MAUREEN O’HARA

(17 August 1920 - 24 October 2015)

The Irish-American actress was actively sporty in her childhood and in her teens won plaudits for her acting. She joined the Abbey Theatre in Dublin at age 14, hoping to be a classical actress and opera singer. Charles Laughton discovered her and she was cast in Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn (1939) and then played opposite Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Iconic films followed: How Green Was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, Sitting Pretty and The Quiet Man, the last with John Wayne and directed by fellow Irishman John Ford, both of whom became important to her career. She worked with most of the major star actors of the day and many celebrated directors, making films well into her eighties. In 2014 the Academy gave her a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.

MICHAEL DARVELL