Maureen O’Hara: The Biography

Description

ISBN: 9780813180694; Paperback
312 pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in, 39 b&w photos

Maureen O’Hara
The Biography
by Aubrey Malone

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.

Aubrey Malone, a professional film critic, has written more than seventy books, including Hemingway: The Grace and the Pressure and The Hunchback of East Hollywood: A Biography of Charles Bukowski.

Reviews

“Maureen O’Hara is a significant contribution to scholars in the field and to readers for its broad scope, rich movie lore and enlightening information about O’Hara, the woman and the actress, whose career spanned a vital period in American film history.”

~Mollie Gregory, author of Women Who Run the Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood

“Much like author Christina Rice, author Aubrey Malone creates a tender and intriguing glimpse into the world of Maureen O’Hara’s Golden Era…[Malone] gives an amazing and thought-provoking analysis on O’Hara’s films. Standing alongside O’Hara’s own autobiography, Maureen O’Hara: The Biography is wonderful.”

~Journeys in Classic Film

“Capably researched yet breezily written.”

~Express Milwaukee

“Aubrey Malone turns back the veil on O’Hara’s closely guarded private life to reveal a truly fascinating, spirited and down-to-earth woman behind the glamorous movie star.”

~News OK

“The writing style is outstanding and immensely captures a reader’s attention and intrigues with the contents of Maureen O’Hara’s glamorous lifestyle.”

~The Southeastern Librarian