Farewell Fiery Lass. Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015)
Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 5:04PM As you have undoubtedly heard Maureen O'Hara passed away in her sleep this weekend. She was 95 years old after living a full life and leaving behind a pretty stellar filmography. Just one year ago she was celebrated in Los Angeles with an Honorary Oscar. They paid their respects in the nick of time.
image via fanmail
And for our part here at The Film Experience, it is with great personal pride that we championed her for years for just that honor. In case you missed our celebration(s) our team recently appreciated the beauty of The Quiet Man (1952), and before that we revisited her breakthrough The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), her ravishing leading lady years via Black Swan (1942) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). And also took two looks at the later years of her career with The Quiet Man (1952) and The Parent Trap (1961)... the latter of which just happened to be my favorite film as a child.
She will be missed. Her family has a simple message to her legion of fans...
For those who ask what they can do to honour Maureen, we have a simple request: visit Ireland one day and think of her.
We will.
Reader Comments (10)
95 years, that is impressive. She will be missed. One of the greats.
A great film career and a great off-screen life. Cheers!
Thank goodness the academy got off their collective duffs in time to honor her, even if it was years overdue.
While she never numbered among my very favorites she was always a welcome presence and no matter how weak the film, and lets face it the number of her movies that were run of the mill outweighs the classics, you could count on at least one spirited performance. If the picture was in Technicolor you could also count on having your breath taken away shot after shot of her fiery beauty.
joel6 -- run of the mill versus classics is disproportionate in just about EVERY career (outside of, say, James Dean) so i'd say she did pretty well on her ratio. i.e. several classics not just two.
and all this time i thought this maureen o' was mia farrow's mother...
De Havilland, Lansbury, Douglas: keepers of the flame.
Nathaniel-I completely agree and she certainly had far more than two classics, just off the top of my head there's Miracle on 34th St., How Green Was My Valley, The Quiet Man and The Parent Trap but any studio contract performer had no choice to appear in mediocre fare.
However interlaced in her filmography with the classics and some real barkers like Malaga & Lady Godiva are several lesser known gems such as This Land is Mine, The Fallen Sparrow, Dance, Girl, Dance, A Woman's Secret, Sitting Pretty, Our Man in Havana, the delightful Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation and several others. She was also fortunate in her partnership with Ford & the Duke, I think her performance in McLintock! is some of her best comedic work.
She was a great screen presence, (much like Ingrid Bergman) who personified her country of Ireland. When I hear the term "Irish Beauty" I will always think of her.
A life well lived, a great career, and she handled it with grace and humour - she will be missed.
And thank god the Academy gave her that honourary Oscar just in time.
Many thanks Nathaniel for all your hard work on articles about Maureen O'Hara's films. You gave pleasure to her fans (new & old) of every age.
This is why I roll my eyes when persnickety commenters get mad about "premature" honorary recognition. Maureen and Lauren Bacall are two recent honorary winners who passed away the minute they received honorary Oscars.
Would it be "offensive" to give Glenn Close one next year? Should we give her a chance to win one competitively? These arguments will get her an honorary Oscar in 25 years on her literal deathbed. I'd be saying the same thing about Julianne Moore if Still Alice never happened (because I still can't believe that happened).
That's why I thought Steve Martin was so weird but inspired as a choice. At least he gets to live his life with a statuette in hand.
Now THAT is the way to go out. Don't we all want to die in our sleep at 95 surrounded by family, great memories, and well, an Oscar? :-)
When I see Maureen O'Hara's name in the credits, I will always at least start to watch the film. The camera loves her and I never get tired of seeing a new shot of her. I think she always made the men around her look better because she seemed such a worthy match for all of them.