Maureen O Hara

A first-ever revealing and candid look at the life and career of one of Hollywood’s brightest and most beloved stars, Maureen O’Hara. In an acting career of more than seventy years, Hollywood legend Maureen O’Hara came to be known as “the queen of Technicolor” for her fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. She had a reputation as a fiercely independent thinker and champion of causes, particularly those of her beloved homeland, Ireland. In ‘Tis Herself, O’Hara recounts her extraordinary life and proves to be just as strong, sharp, and captivating as any character she played on-screen. O’Hara was brought to Hollywood as a teenager in 1939 by the great Charles Laughton, to whom she was under contract, to costar with him in the classic film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She has appeared in many other classics, including How Green Was My Valley, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, and Miracle on 34th Street. She recalls intimate memories of working with the actors and directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Laughton, Alfred Hitchcock, Tyrone Power, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and John Candy. With characteristic frankness, she describes her tense relationship with the mercurial director John Ford, with whom she made five films, and her close lifelong friendship with her frequent costar John Wayne. Successful in her career, O’Hara was less lucky in love until she met aviation pioneer Brigadier General Charles F. Blair, the great love of her life, who died in a mysterious plane crash ten years after their marriage. Candid and revealing, ‘Tis Herself is an autobiography as witty and spirited as its author.

From her first appearances on the stage and screen, Maureen O'Hara (b. 1920) commanded attention with her striking beauty, radiant red hair, and impassioned portrayals of spirited heroines. Whether she was being rescued from the gallows by Charles Laughton ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1939), falling in love with Walter Pidgeon against a coal-blackened sky ( How Green Was My Valley, 1941), learning to believe in miracles with Natalie Wood ( Miracle on 34th Street, 1947), or matching wits with John Wayne ( The Quiet Man, 1952), she charmed audiences with her powerful presence and easy confidence. Maureen O'Hara is the first book-length biography of the screen legend hailed as the "Queen of Technicolor." Following the star from her childhood in Dublin to the height of fame in Hollywood, film critic Aubrey Malone draws on new information from the Irish Film Institute, production notes from films, and details from historical film journals, newspapers, and fan magazines. Malone also examines the actress's friendship with frequent costar John Wayne and her relationship with director John Ford, and he addresses the hotly debated question of whether the screen siren was a feminist or antifeminist figure. Though she was an icon of cinema's golden age, O'Hara's penchant for privacy and habit of making public statements that contradicted her personal choices have made her an enigma. This breakthrough biography offers the first look at the woman behind the larger-than-life persona, sorting through the myths to present a balanced assessment of one of the greatest stars of the silver screen.

Written by one of the leading authorities in market microstructure research, this book provides a comprehensive guide to the theoretical work in this important area of finance.

Maureen O'Hara and Graham Leicester explore the competencies - the ways of being, doing, knowing and organising - that can help us navigate in complex and powerful times. They argue that these competencies are innate and within reach of all of us - given the right setting, plenty of practice and some gentle guidance. But they are seldom seen because they are routinely undervalued in today's culture. That must change, the authors insist, and this book is intended to begin that change.The book is based on the authors' extensive research and their practical experience observing the qualities demonstrated by some of today's most successful cultural, political and business leaders. They write of 'persons of tomorrow' that they have witnessed:"e;We find that people who are thriving in the contemporary world, who give us the sense of having it all together and being able to act effectively and with good spirit in challenging circumstances, have some identifiable characteristics in common... They are the people already among us who inhabit the complex and messy problems of the 21st century in a more expansive way than their colleagues. They do not reduce such problems to the scale of the tools available to them, or hide behind those tools when they know they are partial and inadequate. They are less concerned with 'doing the right thing' according to standard procedure than they are with really doing the right thing in the moment, in specific cases, with the individuals involved at the time. In a disciplined yet engaging way they are always pushing boundaries, including their own. They dance at the edge."e;

You are about to read the tale of the toughest Irish lass who ever took on Hollywood and became a major leading lady.

While John Ford (1894–1973) remains one of the most influential and revered directors in film history, he is also one of the most frequently misunderstood. One widespread assumption is that he was almost exclusively a man’s director, dismissive of, or at best not well attuned to, the stories, perspectives and concerns of women. This book forthrightly challenges such an assumption, giving readers a richer understanding of the director’s view of the world and of the women as well as the men who inhabit it. Taking a fresh look at dozens of Ford films, both familiar favorites and under-appreciated gems, it focuses on the complex and diverse female characters in them as well as the actresses who so ably portrayed them.

Turned down by all the major film companies, The Quiet Man brought together John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara for only the second time on screen, won two Oscars and was showered with both critical and popular praise on both sides of the Atlantic. Even today, its worldwide video and DVD sales are quite outstanding. The Quiet Man is rightly hailed as a Hollywood classic. Set in the 1920s and shot in the 1950s, the timeless, fairy-tale character of director John Ford's Ireland is as captivating now as it ever was. Gerry McNee first saw the movie when he was very young and it has intrigued him ever since. In the Footsteps of the Quiet Man is a tribute to the film and all those involved in its making, for the story behind the story, the off-screen drama, is a fascinating tale in itself. McNee has researched his subject thoroughly and conducted countless interviews to produce a stimulating and compulsive homage to what critic and author Andrew Sarris called 'a retreat into the pastoral and horse-driven past [but] very much ahead of its time'. In the Footsteps of the Quiet Man is a revealing and touching account of when Hollywood came to beautiful Connemara in the West of Ireland. It is a fitting tribute to the film and all those involved in its making, as the story behind the film - the off-screen drama - is an enthralling tale in itself.

This revelatory biography shows how both the facts and fictions about John Wayne illuminate his singular life.