10-18-03
This is copyright material - do not copy for republication
We had a few little gliltches but thanks to Karen Cooksley and everyone's patience and tenacity - we got through it. One question got by me from Sandy Kemper (because I was so busy typing) but I addressed it later in the day in a separate phone call to Maureen. I am particularly sorry for those whose schedule conflicted. I did submit the questions you sent to Maureen later in the day. I have removed the superfluous comments prior to and after the chat so we could cut the the proverbial "chase." This is the time that I hear comments from people who did not attend because they already know everything there is to know about Maureen. I can only say that they are doing better than I because I talk to her several times a week and have worked with her on the website for over 10 years and I still have questions. This certainly isn't the perfect arena to address those long-time curioisities of our heroine - but's it's way better than anything else available at this time. Thanks again for your enthusiasm and support.
June Beck: Can I have Joan's question again?
Joan
Nowicki:
Hi Maureen. Did you seal the agreement with John Ford to do TQM
with
one of those special
handshakes seen in the movies? And please accept a great big
thank-you
our Gradh Ma Croidhe
for your wonderful work in the movies and for being you!
MO:
The 1944 handshake agreement was made, with a witness - a promise
to make TQM but it took us until 1951
to get the financing to make the movie and that we got by making Rio
Grande.
The head
of Republic financed TQM - but then, of course, my agent and all
the legal people in the business made a real
contract so we could make the TQM - and thank you for the
gradh
ma chroidhe.
June Beck: Okay - how about you Trevor?
June
Beck:
Meantime it occurs to me that you can all type your questions ahead of
time...right? Then they can just hit
send when I call on them.
Deborah
Cote:
Dear Ms. O'Hara! I have worshipped your movies all my life, and
think
you are the loveliest woman alive!
Which movie is your all time favorite, not even counting the
movies
you were in. But yours are my favorites!
MO:
Well, you ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer. Of
course it is TQM because we wanted to
make it for so many years and when we finally did get to make it and
have
it become a world classic. But
there were others, Spencer's Mountain, Parent Trap, they
were
all top, top movies.... not just favorites of mine
but favorites of the world.
Linda
Rohrig:
Miss O'Hara I cannot find the words to express how honored I am to be
on
line with you. I have admired you all
my life. Not just your great acting but who you are as a
person.
God bless you. I loved "Cab to Canada". It
was nice not having your character die in the end. Are you still
interested
in making more movies? I can think
of so many characters I would love to see you play.
MO:
Nice to meet you to. I don't know if you know that my sister is
an
Irish Sister of Charity nun and she has just
retired from her work at a retirement home. Anyway enough
of
that. I am reading a script right now but it's full
of a lot of murder and I'm not sure about it - yes I'd work again if
the
right script comes along. Why don't you
send June Beck your ideas and you could help us a lot by telling us
what
characters you think I should play?
Thanks
Pat
Ray:
I am a nervous wreck. What an honor! Thank you so much for your
time
Ms. O'Hara. Question: How in the world
do you prepare for the memorization of your scripts for
movies/tv?
Does it take months to learn? Do you prepare
for the shoots for the next day? You are a marvel. I just
can't
wait for your book. May you live until 102! And
make more movies - God Bless you!
MO:
Just like you did in school; by sitting down with the book in front of
you and study and study until you are word
perfect and then have somebody read with you until you know them
vocally
in your mind correct. Sometimes when
it is just beautifully written and you learn it automatically. You
prepare
from the beginning - but you prepare extra
for the following day. And the word "shoot" is a modern motion
picture
word - they didn't use it in my day.
Carrie
Smith:
Hi, Maureen. I've admired your work for as long as I can remember
(I'm 23) and was lucky enough to see you in
the St. Patrick's Day Parade in NYC in '99. I was just wondering
if you could share with us what you consider to
be your greatest accomplishment, and what 1 thing you would change
about
the world, if you could.
MO:
Convincing God to let me still be alive at age 83 and I hope he lets me
live to 102 because my mother-in-law lived to
be 102 and she was absolutely the most wonderful woman - tough and
strong
and I want to be able to say "Okay -
Grandma I made it" and be healthy and happy and God take care of
me.
The one thing in the world I would
change the same as every mother with a son. peace...peace in the world
and for people to respect each other and
respect each other's opinions...and lets have some peace because right
now we have a chaotic word and peace
seems so far out on the horizon...
Deborah Cote: Hi, Ms.
O'
Hara, I'm Deb Cote from Albany, NY, age 50, and have loved all of your
movies since I was a little kid. I
think TQM is one of the most beautifully photographed movies I've ever
seen ., and I think, also, your other GREAT
film, How Green Was My Valley is also a great achievement in
cinematography.
What is your favorite memory of
HGWMV? And, once again, you are the MOST beautiful woman alive.
Carrie Smith: Great question, Deb -- HGWMV is my all-time favorite movie
MO:
One of the great memories of making that was getting to know people
like
Roddy McDowall and his mother and
sister, and Anna Lee who played Bronwyn and also being able to work
with
Jon Ford - a very exciting thing for me to
do at that young age - I was just 20 years of age and to be able to do
that was absolutely wonderful.
Deborah Cote: Oh, she did a veteran's job at age 20, all right! Oh, what an actress!
Pat
Ray:
Ms. O'Hara. I was taught by the Sisters of Charity from Convent
Station
in New Jersey. Almost entered
but chose the Sisters of Mercy of NJ instead. Anyway, in "Parent
Trap" while in Boston, your hair appeared
long and in scenes for CA. You had that lovely bobbed
haircut.
Did they actually cut your hair or did you
wear a wig?
MO:
The hair was cut for the movie - but my hair was long in the beginning
but if we did any re-takes I would have had to
wear a hairpiece..... to make it look like it looked before they cut
it.
Yes, my hair was long when I started the film and
it was cut.... and I still wear it short.
Sandy Kemper: Mrs.
Blair
, If you were a young woman today, would you be an actress again
in today's conditions with immorality
and profanity on the screen? If so, how would you get around it?
MO:
There is only one way to get around it and that is to refuse to do
it.
It's very simple - just say NO. Yes, if I had to do
it all over again, I'd not change. God put the talent
in my mind and in my heart - but I would have sung more - that's
what I would have changed.
Sandy Kemper: I am not surprised at your answer, Mrs. Blair. I just wanted to hear you say it.
Pat
Ray:
June, thanks for your time and efforts. As always, you come
through.
Your fingers are either tired or
getting very thin. karen, this connection was fantastic. Both of
you, raise you right arm over you head and give
yourself a pat on the back.
Trevor Pattenden: Hi
Maureen,
lovely to be able to talk with you .do you think that the time will
come
when you retire again? I
personally hope not as you’re my dream lady and the best actress ever.
Do you think that if they'd made TQM to
day they would have made a sequel?
MO:
I hope they wouldn't dare to try to make a sequel to TQM because where
would you find another John Wayne,
another Barry Fitzgerald?... so many of the sequels are terrible
flops...not
always..but most are. You can't replace the
magic of the real film and I think the Quiet Man was magic. I guess I
did
retire once and time will retire me. I'm getting
up there into that time where parts that I would play or could play are
scarce - not many parts for old ladies. I would
like to keep kicking around until God calls me.
Sandy Kemper: Mrs.
Blair,
when preparing for a role, how to you get into the character's head,
especially
if the character is
radically different from you and become that person. I know that it
takes
more than memorizing.
MO:
You don't "become" the person in any play in any play that you make -
you
"act" the person. You study how those
kind of people behave - what characteristics they have in every way -
sound
of voice in movement and look - you are
imitating what you think and who you think that person is or could be
but
you don't BECOME the character.
Comments upon closing the chat:
MO:
I am sorry we didn't have more time to do this - one of these days
we'll
have a better system of doing this so that
people can ask questions and can an immediate answer without having to
transcribe.
Pat Ray: Thanks June and Karen. This was so interesting - and a great priviledge.
Linda Rohrig: Thanks
June
and Karen. And especially to you Miss O'Hara. God has given you to us
as
a special gift. June this
requires no response, good afternoon, good evening to all
Joan Nowicki: Bye Maureen, we love you and thanks girls.
Carrie
Smith:
Thanks everyone -- this was a lot of fun! And thanks to Maureen,
without whom this would never have been
possible.
Sandy Kemper: Thanks a lot, Mrs. Blair and I hope to meet you someday.
Trevor Pattenden: Thank you Karen & June for a wonderful experience, I never thought I’d ever get to ask mo a question.
Deborah Cote: Thanks so much for the honor of speaking to you, Ms. O'Hara! You've made my year!
June Beck: Your questions were great.
June Beck: Thanks Karen - we did okay - now we've broken the ice. Maureen is so great to do this.
June Beck: It is too bad that we can do it in interview fashion with audio.
Karen Cooksley: Thanks
to
Maureen for being gracious enough to accommodate her fans and to June
for
all her work, and to the
rest of you for your participation. You can certainly stay
in here and chat as long as you want and, of course the
chat function is available anytime. You saw how to get signed on
and see who else was online and then you just
double-click on their name to send them an instant message.
Linda Rohrig: You and
Karen
are great for setting all this up. Maybe we should take up a
"collection"
and get Ms. O'Hara a
computer.
Deborah Cote: Believe
it
or not, I was on a voice interview like this with Glenn Ford...and it
worked
great! I wish I knew how to do it.
June Beck: Thanks
to
all who participated. I'll be getting the responses to the other
question that were submitted by those who could not attend and tack
them
on to the end of this transcript. JB
Karen Gilbert: What is your favorite opera and what is your favorite aria?
MO: “Faust” and the Vissi d'arte from Tosca
Manfred:
First, I pray that Maureen is in good health and spirits and will get a
kick out of satisfying our
curiosities. Since we are all trying to keep alive the memories of our
favorite performers like our
charming, classy Maureen - I wonder if Maureen finds time to look up
fellow
actors from the past to
see how they're doing. I realize there are so many. Also, did Maureen
ever
have a chance or desire to
work with director Michael Curtiz who also did some great swashbucklers.
MO: There are very few old friends left and even the ones that might be left, I don’t know where they are.
Curtiz: He was at a different studio than me so I never had the opportunity to work with him.
From Hisako: Any special moments or memories from the time of making The Black Swan?
MO:
I already knew and was great friends with Tyrone – but I really enjoyed
getting to know Laird Cregar –
who is a wonderful person and a fine actor and died much too young – he
was 28 or 30.
From Alison: What movies in the past few years she has liked? Also what books does she like to read?
MO:
One movie that I really liked was “Strictly Ballroom” – I haven’t seen
a lot of the recent movies. I like
to read poetry – any well written good book I love – “St. Agnes’ Stand”
by Thomas Eidson is a well
written western.
Sandy
Kemper:
Hi, Mrs. Blair. I feel privileged to be able to talk to you. I am most
interested in your relationship with
God and your Catholic faith. I was wondering if you could relate
an instance in which God worked in a
powerful way in your life. Also I was wondering if you preferred
Latin Mass or the changes of Vatican
II. Another question is are there any issues that you differ with
from the official Catholic positions, like
abortion , celibacy of priests, or any other issue that comes to
mind. Thanks for your time .
MO:
I am a Catholic and I follow my religion.