Miracle On 34th Street screen icon Maureen O'Hara dies at 95... 'at home listening to music from her favorite film'
Acclaimed screen actress Maureen O’Hara, star of Miracle On 34th Street and The Quiet Man, has died at the age of 95.
The Irish star passed away on Saturday at her home in Boise, Idaho, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
'She passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family as they celebrated her life listening to music from her favorite movie, The Quiet Man,' her family said in a statement.
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Star: Irish beauty Maureen O'Hara had an impressive Hollywood movie career and lit up the screen with her red hair and green eyes
The actress, who was born in Dublin, had moved back to the States in 2012 to be closer to her grandson after living for several years in her native Ireland .
Famous for her striking red hair and green eyes, O'Hara found fame at 19 when she was cast as the gypsy Esmeralda opposite Charles Laughton in the 1939 movie The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
It was followed by director John Ford's classic How Green Was My Valley in 1941 which earned her critical acclaim.
Icon: O'Hara, pictured in 2004, retired from acting in 1973 and went to live in her native Ireland. In 1991 she began working again, mostly in TV movies. In 2012 went to live with her grandson in Boise, Idaho
Classic: The Irish actress also starred as Doris Walker in Miracle On 34th Street. She's pictured with Natalie Wood who played her daughter Susan and Edmund Gwenn who starred as Kris Kringle, the real Santa Claus
Mourned: Fox, the studio behind the classic film, paid tribute to O'Hara on its official Twitter account, thanking her for making generations of children 'believe'
O'Hara is also best remembered as the mother of Natalie Wood in the perennial holiday classic Miracle On 34th Street.
As Doris Walker, the Macy's store employee in charge of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, she unwittingly persuades Kris Kringle, who insists he is the real Santa Claus, to star in the parade.
He's hired by the department store, creates doubt in her daughter Susan's mind about whether Santa really exists and in a landmark trial convinces a judge to rule he is the real deal.
She also starred opposite John Wayne five times and their romantic comedy The Quiet Man, in which Wayne played a retired American boxer who returns to his roots in Ireland where he falls in love, was her favorite film, her family said.
Favorite film: In 1952, O'Hara starred with John Wayne in the romantic comedy The Quiet Man. Her family said Saturday she passed away listening to music from the film
Her other films with Wayne were The Wings Of Eagles and the Westerns McLintock!, Rio Grande and Big Jake.
In a 2003 interview, according to The Hollywood Reporter, O'Hara explained why she and Wayne enjoyed working together so much.
'I was tough. I was tall. I was strong. I didn’t take any nonsense from anybody. He was tough, he was tall, he was strong and he didn’t take any nonsense from anybody. As a man and a human being, I adored him,' she said.
Frequent co-stars: The flame-haired actress reunited with Wayne and director Ford for The Wings Of Eagles, released in 1957. She said she 'adored' Wayne
Big breakout role: O'Hara won widespread critical acclaim for her role in the Oscar Best Picture How Green Was My Valley, about the lives and fortunes of a family in a Welsh coal mining village
Teen star: The Dublin-born actress got her Hollywood break at age 19 after Charles Laughton championed her for the role of the gypsy Esmeralda opposite his Quasimodo in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame in 1939
While many of the films she starred in won, or were nominated for, Academy Awards, O'Hara herself never won an Oscar. In fact, she was never even nominated for one.
In 2014, she received an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards.
Red-haired actress Jessica Chastain posed for a photo with the screen legend at the event and on Saturday she posted that photo on social media along with a tribute to the iconic star.
'RIP #MaureenOHara from one tough redhead broad to another. Thankful for the light you shared,' Chastain wrote.
Irish actress Roma Downey also paid tribute.
'What an inspiration this great spirited Irish actress was to me,' the Touched By An Angel star wrote on Twitter.
Tribute: Jessica Chastain shared this photo taken in 2014 when she greeted the Irish star at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles where O'Hara was presented with an honorary Oscar
Pioneering: Touched By An Angel star, Irish actress Roma Downey tweeted that O'Hara had been an inspirational figure
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3287851/Miracle-34th-Street-screen-icon-Maureen-O-Hara-dies-95-home-listening-music-favorite-film.html#ixzz3pWSk2HUg
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