NONFICTION

Maureen O'Hara: The Biography

by Aubrey Malone
Univ. Pr. of Kentucky. Nov. 2013. 288p. illus. notes. index. ISBN 9780813142388. $29.95; ebk. ISBN 9780813142395. FILM
COPY ISBN
An admirably thorough—if workmanlike—chronicle of Maureen O'Hara's life (b. 1920), this book is most valuable in that it fills in many gaps, especially regarding her first marriage, left by the actress in her 2004 autobiography, 'Tis Herself. If the intent of film critic Malone (Hemingway: The Grace and the Pressure) was to rekindle interest in a figure who may have been slipping off of the public's radar, this title is definitely a success—the reader feels a constant urge to turn on the classic movie cable station as the work covers O'Hara's life film by film. Unfortunately, Malone's style is not very writerly, and owing to regular discordant notes such as the use of the adjective "oleaginous" twice within the first two chapters, as well as swipes at fellow celebrity biographer Darwin Porter, one never gets properly lost in the story.
VERDICT O'Hara fans will enjoy this account despite its issues, as will nostalgists with a specific interest in the Golden Age of the Hollywood studio system.
Reviewed by Jenny Brewer, Helen Hall Lib., League City, TX , Nov 01, 2013
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