Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen Paula O'Sullivan was an Irish-American actress who played Jane in the Tarzan series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She starred in dozens of feature films across a span of more than half a century and performed with such stars as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, Fredric March, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen. In 2020, she was listed at number eight on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland. After attending schools in Dublin, England, and France, she moved to Hollywood to work for Fox Film Corporation. Her film career began in the 1930s, and she eventually became a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She is best known for playing Jane Parker in six Tarzan films between 1932 and 1942, alongside Johnny Weissmuller. She also appeared in films such as The Thin Man, Anna Karenina, A Day at the Races, Pride and Prejudice, and Maisie Was a Lady. She took a break from acting to care for her family but later returned to the screen in films directed by her husband, John Farrow. She continued to work in film and theatre throughout her life, including appearances in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married, and in Stranded.
O'Sullivan was married twice, first to John Farrow, with whom she had seven children, including actress Mia Farrow, and later to businessman James Cushing. She became a U.S. citizen in 1947 and was a registered Democrat. O'Sullivan died in 1998 at the age of 87. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is remembered for her contributions to the art of film, including receiving the George Eastman Award in 1982.
Early life
O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, on May 17, 1911, one of five children of Mary and Major Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers who served in World War I. Maureen O'Sullivan returned to Boyle in 1988 to be honoured by the town.Raised Catholic, O'Sullivan attended a convent school in Dublin, then the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton, England. One of her school friends there was Vivian Mary Hartley, two years her junior, the future Academy Award-winning actress Vivien Leigh. After attending finishing school in France, O'Sullivan returned to Dublin to work with the poor. In October 1929, she sailed to New York with her mother on the British steamer, on the way to Hollywood to work for the Fox Film Corporation.
Film career
O'Sullivan's film career began when she met motion picture director Frank Borzage, who was doing location filming on Song o' My Heart for Fox Film Corporation. He suggested she take a screen test which won hera part in the movie that starred Irish tenor John McCormack. She travelled to the United States to complete the movie in Hollywood. She appeared in six movies at Fox, then made three more at other studios.
In 1932, she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After several roles there and for other studios, she was chosen by Irving Thalberg to appear as Jane Parker in Tarzan the Ape Man, with costar Johnny Weissmuller. One of MGM's more popular ingenues through the 1930s, she appeared in a number of other productions with various stars. She played Jane in six Tarzan features between 1932 and 1942.
She was featured with William Powell and Myrna Loy in The Thin Man and played Kitty in Anna Karenina with Greta Garbo, Fredric March, and Basil Rathbone. After costarring with the Marx Brothers in A Day at the Races, she appeared as Molly Beaumont in A Yank at Oxford, written partly by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
She appeared in Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, and supported Ann Sothern in Maisie Was a Lady. After appearing in Tarzan's New York Adventure, O'Sullivan asked MGM to release her from her contract so she could care for her husband, John Farrow, who had just left the Navy with typhoid. She retreated from show business, devoting her time to her family. In 1948, she reappeared on the screen in The Big Clock, directed by her husband for Paramount Pictures. She continued to appear occasionally in her husband's movies and on television.
By 1960, O'Sullivan believed she had permanently retired. However, actor Pat O'Brien encouraged her to take a part in summer stock, and the play A Roomful of Roses opened in 1961. It led to her Broadway debut in Never Too Late with costar Paul Ford. Shortly after it opened, John Farrow died of a heart attack. O'Sullivan stuck with acting after Farrow's death; she was the Today Girl for NBC for a while, then made the movie version of Never Too Late for Warner Bros. She was also an executive director of a bridal consulting service, Wediquette International.
In June and July 1972, O'Sullivan was in Denver, Colorado, to star in the Elitch Theatre production of Butterflies are Free with Karen Grassle and Brandon deWilde. The show ended on July 1, 1972.
When her daughter, actress Mia Farrow, became involved with Woody Allen both professionally and romantically, she appeared in Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, playing Farrow's mother. She had roles in Peggy Sue Got Married and the science fiction oddity Stranded. In 1994, she appeared with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers in Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is, a feature-length made-for-TV movie with the wealthy husband-and-wife team from the popular weekly detective series Hart to Hart.
Personal life
O'Sullivan's first husband was Australian-American writer, award-winning director and Catholic convert John Villiers Farrow, from September 12, 1936, until his death on January 27, 1963. She and Farrow had seven children: Michael Damien, Patrick Joseph, Maria de Lourdes Villiers, John Charles, Prudence Farrow, Stephanie Farrow and Theresa Magdalena "Tisa" Farrow. Mia Farrow gave two of her children, Dylan and Ronan, the middle name of O'Sullivan.In 1958, Michael Farrow, eldest son of John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan, died in a plane crash in California.
Twenty years after the death of Farrow, O'Sullivan married James Cushing, a wealthy businessman, on August 22, 1983, and they remained wed until her death in 1998. O'Sullivan became a U.S. citizen on October 22, 1947 in Los Angeles, California.
O'Sullivan was a Catholic.
Death
O'Sullivan died in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications from heart surgery, on June 23, 1998, at age 87.Legacy
O'Sullivan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard, facing the star of Johnny Weissmuller. A black plaque marks her home on Main Street in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland. Just around the corner from there, opposite King House, is a tree, ceremonially planted by O'Sullivan to mark her return to her birthplace.In 1982, O'Sullivan received the George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
Filmography
Feature films| Year | Title | Role |
| 1930 | So This Is London | Elinor Worthing |
| 1930 | Song o' My Heart | Eileen |
| 1930 | Just Imagine | LN-18 |
| 1930 | The Princess and the Plumber | Princess Louise |
| 1931 | A Connecticut Yankee | Alisande / Woman in Mansion |
| 1931 | Skyline | Kathleen Kearny |
| 1931 | The Big Shot | Doris Thompson |
| 1932 | - | - |
| 1932 | Tarzan the Ape Man | Jane Parker |
| 1932 | The Silver Lining | Joyce Moore |
| 1932 | Fast Companions | Sally |
| 1932 | Strange Interlude | Madeline |
| 1932 | Skyscraper Souls | Lynn Harding |
| 1932 | Okay, America! | Sheila Barton |
| 1932 | Payment Deferred | Winnie Marble |
| 1932 | Robbers' Roost | Helen Herrick |
| 1933 | The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble | Molly Kelly |
| 1933 | Tugboat Annie | Patricia 'Pat' Severn |
| 1933 | Stage Mother | Shirley Lorraine |
| 1934 | Tarzan and His Mate | Jane Parker |
| 1934 | The Thin Man | Dorothy Wynant |
| 1934 | Hide-Out | Pauline Miller |
| 1934 | The Barretts of Wimpole Street | Henrietta Barrett |
| 1935 | David Copperfield | Dora |
| 1935 | West Point of the Air | 'Skip' Carter |
| 1935 | Cardinal Richelieu | Lenore di Brissac |
| 1935 | The Flame Within | Linda Belton |
| 1935 | Woman Wanted | Ann Gray |
| 1935 | Anna Karenina | Kitty |
| 1935 | The Bishop Misbehaves | Hester |
| 1936 | The Voice of Bugle Ann | Camden Terry |
| 1936 | The Devil-Doll | Lorraine Lavond |
| 1936 | Tarzan Escapes | Jane Parker |
| 1937 | A Day at the Races | Judy Standish |
| 1937 | The Emperor's Candlesticks | Maria Orlich |
| 1937 | Between Two Women | Claire Donahue |
| 1937 | My Dear Miss Aldrich | Martha Aldrich |
| 1938 | A Yank at Oxford | Molly Beaumont |
| 1938 | Hold That Kiss | June Evans |
| 1938 | Port of Seven Seas | Madelon |
| 1938 | The Crowd Roars | Sheila Carson |
| 1938 | Spring Madness | Alexandra Benson |
| 1939 | Let Us Live | Mary Roberts |
| 1939 | Tarzan Finds a Son! | Jane Parker |
| 1940 | Sporting Blood | Linda Lockwood |
| 1940 | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Bennet |
| 1941 | Maisie Was a Lady | Abby Rawlston |
| 1941 | Tarzan's Secret Treasure | Jane Parker |
| 1942 | Tarzan's New York Adventure | Jane Parker |
| 1948 | The Big Clock | Georgette Stroud |
| 1950 | Where Danger Lives | Julie |
| 1951 | No Resting Place | Nan Kyle |
| 1952 | Bonzo Goes to College | Marion Gateson Drew |
| 1953 | All I Desire | Sara Harper |
| 1953 | Mission Over Korea | Nancy Slocum |
| 1954 | Duffy of San Quentin | Gladys Duffy |
| 1954 | The Steel Cage | Gladys Duffy |
| 1957 | The Tall T | Doretta Mims |
| 1958 | Wild Heritage | Emma Breslin |
| 1965 | Never Too Late | Edith Lambert |
| 1970 | The Phynx | Maureen O'Sullivan |
| 1985 | Too Scared to Scream | Inez Hardwick |
| 1986 | Hannah and Her Sisters | Norma |
| 1986 | Peggy Sue Got Married | Elizabeth Alvorg |
| 1987 | Stranded | Grace Clark |
| 1988 | Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood | Aunt Sue |
Short subjects
- Hollywood Extra: The First Step as Herself
- Hollywood – The Second Step
- Unusual Occupations: Film Tot Holiday
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Shower of Stars
- Mandy's Grandmother as Grandmother
Television work
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1953 | Jukebox Jury | ||
| 1957 | Crossroads | Mrs. Day | Episode: "The Man Who Walked on Water" |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Julia Williams | Episode: "The Edge of Innocence " |
| 1963 | Candid Camera | Self | Episode: "19 May 1963" |
| 1965 | What's My Line? | Contestant | Episode: "14 November 1965" |
| 1972 | The Crooked Hearts | Lillian Stanton | TV movie |
| 1976 | The Great Houdini | Lady Conan Doyle | TV movie |
| 1982 | Morning's at Seven | Esther Crampton | TV movie |
| 1983 | All My Children | Olive Whelan | |
| 1984 | Guiding Light | Miss Emma Witherspoon | |
| 1985 | Search for Tomorrow | Elaine Descot | |
| 1992 | With Murder in Mind | Aunt Mildred | TV movie |
| 1992 | The Habitation of Dragons | Helen Taylor | TV movie |
| 1994 | Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is | Eleanor Biddlecomb | Final film role |