Maureen O'Hara | Hollywood Yesterday

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Maureen O’Hara… One of My Favorite Pictures of Her

August 17, 2022 By Joi

Maureen O’Hara

One of my first “favorites” is still one of my top “favorites” today and today is the day we celebrate her birth. Maureen O’Hara was born in Ireland on August 17, 1920. The first two Maureen O’Hara films I ever saw were (in order) Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and The Parent Trap (1965). These films, along with It’s a Wonderful Life and The Adventures of Robin Hood made me fall in love with old movies and they vaulted Maureen O’Hara to the top of my favorite actress list – right by Lucille Ball’s side.

I’ve always LOVED Lucy.

While I personally love and recommend seeing all of Maureen O’Hara’s filmography, the following movies are my personal top 12:

The Quiet Man (1952)
Spencer’s Mountain
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Rio Grande (1950)
The Parent Trap (1965)
The Black Swan (1942)
The Spanish Main (1945)
McLintock! (1963)
At Sword’s Point (1952)
Against All Flags (1952)
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1963)
Big Jake (1971)

Happy Heavenly birthday to a beautiful and extraordinary actress – one who was an even more extraordinary person! ~ Joi (“Joy“)

Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara, How Green Was My Valley

August 4, 2022 By Joi

Maureen O’Hara and Walter Pidgeon

Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall lead an excellent cast in the 1941 epic, How Green Was My Valley (directed by John Ford).

This was the first movie Maureen O’Hara made with legendary John Ford. They’d go on to make Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Long Gray Line (1955), and The Wings of Eagles (1957). The Long Gray Line and How Green Was My Valley were their only two films that didn’t also star the larger than life John Wayne!

You can find How Green Was My Valley on dvd and blu-ray (Amazon link) or watch the VERY highly rated drama on Prime Video.

Maureen O’Hara, Roddy McDowall, and Anna Lee

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, The Quiet Man (A PERFECT Movie from 1952)

July 11, 2022 By Joi

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, The Quiet Man

The Quiet Man (one of my absolute favorite movies… it’s more of an obsession than anything really!) was the second (of five) films starring Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne. It was directed by the legendary John Ford, who happened to direct each of their first three films together: Rio Grande (‘50), The Quiet Man (‘52), and The Wings of Eagles (‘57).

The 1952 masterpiece… a perfect movie in every way had a cast that had to find a way to keep from being overshadowed by the gorgeousness that was and is Ireland… one of the most beautiful scene-stealers I can think of. The cast includes John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, and Maureen O’Hara’s brothers Charles B. Fitzsimons and James O’Hara.

You can find The Quiet Man (Collector’s DVD on Amazon) on dvd or watch on Prime Video.

John Wayne, The Quiet Man

Maureen O’Hara and Tyrone Power, The Black Swan (Love this One!)

May 24, 2022 By Joi

Maureen O’Hara and Tyrone Power, The Black Swan

I love swashbucklers almost as much as I love Westerns. In fact, they’ve always kind of reminded me of Westerns on the sea. The heroes simply ride boats instead of horses and carry swords instead of guns!

The Black Swan (1942, directed by Henry King) is one of my favorite Swashbuckler movies. TYrone Power and Maureen O’Hara have a natural, wonderful chemistry that was so obvious neither had to attempt to force it.

The colorful movie also stars George Sanders, Anthony Quinn, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell, and George Zucco.

You can find The Black Swan on dvd (Amazon link) or watch it on Prime Video.

Maureen O’Hara and Errol Flynn, Against All Flags (I Love this Swashbuckling Film so Much!)

April 26, 2022 By Joi

Maureen O’Hara

Against All Flags isn’t just one of my favorite Maureen O’Hara movies and favorite Swashbuckling films, it’s also one of my favorite of Errol Flynn’s performances. He’s wonderful in this role. He plays his character with wonderful layers and takes full advantage of the opportunity to show off his comedic skills.

Errol Flynn was one of those stars who was equally wonderful with drama and comedy. Many stars (in spite of possibly being great with both) were better with one of the other. For example, I think Cary Grant was better with comedy. I recently saw two Errol Flynn films (both re-watches) back-to-back, Silver River and Against All Flags and was struck by his brilliance in both genres.

Maureen O’Hara was, of course, also brilliant in all genres and she’s wonderful (as always) in this swashbuckler. She was such a beautiful actress, too, and it’s on full, colorful display in this film!

You can find Against All Flags on dvd and Blu-ray (Amazon link).

Errol Flynn

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, Beautiful Promotional Photo for The Quiet Man

April 20, 2022 By Joi

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, The Quiet Man

While I love absolutely every movie John Wayne made, every movie Maureen O’Hara made, and most movies directed by John Ford (didn’t care for Mogambo), when the three teamed up, magic happened.

In addition to directing Maureen O’Hara in How Green was my Valley and John Wayne in MANY movies, John Ford directed the legendary cinematic pair in Rio Grande and The Quiet Man. While both movies are spectacular, The Quiet Man is absolutely magical – one of the best movies ever made… possibly THE best in my opinion.

The Quiet Man stars John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, and Maureen O’Hara’s own brothers James O’Hara and Charles B. Fitzsimons. It also stars one of the most beautiful scene-stealers I’ve ever seen, Ireland.

If you haven’t seen this uncommonly stunning movie yet, I hope you won’t let another day pass before you treat yourself to it’s beauty, magic, and perfection.

You can find The Quiet Man (Collector’s DVD on Amazon) on dvd or watch on Prime Video.

Hayley Mills, Brian Keith, and Maureen O’Hara in The Parent Trap (1961)

January 28, 2022 By Joi

Brian Keith, Maureen O’Hara, and Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills doesn’t get nearly enough attention, does she? She’s something extra, extra special – beautiful, talented, charismatic, and honestly as classy as they come.

While she has many movies and performances I love, I always come back to her brilliance in The Parent Trap as my favorite. She was next level in every single scene. To this day, I’m convinced there were two of them!

Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith were just as wonderful in the classic comedy and their chemistry is as good as it gets.

You can buy The Parent Trap on Amazon (link to the dvd) or watch it on Prime.

Brian Keith and Hayley Mills

Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara in The Deadly Companions

January 21, 2022 By Joi

Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara

Two of my favorite stars (Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara) teamed up for several films – one being 1961 western The Deadly Companion. Westerns are a personal obsession of mine, so this one has a very special place in my heart – two favorites AND a great Western… I am SO there.

This particular western has a wonderful cast and is beautifully, beautifully directed. The scenery is gorgeous and nearly everything about it is perfect. It’s of my western-loving, downright obsessed mind that this film would be much better known and loved if only the plot had not involved the shooting and death of a child. Had the plot centered around, say, the young boy being shot and driven to a doctor rather than his burial spot, more would have seen (and loved) this Western.

In fact, it’s this dark (miserably dark!) part of the story that made me wait so long to watch it. It was much better than I expected and the grisly part was handled well. To be perfectly honest, I still wish the plot had involved the boy needing a doctor (they’d have still needed to make the journey, after all).

If you’ve never seen this very well-done Western, I hope you’ll find it soon.

You can find The Deadly Companions on dvd (Amazon link) or watch on Prime Video.

Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith, The Parent Trap (1961)

January 12, 2022 By Joi

Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara, The Parent Trap

The 1961 comedy The Parent Trap is, as far as I’m concerned one of the best movies ever made. Brian Keith, Maureen O’Hara, Hayley Mills, Una Merkel, and Joanna Barnes combine to make this a movie I’ve watched countless times and will watch countless more times in the coming years.

It’s THAT wonderful.

I love the chemistry between Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara so much. They were good friends in real life and it shows onscreen.

You can buy The Parent Trap on Amazon (link to the dvd) or watch it on Prime.

Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara

Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, and John Payne in the Wonderful Miracle on 34th Street

December 16, 2021 By Joi

Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, and John Payne

There are presents to wrap, presents to buy, candy to make, and candy to eat… so I am literally sharing today’s picture of the day and running back to the kitchen! This is a wonderful publicity photo for one of the best movies ever made, Miracle on 34th Street. Directed to perfection by George Seaton, this is one of my favorite viewings of the Christmas season.

I hope you’re enjoying every last drop of the holiday season this year and (even when busy) smiling and maybe even humming a Christmas carol or two!

You can find the iconic 1947 Miracle on 34th Street (Amazon link) on Amazon… and you really, really should!