Maureen O’Sullivan (Who’s Who at MGM, 1937) 🇺🇸
Maureen O’Sullivan was born at Boyle, Ireland, on May 17. After attending school in Dublin, London, and a finishing school in Paris, Maureen returned home.
Luck and fate stepped in while she was still in her ‘teens and ultimately resulted in her following a screen career. Director Frank Borzage was in Dublin making exterior scenes for Song of My Heart which starred John McCormack, and also was quietly conducting a search for a beautiful Irish girl for an important role in the picture.
Maureen, invited to a party which also was attended by Borzage and some of his aides, attracted the attention of the director. He volunteered to give her a screen test which resulted in an offer of a contract by Fox Film Corporation.
Came West With Mother
Her father, Major Charles O’Sullivan, of the Connaught Rangers in Ireland, ultimately gave his consent, which resulted in the beginning of her highly successful career.
Maureen and her mother came to Hollywood and the young girl started on a long series of pictures, which included “So This Is London,” “Connecticut Yankee,” “Just Imagine,” “The Princess and the Plumber,” “The Big Shot,” “Thirty Days,” Tarzan the Ape Man, “Skyscraper Souls,” “Payment Deferred,” “Cohens and the Kellys in Trouble,” “Robbers’ Roost,” “Okay America,” Strange Interlude, “Tugboat Annie” and “Stage Mother.”
Poultry Her Hobby
She is a typical Irish colleen, with blue eyes, dark brown hair. She is five feet three and one-half inches tall, weighs 111 pounds. She has a pet bird dog named “Rodger.” She is married to John Villiers Farrow and they live in Beverly Hills.
Maureen likes tennis and horseback-riding for exercise. She likes to read romances and travel stories. She plays the piano and raises poultry for a hobby. She is a member of the Dominoes, a women’s club composed of Hollywood actresses. If she were not kept busy acting, she says she would like to try her hand at writing. She believes that the most interesting people she knows are authors, and one of her closest friends is P. G. Wodehouse. She is not superstitious.
Mate for “Tarzan”
Her later pictures are “Tarzan and His Mate,” in which she played opposite Johnny Weissmuller; The Thin Man, which starred William Powell and Myrna Loy; The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which starred Norma Shearer and Charles Laughton; “Hide Out,” with Robert Montgomery; David Copperfield, featuring an all-star cast; West Point of the Air, with Joel McCrea; “Richelieu,” starring George Arliss; Anna Karenina, starring Greta Garbo; “The Bishop Misbehaves,” with a cast of featured players; “The Voice of Bugle Ann” and “The Devil Doll,” both starring Lionel Barrymore; “Tarzan Escapes,” again opposite Johnny Weissmuller; A Day at the Races, starring the Marx Brothers; The Emperor’s Candlesticks co-starring William Powell and Luise Rainer; “Between Two Women,” My Dear Miss Aldrich, and “Yank at Oxford.”
At the present time, Maureen’s chief interests in life are the unique home she and her husband are constructing in Coldwater Canyon and the forthcoming visit of her sister, Sheila, from Ireland. The modest five-room home is being patterned after her old Irish homestead and will contain a chapel.
Sister Sheila is very beautiful, Maureen says, and, if Sheila is interested in entering pictures, she will coach her.
Collection: Who’s Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937)