Biography for
Maureen O'Sullivan (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

17 May 1911, Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland

Date of Death

23 June 1998, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name

Maureen Paula O'Sullivan

Height

5' 3" (1.60 m)

Mini Biography

The future jungle wife of Tarzan and mother of Mia Farrow was a schooldays classmate of Vivien Leigh at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton (London). At the age of nine she intended to become a pilot. After more school in Paris, back in Dublin, she met director Frank Borzage who was doing location filming for Fox and who invited her to Hollywood where she arrived, accompanied by her mother, in 1930. In 1932 she signed with MGM and completed nine movies at four studios. Irving Thalberg picked her to play Tarzan's Jane. She was perhaps MGM's most popular ingenue throughout the 1930s in a number of non-Tarzan vehicles. She married Australian writer John Farrow (later an award-winning director and author of a history of the papacy, a life of Thomas More and a Tahitian/English dictionary) with whom she had seven children: Michael, Patrick, Maria (Mia Farrow), John, Prudence, Theresa (Tisa Farrow), and Stephanie Farrow. After her last Tarzan she asked for release from her contract to care for her husband who had just left the Navy with typhoid. She continued making occasional movies, television and stage appearances and operating a bridal consulting service (Wediquette International).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Mini Biography

Maureen Paula O'Sullivan was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, on May 17, 1911. The future mother of Mia Farrow was educated in parochial schools in London, Dublin, and Paris. As a matter of fact, Maureen was a classmate of Vivien Leigh, another woman destined for screen immortality. Even as a schoolgirl, Maureen desired an acting career; she studied hard and read widely. When the opportunity to be an actress came along, it almost dropped in her lap. The director Frank Borzage was in Dublin filming Song o' My Heart (1930) when Maureen, then 18, met him. Borzage suggested a screen test, which she took. The results were more than favorable, as she won the part of Eileen O'Brien. The part was a substantial one, so much so that Maureen went on to Hollywood to complete the filming. Once in sunny California, Maureen wasted no time landing roles in other films such as Just Imagine (1930), Princess and the Plumber (1930), and So This Is London (1930). Maureen was on a roll that her contemporaries could only have wished for when they were coming up through the ranks. In 1932, Maureen was teamed up with Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmuller for the first time in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). Five other Tarzan films followed, the last being Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942). The Tarzan epics rank as one of the most memorable series ever made. Most people agree that those movies would not have been successful had it not been for the fine acting talents, not to mention beauty, of Maureen O'Sullivan. But she was more than Jane Parker in the Tarzan films; she had great roles and played beautifully in films such as The Flame Within (1935), David Copperfield (1935), and Anna Karenina (1935). She turned in yet another fine performance in Pride and Prejudice (1940). After the 1940s, Maureen made far fewer films, not because she lost popularity but by choice. It isn't always easy to walk away from a lucrative career, but she did because she wanted to devote more time to her husband, John Farrow, an Australian writer, and their seven children. The couple were married from 1936 until his death in 1963. She did not, however, retire completely; Maureen still found time to make an occasional appearance in films or TV or on the stage. Later movie patrons remember her as Elizabeth Alvorg in the hit film Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). Her final silver screen appearance was in The River Pirates (1988). Some TV movies followed, but only until 1996. She maintained homes in New Hampshire and Arizona, and it was in Scottsdale that Maureen died on June 23, 1998, of a heart attack. She was 87 years old.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

Spouse

James Cushing	(22 August 1983 - 23 June 1998) (her death)
John Farrow	(12 September 1936 - 28 January 1963) (his death) 7 children

Trivia

Her oldest son, Michael, was killed in a plane crash while taking flying lessons, in 1958.

Ex-mother-in-law of Frank Sinatra and André Previn. Daughter Mia Farrow also had a long-term relationship with Woody Allen.

Mother of Michael Farrow, Patrick Farrow, John Charles Farrow, Mia Farrow, Tisa Farrow, Prudence Farrow and Stephanie Farrow, from her marriage to John Farrow

Grandmother of Moses Farrow, Soon-Yi Previn, Daisy Previn and Fletcher Farrow Previn

Despised working with the chimpanzee 'Cheetah' during the filming of the Tarzan movies at MGM and, according to daughter Mia Farrow, privately referred to the primate as "that ape son of a bitch".

Is often dubbed 'Ireland's first film star'.

Was a favorite of Irving Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer at MGM and they had big plans for her as a big star. Thalberg's sudden death at age 37 of pneumonia in 1936 put a big damper on the momentum in her pursuit of stardom and was soon relegated to romantic interest roles.

Interviewed in Tom Weaver's book "I Was a Monster Movie Maker" (McFarland & Co., 2001).

Personal Quotes

[in 1992, about Myrna Loy] What was her magic? I don't know. She was just magic!

Hollywood was a fantasy world in more ways than one. But it must be said that the industry did a lot for the war effort by producing some marvelous propaganda movies.

[on Johnny Weissmuller] An amiable piece of beefcake; a likeable, overgrown child.