MAUREEN O’HARA

25 Oct

(17 August 1920 - 24 October 2015)

The Irish-American actress was actively sporty in her childhood and in her teens won plaudits for her acting. She joined the Abbey Theatre in Dublin at age 14, hoping to be a classical actress and opera singer. Charles Laughton discovered her and she was cast in Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn (1939) and then played opposite Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Iconic films followed: How Green Was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, Sitting Pretty and The Quiet Man, the last with John Wayne and directed by fellow Irishman John Ford, both of whom became important to her career. She worked with most of the major star actors of the day and many celebrated directors, making films well into her eighties. In 2014 the Academy gave her a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

MAUREEN O’HARA

COLIN WELLAND

JACKIE COLLINS