Maureen O’Hara was an Irish-born naturalized American actress and singer. She was born on August 17, 1920, and she was raised on Beechwood Avenue in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh.
Her parents were Charles and Marguerite FitzSimons. Maureen O’Hara’s father, Charles FitzSimons was involved in a clothing business and also owned Shamrock Rovers Football Club.
Marguerite FitzSimons was a former operatic contralto and women’s clothier. While growing up, Maureen O’Hara had interest in riding horses, swimming, soccer and engaging in boys’ games.
She also enjoyed fighting and took to judo when she was in teen ages. She took to dancing when she was only five years old. With regard to education, Maureen O’Hara attended John Street West Girls’ School near Thomas Street in Dublin’s Liberties Area.
Her interest in the arts soared when she got the rare opportunity to recite a poem on stage in school at the age of six. She had training in drama, music, and dance at the Ena Mary Burke School of Drama and Elocution in Dublin.
When Maureen O’Hara was ten years old, she worked in an amateur theatre as a member of the Rathmines Theatre Company.
When she was 12 years, she stood 5 feet 6 inches and that was a source of worry for her mother. Later, she joined the Abbey Theatre and she had playwright Lennox Robinson mentoring her.
She won the first Dramatic Prize of the national competition of the performing arts, the Dublin Feis Award, for her performance as Portia in The Merchant of Venice when she was just 15 years old.
She worked as a shorthand typist with Crumlin Laundry and then worked with Eveready Battery Company as a typist and bookkeeper. Maureen O’Hara became the youngest graduate at Guildhall School of Music. She won the Dawn Beauty Competition, winning £50.
She starred in Jamaica Inn in 1939 and then in 1940, she made a move to Hollywood where she made an appearance in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Some of the films Maureen O’Hara has starred in include How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Black Swan with Tyrone Power (1942), The Spanish Main (1945), Sinbad the Sailor (1947), the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Comanche Territory (1950).
Others are Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963), Big Jake (1971), Only the Lonely (1991), The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (1961), and The Rare Breed (1966).
She was married three times, and had one daughter, Bronwyn, with her second husband.
Maureen O’Hara Siblings
She had a total of five siblings. She had three sisters and two brothers.
They are Peggy, Charlie, Florrie, Margot and Jimmy.
All the siblings of Maureen O’Hara except Peggy were trained at the Abbey Theatre when they were young.
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