Delicately beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan (1911-1998) was an Irish-born actress best known for playing scantily clad Jane in the Tarzan film series starring Johnny Weissmuller. She also appeared in such classics as David Copperfield (1935), A Yank at Oxford (1938) and Pride and Prejudice (1940). After marrying writer-director John Farrow and becoming the mother of seven, she worked only incidentally, with Farrow’s The Big Clock (1948) and Where Danger Lives (1950) among her few film appearances. In 1986, she returned to the cinema with great roles in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986), playing the mother of her real-life daughter Mia Farrow.
British postcard in the Film-Kurier Series, London, no. 39. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British Real Photograph postcard. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.
British postcard for Abdulla Cigarettes, no. 38. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935) with Frank Lawton.
Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 387. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn (MGM).
British postcard by Real Photograph, London, no. FS 208. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Publicity still for Tarzan Finds A Son (Richard Thorpe, 1939) with Johnny Weissmuller.
Maureen Paula O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1911. She was the daughter of Mary Eva Lovatt (née Frazer) and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers who served in World War I.
She attended a convent school in Dublin, then the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton (now Woldingham School), England. One of her classmates there was Vivian Mary Hartley, future Academy Award-winning actress Vivien Leigh. After attending finishing school in France, O'Sullivan returned to Dublin to work with the poor.
In 1929, director Frank Borzage was in Dublin filming exterior shots for Song O' My Heart (1930) when Maureen, then 18, met him at a dinner-dance of Dublin's International Horse Show. Borzage had the waiter send her a note: "If you are interested in being in a film, come to my office tomorrow at 11am", and subsequently he cast her as the daughter of tenor John McCormack in Song O' My Heart. The part was a substantial one, so much so that Maureen had to go to Hollywood to complete the filming.
In October 1929, she sailed to New York with her mother on the British steamer R.M.S. Baltic, on the way to sunny California to work for the Fox Film Corporation. The film was a great success and the studio (20th Century Fox) gave the new actress a contract. Maureen wasted no time landing roles in such films as So This Is London (John G. Blystone, 1930) with Will Rogers. She appeared in six films for Fox.
In 1932, Maureen signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She was chosen by Irving Thalberg to appear as Jane Parker opposite Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmuller as Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1932). The film was MGM's biggest film of the season with a worldwide rental of $2,540,000. Five other Tarzan films followed.
Tom Valance in his obituary after the death of O'Sullivan in The Independent: "O'Sullivan, besides her attractiveness, brought a sense of humour plus an appealing blend of sophistication and innocence to the girl who teaches the jungle-bred hero how to speak, starting with "Tarzan . . . Jane" (not "Me Tarzan, you Jane" as commonly misquoted). The second of the series, Tarzan and His Mate (1934) is generally considered the best, matching the first in lyrical beauty and excelling it in excitement and dramatic impetus. "
British postcard in the Film Weekly series, London.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 486.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. 680. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tarzan the Ape Man (W. S. Van Dyke, 1932) with Johnny Weissmuller.
British postcard in the Filmshots Series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Stage Mother (Charles Brabin, 1933) with Franchot Tone.
British postcard in the Filmshots Series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) with Marie Dressler and Robert Young.
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 255, Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938) with Robert Taylor.
Between the Tarzan films, MGM cast Maureen O'Sullivan as ingenue in over 40 films - leading roles in B pictures but usually supporting roles in major ones. She was the distraught daughter who asks investigator Nick Charles (William Powell ) to locate her missing father in the comedy-mystery The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934). She also played beautifully Dora, David's silly and ill-fated wife in the classic David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935) opposite Frank Lawton, and was the flirtatious Kitty in Anna Karenina (Clarence Brown, 1935), starring Greta Garbo.
In 1936, she married writer-director John Farrow. After co-starring with the Marx Brothers in A Day At The Races (Sam Wood, 1937), she appeared as Molly Beaumont in A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938), in which she vied with Vivien Leigh for Robert Taylor. The script was written partly by F. Scott Fitzgerald. At her request, he rewrote her part to give it substance and novelty. O'Sullivan turned in yet another fine performance as Jane Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (Robert Z. Leonard, 1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson.
After appearing in Tarzan's New York Adventure (Richard Thorpe, 1942), O'Sullivan asked MGM to release her from her contract so she could care for her husband, director John Farrow, who had just left the Navy with typhoid. In the following decade she devoted her time to their seven children: Michael, Patrick, Maria (Mia Farrow), John, Prudence, Theresa (Tisa Farrow), and Stephanie Farrow. Maureen O'Sullivan became a US citizen in 1947.
In 1948, she re-appeared on the screen opposite Ray Milland in The Big Clock, directed by her husband for Paramount Pictures. She continued to appear occasionally in her husband's films, like in the Film Noir Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950) with Robert Mitchum. She also played a supporting part in All I Desire (Douglas Sirk, 1953), starring Barbara Stanwyck, acted in the Western The Tall T (Budd Boetticher, 1957) starring Randolph Scott, and appeared on television. In 1958, Farrow and O'Sullivan's eldest son, Michael, died in a plane crash in California, while taking flying lessons.
By 1960 she believed she had permanently retired, but in 1962 she began her Broadway career with the hit comedy Never Too Late, receiving the best notices of her career as a middle-aged wife who becomes pregnant. She later also appeared in the film version, Never Too Late (Bud Yorkin, 1965). O'Sullivan stuck with acting on stage after John Farrow's death in 1963. Other onstage successes included The Subject Was Roses (1965), the Broadway version of No Sex Please, We’re British (1973), and the revival of Paul Osborn's Morning’s at Seven (1980).
When her daughter, actress Mia Farrow, became involved with Woody Allen both professionally and romantically, she appeared in Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986), playing Farrow's mother. She also had a fine role in Peggy Sue Got Married (Francis Coppola, 1986) and appeared as grandmother who is kidnapped by aliens in the obscure Science Fiction thriller Stranded (Fleming B. Fuller, 1987). Her final screen appearance was in the TV film Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is (Peter Hunt, 1994) with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. She had appeared in over 90 films and TV productions.
In 1983, Maureen O'Sullivan had married James Cushing, a wealthy businessman. They remained wed until her death in 1998. She died in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications from heart surgery, at age 87. Her son Patrick Villiers Farrow, a sculptor and peace and environmental activist, committed suicide in 2009. Her grandson, Ronan Farrow, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
British Real Photograph postcard, no. B-31. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British postcard by Milton, no. 56.B. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British cigarette card in the Stars of Screen & Stage series by Park Drive Cigarettes, Gallaher Ltd., London & Belfast, no. 25. Photo: M.G.M. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Belgian postcard. Photo: M.G.M. With Johnny Weissmuller.
Vintage card. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tarzan Finds a Son! (Richard Thorpe, 1939) with Johnny Weissmuller.
Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art (L.A.B.), Bruxelles, no. 1009. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for Tarzan's Secret Treasure (Richard Thorpe, 1941).
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, no. 426. Photo: Paramount.
Sources: Tom Vallance (Independent), Encyclopaedia Britannica, IMDb and Wikipedia.
British postcard in the Film-Kurier Series, London, no. 39. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British Real Photograph postcard. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.
British postcard for Abdulla Cigarettes, no. 38. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935) with Frank Lawton.
Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 387. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn (MGM).
British postcard by Real Photograph, London, no. FS 208. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Publicity still for Tarzan Finds A Son (Richard Thorpe, 1939) with Johnny Weissmuller.
"Tarzan . . . Jane"
Maureen Paula O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1911. She was the daughter of Mary Eva Lovatt (née Frazer) and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers who served in World War I.
She attended a convent school in Dublin, then the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton (now Woldingham School), England. One of her classmates there was Vivian Mary Hartley, future Academy Award-winning actress Vivien Leigh. After attending finishing school in France, O'Sullivan returned to Dublin to work with the poor.
In 1929, director Frank Borzage was in Dublin filming exterior shots for Song O' My Heart (1930) when Maureen, then 18, met him at a dinner-dance of Dublin's International Horse Show. Borzage had the waiter send her a note: "If you are interested in being in a film, come to my office tomorrow at 11am", and subsequently he cast her as the daughter of tenor John McCormack in Song O' My Heart. The part was a substantial one, so much so that Maureen had to go to Hollywood to complete the filming.
In October 1929, she sailed to New York with her mother on the British steamer R.M.S. Baltic, on the way to sunny California to work for the Fox Film Corporation. The film was a great success and the studio (20th Century Fox) gave the new actress a contract. Maureen wasted no time landing roles in such films as So This Is London (John G. Blystone, 1930) with Will Rogers. She appeared in six films for Fox.
In 1932, Maureen signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She was chosen by Irving Thalberg to appear as Jane Parker opposite Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmuller as Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1932). The film was MGM's biggest film of the season with a worldwide rental of $2,540,000. Five other Tarzan films followed.
Tom Valance in his obituary after the death of O'Sullivan in The Independent: "O'Sullivan, besides her attractiveness, brought a sense of humour plus an appealing blend of sophistication and innocence to the girl who teaches the jungle-bred hero how to speak, starting with "Tarzan . . . Jane" (not "Me Tarzan, you Jane" as commonly misquoted). The second of the series, Tarzan and His Mate (1934) is generally considered the best, matching the first in lyrical beauty and excelling it in excitement and dramatic impetus. "
British postcard in the Film Weekly series, London.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 486.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. 680. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tarzan the Ape Man (W. S. Van Dyke, 1932) with Johnny Weissmuller.
British postcard in the Filmshots Series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Stage Mother (Charles Brabin, 1933) with Franchot Tone.
British postcard in the Filmshots Series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) with Marie Dressler and Robert Young.
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 255, Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938) with Robert Taylor.
A grandmother kidnapped by aliens
Between the Tarzan films, MGM cast Maureen O'Sullivan as ingenue in over 40 films - leading roles in B pictures but usually supporting roles in major ones. She was the distraught daughter who asks investigator Nick Charles (William Powell ) to locate her missing father in the comedy-mystery The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934). She also played beautifully Dora, David's silly and ill-fated wife in the classic David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935) opposite Frank Lawton, and was the flirtatious Kitty in Anna Karenina (Clarence Brown, 1935), starring Greta Garbo.
In 1936, she married writer-director John Farrow. After co-starring with the Marx Brothers in A Day At The Races (Sam Wood, 1937), she appeared as Molly Beaumont in A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938), in which she vied with Vivien Leigh for Robert Taylor. The script was written partly by F. Scott Fitzgerald. At her request, he rewrote her part to give it substance and novelty. O'Sullivan turned in yet another fine performance as Jane Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (Robert Z. Leonard, 1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson.
After appearing in Tarzan's New York Adventure (Richard Thorpe, 1942), O'Sullivan asked MGM to release her from her contract so she could care for her husband, director John Farrow, who had just left the Navy with typhoid. In the following decade she devoted her time to their seven children: Michael, Patrick, Maria (Mia Farrow), John, Prudence, Theresa (Tisa Farrow), and Stephanie Farrow. Maureen O'Sullivan became a US citizen in 1947.
In 1948, she re-appeared on the screen opposite Ray Milland in The Big Clock, directed by her husband for Paramount Pictures. She continued to appear occasionally in her husband's films, like in the Film Noir Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950) with Robert Mitchum. She also played a supporting part in All I Desire (Douglas Sirk, 1953), starring Barbara Stanwyck, acted in the Western The Tall T (Budd Boetticher, 1957) starring Randolph Scott, and appeared on television. In 1958, Farrow and O'Sullivan's eldest son, Michael, died in a plane crash in California, while taking flying lessons.
By 1960 she believed she had permanently retired, but in 1962 she began her Broadway career with the hit comedy Never Too Late, receiving the best notices of her career as a middle-aged wife who becomes pregnant. She later also appeared in the film version, Never Too Late (Bud Yorkin, 1965). O'Sullivan stuck with acting on stage after John Farrow's death in 1963. Other onstage successes included The Subject Was Roses (1965), the Broadway version of No Sex Please, We’re British (1973), and the revival of Paul Osborn's Morning’s at Seven (1980).
When her daughter, actress Mia Farrow, became involved with Woody Allen both professionally and romantically, she appeared in Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986), playing Farrow's mother. She also had a fine role in Peggy Sue Got Married (Francis Coppola, 1986) and appeared as grandmother who is kidnapped by aliens in the obscure Science Fiction thriller Stranded (Fleming B. Fuller, 1987). Her final screen appearance was in the TV film Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is (Peter Hunt, 1994) with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. She had appeared in over 90 films and TV productions.
In 1983, Maureen O'Sullivan had married James Cushing, a wealthy businessman. They remained wed until her death in 1998. She died in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications from heart surgery, at age 87. Her son Patrick Villiers Farrow, a sculptor and peace and environmental activist, committed suicide in 2009. Her grandson, Ronan Farrow, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
British Real Photograph postcard, no. B-31. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British postcard by Milton, no. 56.B. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British cigarette card in the Stars of Screen & Stage series by Park Drive Cigarettes, Gallaher Ltd., London & Belfast, no. 25. Photo: M.G.M. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Belgian postcard. Photo: M.G.M. With Johnny Weissmuller.
Vintage card. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tarzan Finds a Son! (Richard Thorpe, 1939) with Johnny Weissmuller.
Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art (L.A.B.), Bruxelles, no. 1009. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Publicity still for Tarzan's Secret Treasure (Richard Thorpe, 1941).
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, no. 426. Photo: Paramount.
Sources: Tom Vallance (Independent), Encyclopaedia Britannica, IMDb and Wikipedia.
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