Seems like I've been doing a lot of writing about death lately, here and in my other blogs.
Therefore, it's a nice change of pace to be able to write today about someone who is still living — Irish–born actress Maureen O'Hara.
You seldom hear O'Hara's name anymore. She made her last film appearance a decade ago, just as she was entering her 80s. She is 90 today.
She was quite a saucy redhead back in the day, though, and she shared the screen with many of the top leading men of her era, but she seemed particularly drawn to projects involving her friend John Wayne and director John Ford.
O'Hara made her screen debut in Alfred Hitchcock's "Jamaica Inn" when she was still in her teens. Her subsequent film credits include appearances in "How Green Was My Valley," "Miracle on 34th Street," "Rio Grande," "The Quiet Man," "The Parent Trap," "Spencer's Mountain" and "The Rare Breed."
And, thanks to some on–the–ball scheduling, you can see the passion she could bring to the screen tonight on Turner Classic Movies when TCM shows two of her best films with Wayne — "The Quiet Man" at 7 p.m. (Central) and "Rio Grande" at 9:15 p.m. (Central) — as part of its daylong salute to O'Hara in its annual "Summer Under the Stars."
