Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the Tarzan series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller.
She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William Powell, and Myrna Loy.
In 2020, she was listed at number eight on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
In October 1929, she sailed to New York with her mother on the British steamer RMS Baltic, on the way to Hollywood to work for the Fox Film Corporation.
Film career
O'Sullivan's film career began when she met motion picture director Frank Borzage, who was doing location filming on Song o' My Heart (released in 1930) for 20th Century Fox. He suggested she take a screen test. She did and won a part in the movie, which starred Irish tenor John McCormack. She traveled to the United States to complete the movie in Hollywood.
She appeared in six movies at Fox, then made three more at other studios.
In 1932 she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After several roles there and in other studios, she was chosen by Irving Thalberg to appear as Jane Parker in Tarzan the Ape Man, with costar Johnny Weissmuller.
One of MGM's more popular ingenues through the 1930s, she appeared in a number of other productions with various stars. She played Jane in six Tarzan features between 1932 and 1942.
In Pride and Prejudice, 1940
She was featured with William Powell and Myrna Loy in The Thin Man (1934) and played Kitty in Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo, Fredric March, and Basil Rathbone.
After co-starring with the Marx Bros in A Day at the Races (1937), she appeared as Molly Beaumont in A Yank at Oxford (1938), written partly by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
She appeared in Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, and supported Ann Sothern in Maisie Was a Lady (1941). After appearing in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), O'Sullivan asked MGM to release her from her contract so she could care for her husband, John Farrow, who had just left the Navy with typhoid.
She retreated from show business, devoting her time to her family.
In 1948, she reappeared on the screen in The Big Clock, directed by her husband for Paramount Pictures.
She continued to appear occasionally in her husband's movies and on television.
In 1958, Michael Farrow, eldest son of John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan, died in a plane crash in California.
By 1960, O'Sullivan believed she had permanently retired. However, actor Pat O'Brien encouraged her to take a role in summer stock, and the play A Roomful of Roses opened in 1961.
It led to her Broadway debut in Never Too Late with costar Paul Ford. Shortly after it opened, Farrow died of a heart attack.
O'Sullivan stuck with acting after Farrow's death; she was the Today Girl for NBC for a while, then made the movie version of Never Too Late (1965) for Warner Bros.
She was also an executive director of a bridal consulting service, Wediquette International.
In June and July 1972, O'Sullivan was in Denver, Colorado, to star in the Elitch Theatre production of Butterflies are Free
with Karen Grassle and Brandon deWilde. The show ended on 1 July 1972.
When her daughter, actress Mia Farrow, became involved with Woody Allen professionally and romantically, she appeared in Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, playing Farrow's mother.
She had roles in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and the science fiction oddity Stranded (1987).
In 1994, she appeared with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers in Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is, a feature-length made-for-TV movie with the wealthy husband-and-wife team from the popular weekly detective series Hart to Hart.
Amanda S. Stevenson 
