Maureen O’Hara Movies

Maureen O'Hara starred in close to 60 movies from 1938 - 1991
Maureen O’Hara starred in close to 60 movies from 1938 – 1991

Want to know the best Maureen O’Hara movies?  How about the worst Maureen O’Hara movies?  Curious about Maureen O’Hara’s box office grosses or which Maureen O’Hara movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Maureen O’Hara movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

She was John Wayne’s favorite leading lady. She played Esmeralda 57 years before Demi Moore provided the voice of Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). She was in Alfred Hitchcock’s last English produced movie, 1939’s Jamaica Inn, before he came to Hollywood. She was in director Sam Peckinpah’s first ever movie – The Deadly Companions (1961). She starred in the Best Picture Oscar® winning movie – How Green Was My Valley(1941). She was in one the greatest Christmas movies of all-time – Miracle on 34th Street (1947). She was in one of the greatest romantic movies of all-time – The Quiet Man (1952). She was in one of the most popular live action Disney movies of all-time – The Parent Trap (1961). She starred with some of the greatest leading men in the history of Hollywood….John Wayne (5 times), Charles Laughton (3 times), John Payne (3 times), Anthony Quinn(3 times), Henry Fonda (2 times), James Stewart (2 times), Tyrone Power (2 times), Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Sir Alec Guinness, Fred MacMurray and Vincent Price.  She is of course the legendary actress, Maureen O’ Hara.

Her IMDb page shows 65 acting credits from 1938-2000. This page will rank 53 Maureen O’Hara movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, and bit parts were not included in the rankings.

Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara in 1942 The Black Swan
Tyrone Power and Maureen O’Hara in 1942 The Black Swan

Maureen O’Hara Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Maureen O’Hara Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In Ther Table

The really cool thing about ther table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort by Maureen O’Hara movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Maureen O’Hara movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Maureen O’Hara movies by domestic box office rank
  • Sort Maureen O’Hara movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Maureen O’Hara movie received.
  • Sort Maureen O’Hara movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Maureen O’Hara Table

  1. Twenty-five Maureen O’Hara movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 47.17% of her movies listed. The Parent Trap (1961) was her biggest box hit.
  2. An average Maureen O’Hara movie grosses $109.50 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  33 of Maureen O’Hara’s movies are rated as good movies…or 62.26% of her movies.  The Quiet Man (1952) is her highest rated movie while Bagdad (1949) was her lowest rated movie.
  4. Thirteen Maureen O’Hara movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 24.52% of her movies.
  5. Five Maureen O’Hara movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 9.43% of her movies.
  6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00.  32 Maureen O’Hara movies scored higher that average….or 60.37% of her movies.  How Green Was My Valley (1941) got the the highest UMR Score while Lisbon (1956) got the lowest UMR Score.
Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne in 1963's McLintock
Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne in 1963’s McLintock

Possibly interesting facts about Maureen O’Hara.

1. She was born Maureen FitzSimons in Ireland on November 17th 1920…..she passed away on October 24th, 2015.

2. She was married three times and has one daughter, Brownyn FitzSimons. Her third marriage to Charles F. Blair ended tragically in 1978 when Blair died in an airplane explosion.

3. Oscar® winning actor Charles Laughton gave O’Hara her biggest break in movies after he saw her screen test. Laughton talked a film producer into giving O’Hara a 7 year contract that was later sold to RKO when World War 2 started.

4. Her first major box office hit was How Green Was My Valley which won the Best Picture Oscar® in 1942 and was directed by legendary director John Ford.

5. She would end up making 5 movies with John Ford…..How Green Was My Valley, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Long Gray Line and The Wings of Eagles.

6. Amazingly she was never nominated for an Oscar® or a Golden Globe® nomination in her entire career. How her performance in The Quiet Man did not get a nomination I will never know. She was elected into the Irish Hall of Fame in 2011….I am surprised it took them that long to elect her. In 2014 she was given an Honorary Oscar®….one that was well overdue too.

7. Speaking of The Quiet Man…..she says only three people knew what she whispered into John Wayne’s ear at the end of the movie that gave Wayne the very surprised look….they were John Wayne, John Ford and herself. She says they never told and she never will either.

8. In 2004 she wrote her autobiography. ‘Tis Herself A Memoir is an awesome read with many memorable memories and stories….it is highly recommended.

9. In her memoir she says her goal is to reach the age of 102….my hope is that not only will she reach her goal….but will have to create a new goal when she reaches 102.

10. Check out Maureen O’Hara‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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107 thoughts on “Maureen O’Hara Movies”

  1. Hello Bruce,
    I Like What You’ve done with Maureen O’Hara’s page. I really like it when you give the film’s actual box office gross as well as the adjusted box office gross. I am curious as
    to what dollar figure you are using to come up with the adjust box office gross. Anyway
    I really do enjoy your website. Some pages I’m looking forward to seeing in the future
    is Jean Arthur, Anthony Quinn and Peter O’Toole.
    Thanks again.

    Reply

    1. Hey Lyle. Glad you like my Maureen page. When I first wrote it….one of the main themes was the fact that she deserved a Honorary Oscar….well last year they finally did….I wield such power….lol.

      Let’s see. Adjusted box office gross. For a movie from 1980-2015…box office mojo is normally the best source. For those movies…I just take the actual gross and divide that by average movie ticket cost for the year of it’s release. Actually the program my wife designed for me does that.

      For movies 1930-1980 in gets a little more difficult. My number one source is my collection of Variety magazines from 1934 to 1980. Variety reported “box office rentals” every year from 1942 to present day? (not sure if they still do that). Box office rentals is what the studio got back from the theaters…not the box office grosses. Well I took about 2,500 movies that I knew box office rentals and box office grosses. The average multiplier was 2.2 times to get box office gross. Granted this is not exact numbers but I do not think anybody has the actual numbers anymore. So looking at a Maureen O’Hara movie….The Quiet Man was reported to have earned 3.8 million in rentals (12th biggest hit of 1952)…..using my 2.2 multiplier I come up with a box office gross of $8.36 million in 1952. Then I use the average ticket cost in 1952 and figure out how many tickets were sold. Then multiply that by 2015 ticket cost and that gives us $123.4 in adjusted gross. It is not exact…..but I feel my number is pretty close.

      For movies from 1922-1951 I have RKO, MGM and Warner Brothers ledgers. These ledgers listed box office rentals…over the years I have been lucky enough to get copies of those ledgers….some are located at USC and you have to schedule at appointment to see the ledgers.

      When box office mojo, Varitey and the ledgers I have fail….I have go to autobiographies, biographies, books like Reel Facts to try and hunt down box office numbers. I really like when I only have to research two or three movies this way….usually I do a quick check and figure how difficult a page is coming to be to research. In this case Maureen O’Hara was easy because it seemed like all of her movies made money and had popular co-stars.

      As for O’Toole, Arthur and Quinn….I have looked at all of them as possible subjects. All three of them fall into the difficult categories….but I will get them done in the future. I actually at one point started to work on O’Toole (he was one of my dad’s favorite actors)…but he had so many bad and unknown movies that I gave up. Sorry I rambled so long…but you asked…lol.

      Reply

  2. I remember my older sisters admired her as an actress. She was talented and beautiful. Very well done post on this artist.

    Reply

  3. Hi Bruce – excited is the wrong word for your surgery!!! Everyone was so concerned about the two surgeries you had. Anxiety, worry, care and love are the words that come to mind. Thank goodness you are now home once again with your loving family. TAKE IT EASY AND GET WELL SOON. Love MOM

    Reply

    1. Hey BERN1960…thanks for your support during my recent surgeries….it was and is greatly appreciated.

      Reply

  4. I read her autobiography, she is a beautiful and strong woman from the inside out. I haven’t seen many of her movies but I can tell she was a great actress. It is a shame that she didn’t win any major awards in her career but her legacy is strong on her own.

    Reply

    1. Hey Alecia…I agree her autobiography is an excellent read and one that her fans and movie fans can really enjoy. Hopefully you have seen The Quiet Man….if not you need to watch that really soon….and the recent blu-ray release is awesome with picture quality. Thanks for the comment and the visit.

      Reply

  5. Good luck with your surgery, Bruce. I am sure your mother is worried, not excited. You will always be her little boy no matter how old you are.

    As for Miss O’hara wanting to live until 102, I want her to remain alive only while she is healthy and wants to be alive. Sad though I am that Annette Funicello died at only 70, I was thrilled and relieved for her that she is no longer an invalid. She was actually taken off life support, that is how bad she was. But people remember as Mickey Mousekateer. They forget that the real person didn’t just grow old, she lost her dignity first. My wish is that everyone dies before they become dependent upon everyone to even exist, never mind to be happy and glad to be alive.

    Again, I hope your surgery goes well.

    Your friend

    Flora

    Reply

    1. Thanks Flora…as you already know…surgery did not go well at all……but now things are getting better each day. I am hoping she reaches 102 in the same fashion she is currently living….and by all accounts she is doing well. She is the exact age of my grandmother….and the two of them are kinda of connected in my mind.

      I think Annette is in a much better place now….I read a little about her last years and that was not a happy story at all…..thanks again for the concern and comments.

      Reply

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