Mervyn LeRoy, Greer Garson and Margaret O'Brien

Margaret O'brien was born in 1937. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Margaret O'Brien.

Biography Picture Titian haired Greer Garson was one of the most popular actress during the 1940s. Unlike most young actresses beginning their careers in Hollywood, Garson was already in her mid-thirties when she made her first film. Her elegant and intelligent demeanor struck a cord with the movie going public and her popularity soared at MGM. She possessed a beautiful speaking voice and her refined acting style earned her six Academy Award nominations. She also appeared in five films that earned Best Picture nominations. She was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson on September 29, 1904 in London although she always claimed that she was born in Ireland in 1908. Her father died during an appendectomy when Greer was only two. Greer's mother, Nina (who was from Scotland) provided a living for them by managing townhouses that her husband had owned. Greer was a sickly child, suffering from bronchitis, and spent most of her winters in bed. She was not one to be idle with discouragement, however, and she passed the time by reading and studying. Summers were spent at her grandparent's home in Ireland and it was there in the green countryside that her imagination flourished. She did not have any clear-cut career goals but her mother felt that her future lay in academia due to Greer's intelligence and book sense. She entered the University of London in 1921 and spent five years there, earning a Bachelor's degree in 1926. It was at the university that she discovered the theater and a passion for acting. Following graduation, she worked in a research library for an advertising agency and participated in local theater productions whenever she could. In 1931, Greer was accepted at the Birmingham Repertory Company and she quit her job at the ad agency. She performed in small roles in a variety of productions for two years before a long bout with pneumonia forced the company to terminate her contract. While recuperating, Greer was courted by a childhood friend, Alec Snelson, who eventually proposed to her. She accepted due to the advice from family and friends although deep down inside she knew that she did not love him. The marriage proved to be disastrous. Snelson took Greer on a honeymoon trip to Germany where she learned that he was a jealous and extremely possessive man. Snelson traveled on to India where he would work, but Greer, who was ill again, stayed with her mother in London. It would be a year before she saw Snelson again and they would never spend any more time together. He refused a divorce and it would be years later, when Greer was pursuing a successful career in Hollywood, before the divorce would be final. Greer returned to acting when her health improved. She eventually landed a role in a play with Laurence Olivier called "The Golden Arrow" and it proved to be her breakthrough. She was suddenly very popular throughout London and play offers poured in. She acted in a variety of plays, ranging from Shakespeare to costume dramas, but none of them were huge hits. In 1937, while performing in a play called Old Music, she was noticed by MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, would was in London seeking new talent. Greer was actually not that interested in a film career because she felt that she did not photograph well. However, the lure of money and a nice climate for her mother, convinced her to change her mind. In September of 1937, she signed a seven year contract with MGM. See Greer Garson: Obituary.

Film Director Mervyn LeRoy Dead at 86 SEP. 14, 1987 1 TIMES STAFF WRITER Oscar-winning producer-director Mervyn LeRoy, the one-time San Francisco newsboy who set the tone of Hollywood movie making for 40 years with such films as “Little Caesar,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Quo Vadis” and “Gypsy"--and co-founded Hollywood Park race track--died Sunday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 86, and members of the family said heart ailments had kept him bedridden for the last six months. “Mervyn went peacefully, in his sleep,” said Kitty LeRoy, his wife of 41 years. “His heart just gave way. He was dead when I came to wake him at 8 a.m. It was a good kind of death after a good kind of life. ‘Good and Sweet Man’ “None of us could have wanted anything better for a good and sweet man. . . .” In addition to his wife, he leaves a daughter, Linda Jacklow, a son, Warner LeRoy, and five grandchildren. Funeral services are pending. One of the most successful products of the pre-World War II studio system, LeRoy’s career was a reflection of the strengths of that system--while betraying almost none of its weaknesses. He had been a full-fledged director at First National (later Warner Bros.) for only three years when his handling of “Little Caesar” and “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang” boosted Edward G. Robinson and Paul Muni to stardom--and set the tone of fast-paced toughness that dominated Warners’ products for a decade. Later, at MGM, he presided over a series of lush, romantic vehicles that enhanced the careers of such stars as Vivien Leigh and Greer Garson, while displaying a total mastery of such diverse forms as musicals, historical spectaculars, action films and even children’s fantasy. He won an Oscar in 1942 for directing “Random Harvest,” received an honorary Oscar three years later for producing a short subject, “The House I Live In,” and was selected for the Irving Thalberg Memorial career achievement award in 1975. “And through it all,” studio mogul Jack Warner told a magazine interviewer in the 1960s, “he never seemed to have a box-office disaster. Maybe one or two that didn’t do as well as they might--but no disasters. And mixed in there, several of the biggest winners of all time. “Add the fact that you can’t find anyone in town to call him a son of a b****--and you’ve got a real giant. “There’s nobody like him and never will be. . . .” In addition, LeRoy helped found the Hollywood Turf Club--which built Hollywood Park--five decades ago and served for three decades as president of the corporation that controlled the race track. It was LeRoy who introduced Ronald Reagan to then-actress Nancy Davis. In a statement issued Sunday by the White House, the President and Mrs. Reagan called him “a special part of our lives. “It was he who introduced us. And he was always a precious friend,” the statement said. “Mervyn LeRoy was one of the pillars of the entertainment industry, responsible for some of the finest motion pictures ever. He was one of the greatest directors and producers of all time, knowing exactly how a scene should be and knowing just what to say to get his actors to make it right.” “He had a touch that was like no other,” Lane Curtiz said in a 1981 appreciation. “The name ‘Mervyn LeRoy’ on the film meant that your intellect was not likely to be assaulted and your sense of fitness would emerge intact. There was an essential rightness about all that he did. “You knew the film he made would be as decent and elegant as the man himself.”