Screen legend Maureen O’Hara, best known to Disney fans for her role as Maggie McKendrick in 1961’s The Parent Trap, passed away on October 24th at the age of 95. O’Hara was a stage name and her love of theater growing up in Dublin lead to her interest in acting. Her film career began in London, but it was RKO’s 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame that brought her to Hollywood. When World War II struck, her contract with Mayflower Pictures was sold to RKO, who often loaned the actress to Twentieth Century Fox. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise when director John Ford discovered her and cast her in a string of films with John Wayne, including the Academy Award winning How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man.
After becoming known as “The Queen of Technicolor” for her vivacious red hair, green eyes and rosy complexion, one of O’Hara’s most famous film roles came in 1947 with the Oscar nominated Miracle on 34th Street. The black and white film has become a perennial holiday classic, with annual airings every Thanksgiving on NBC to kick off the Christmas movie season.
By 1961, O’Hara had made over forty films between RKO, Fox and Universal when the opportunity to make a film at Disney came along. The part required an actress with some tenacity, capable of pulling off both romance and war as the divorcee mother of two separated twins in The Parent Trap. Playing opposite O’Hara was Brian Keith, who had just come from a Western with her called The Deadly Companions. While nearly all of the stars from The Parent Trap went on to have a string of steady work at Disney, it remains O’Hara’s only Disney credit. She was famous for going up against studio heads and this included Walt Disney. Years later when somebody brought up her name to him, he reportedly called her “That (B-word).” Whether true or not, the story made O’Hara laugh when she heard it.
At John Wayne’s suggestion, O’Hara retired from acting in the late 1960’s after marrying Charles F. Blaire, JR., a pilot and president of Antilles Air Boats airlines, which serviced the U.S. Virgin Airlines. When Blaire passed away in 1978, O’Hara became the first woman CEO of an airline in America. She briefly returned to acting, which included a starring role in the 1991 John Hughes/Chris Columbus comedy Only the Lonely.
In 2014, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded Maureen O’Hara with an Honorary Oscar for her achievements in film. As one of the last surviving stars of the golden age of Hollywood, it was fitting that she finally receive an award. She is one of only two actresses to receive this honor without having received a nomination for her acting work.
I leave you with this, the love theme from The Parent Trap called “For Now, For Always.” It combines Maureen O’Hara’s love of singing with a sentiment that is all too fitting upon her passing.