she failed the screen-test in London at age sixteen. She wrote,"I was mad as hell and disappointed by the whole unprofessional event."
Despite what happened Charles Laughton, noticed her looks and recommended that she be casted opposite him in Jamaica Inn, a film by director Alfred Hitchcock.
On that same year,she played Esmeralda, in the classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame, again opposite Laughton, who guided her toward R.K.O., her first Hollywood movie.
Maureen O’Hara, the flame-haired Irish movie star also appeared in classics that includes Ford’s “Rio Grande,” among her 55 films in a career that spanned six decades.
O'Hara starred in films with leading men such as Tyrone Power in 1942's "The Black Swan," Douglas Fairbanks in 1947's "Sinbad the Sailor," Sir Alec Guinness in 1960's "Our Man In Havana," as well as John Payne, Rex Harrison, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Brian Keith and John Wayne.
She also played the mother who tries to resist believing in Santa Claus in “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947).
Two of the five movies she made for Ford -- “How Green Was My Valley” (1941) and “The Quiet Man” (1952) -- won the Academy Awards for the director, though she never received an Oscar nomination for her acting.
O’Hara’s other movies with Wayne were The Wings of Eagles (1957), McClintock! (1963) and Big Jake (1971).
After her studio contracts ended, she remained busy. She played the mother of twins, both played by Hayley Mills, who conspired to reunite their divorced parents in the 1961 Disney comedy, The Parent Trap.
"Her characters were feisty and fearless, just as she was in real life," the family's statement continued. "She was also proudly Irish and spent her entire lifetime sharing her heritage and the wonderful culture of the Emerald Isle with the world."
She was awarded an honorary Oscar at the 2014 ceremonies.
O’Hara left behind her daughter, Bronwyn FitzSimons; her grandson, Conor FitzSimons, and her two great-grandchildren.
