Matinee Classics - Maureen O'Sullivan Biography & Filmography

Maureen O'Sullivan ACTOR

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MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Maureen O’Sullivan, born May 17, 1911, was an Irish actress. She is sometimes deemed Ireland’s first film star. At age eighteen, she was discovered by Hollywood director Frank Borzage at a horse show in Dublin. He was there to film his movie “Song o’ My Heart” (1930), and set up a screen test for her. Sullivan did well and was cast in the movie to play starring the role of Eileen. For this part, she had to go to Hollywood to continue filming. Sullivan decided to move to Hollywood, for she had actually always wanted to be an actress.

While there, she signed with Fox and quickly found parts in other movies like “Just Imagine” (1930), “Princess and the Plumber” (1930), and “So This is London” (1930). In 1932 - after parts in six additional movies - Sullivan signed a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Her first film with them was “Tarzan the Ape Man” (1932). She starred opposite Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmuller. They teamed up for another five Tarzan movies, “Tarzan and His Mate” (1934), “Tarzan Escapes” (1936), “Tarzan Finds a Son!” (1939), “Tarzan’s Secret Treasure” (1941), and “Tarzan’s New York Adventure” (1942). With her nude swimming scene and bikini like costume in the series, Sullivan caused a minor sensation.

Throughout the 1930's, the actress portrayed characters besides Jane. Sullivan starred alongside Myrna Loy and William Powell in “The Thin Man” (1934). She played beautifully and with talent in films such as “The Flame Within” (1935), “The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observations of David Copperfield the Younger” (1935), and “Anna Karenina” (1935). Sullivan additionally appeared as Molly Beaumont in “A Yank at Oxford” (1938). Her part was actually given more meaning and substance by F. Scott Fitzgerald at her request. Another great movie the actress performed in was “Pride and Prejudice” (1940), in which she starred in conjunction with Greer Garson and Laurence Oliver. In this picture, she also portrayed a character named Jane. In 1941, Sullivan played the supporting role to Ann Sothern in “Maisie Was a Lady”. Obviously, MGM kept the actress very busy with a large variety of features.

However, after performing in “Tarzan’s New York Adventure” (1942), Sullivan asked that she be released from her contract to take care of her seven children and husband, director John Farrow, who had recently returned home from the Navy due to typhoid fever. In 1948, she did return to the screen, for “The Big Clock”. She did not appear in another movie until the next decade, though, in Paramount’s “Where Danger Lives” (1950), which her husband actually directed. Occasionally she was seen in her husband’s further films and on television. By the time 1960 came, Sullivan believed her acting days to be over, but fellow Irish actor Pat O’Brien encouraged her to take up the theatre. She performed in 1961’s “A Roomful of Roses”, and enjoyed it so much that she went on to act in “Never Too Late” on Broadway. Shortly after its debut in 1963, her husband passed away.

Nevertheless, Sullivan persisted with her acting even after her husband was gone. She appeared in a couple of television series in the 1960s, until performing in the movie rendition of “Never Too Late” (1965). In the 1970s she only acted in two TV movies and a short. By the 1980's, two of her daughters, Mia and Tisa Furrow had also become actresses. She played the mother of Mia in one picture, “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986), which was also directed by Mia’s then boyfriend, Woody Allen. In the same year, Sullivan appeared in the dramatic comedy “Peggy Sue Got Married” (1986), with Kathleen Turner and Nicholas Cage. Following, she played in the sci-fi “Stranded” (1987).

Her final big screen movie was “Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood” in 1988. She additionally acted in a TV series and then three television movies, named “With Murder in Mind” (1992), “The Habitation of Dragons” (1992), and her very final acting job, “Hart to Hart: Home is Where the Heart Is” (1994). On June 23, 1998, Sullivan passed away from complications during heart surgery. She was 87 years of age. For her contributions to motion pictures, she was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Filmography

1994 Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is

1992 The Habitation of Dragons

1992 I with Murder in Mind

1991 Pros and Cons

1988 Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood

1987 Stranded

1987 Leg Work

1986 Peggy Sue Got Married

1986 Hannah and Her Sisters

1985 Search for Tomorrow

1985 Too Scared to Scream

1984 Guiding Light