Golden Age of Hollywood Actress Maureen O’Hara Has Passed Away at Age 95, Rest in Peace

WE HAVE LOST ANOTHER GIANT FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD …

It is a sad day for those of us who love classic movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood and movies actually worth watching. Irish born actress Maureen O’Hara has passed away at age 95. One of my all-time favorite actresses and a classic beauty that represents Hollywood gone by, Maureen O’Hara, died on Saturday at her home in Boise, Idaho. Her family confirmed in a statement that she passed away from natural causes peacefully in her sleep at her on home Saturday morning surrounded by family. Maureen O’Hara is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA next to her husband, US Navy pilot General Charles Blair who died in a plane crash in 1978.

She was born Maureen FitzSimons on August 17, 1920, in Ranelagh, Ireland, on the outskirts of Dublin and was the second of six children of Charles FitzSimons. But we knew her best for her tremendous acting roles in movies like “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939), “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), “The Black Swan” (1942), “This Land Is Mine” (1943),”The Quiet Man” (1952) and “McLintock!” (1963). However, my favorite is the timeless holiday classic, “A Miracle on 34th Street” (1947).

One of my favorite stories of Maureen O’Hara was the one where John Wayne, The Duke, paid her one of his highest complaints. John Wayne said, “I’ve had many friends, and I prefer the company of men, except for Maureen O’Hara,” he said. “She is a great guy.”

 Maureen O’Hara, Rest in Peace

New York Times: Maureen O’Hara, Irish-Born Actress Known as Queen of Technicolor, Dies at 95.

Maureen O’Hara, the spirited Irish-born actress who played strong-willed, tempestuous beauties opposite all manner of adventurers in escapist movies of the 1940s and ’50s, died on Saturday at her home in Boise, Idaho. She was 95.

Johnny Nicoletti, her longtime manager, confirmed her death.

Ms. O’Hara was called the Queen of Technicolor, because when that film process first came into use, nothing seemed to show off its splendor better than her rich red hair, bright green eyes and flawless peaches-and-cream complexion. One critic praised her in an otherwise negative review of the 1950 film “Comanche Territory” with the sentiment “Framed in Technicolor, Miss O’Hara somehow seems more significant than a setting sun.” Even the creators of the process claimed her as its best advertisement.

Miracle of 34th Street, (Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn and a young Natalie Wood)

Yet many of the films that made the young Ms. O’Hara a star were in black and white. They included her first Hollywood movie, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939), in which she played the haunted Gypsy girl Esmeralda to Charles Laughton’s Quasimodo; the Oscar-winning “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), in which she was memorable as a Welsh mining family’s beautiful daughter who marries the wrong man; “This Land Is Mine” (1943), a war drama in which she was directed by Jean Renoir; and “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947), the holiday classic in which she played a cynical, modern Macy’s executive who tries to prevent her daughter from believing in Santa Claus.

The Quiet Man (Maureen O’Hara & John Wayne) – The Kiss scene

I am in 100% agreement with the PJ Tatler, in they just don’t make movies like this anymore like the ones that Maureen O’Hara acted in. Imagine a movie with a plot, movies that set up the dramatic scenes, rather than just using special HD effects. Imagine a movie where the sexual tension is set up between a man and a woman rather than they just jump each others bones in two seconds and leaving a woman’s beauty to the imagination rather than a gratuitous nude scene. If you have never seen any of Maureen O’Hara’s movies, take this moment and do so.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Irish Times: Actor Maureen O’Hara dies aged 95.

“It is with a sad heart that we share the news that Maureen O’Hara passed away today in her sleep of natural causes,” a statement from the Fitzsimons family read.

“Maureen was our loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend. She passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family as they celebrated her life listening to music from her favourite movie, The Quiet Man.”

“While we mourn the loss of a very wonderful woman, we also celebrate her remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world, especially in Ireland, to work hard to make their dreams come true and to always have the courage to stand up for themselves.

“For those who may ask what they can do to honour Maureen, we have a simple request: visit Ireland one day and think of her.”

Her manager said that Ms O’Hara had “a wicked sense of humour and never took her good fortunes for granted.”

“She was a classy, warm, feisty, funny woman and she was always so proudly Irish,” he said.