Hollywood diva Maureen O’ Hara has died at the age of 95. She starred in films of legendary directors as diverse as Jean Renoir (This Land is Mine), Sam Peckinpah (The Deadly Companions), Alfred Hitchcock (Jamaica Inn), Carol Reed (Our Man in Havana), Frank Borzage (Spanish Main) William A. Wellman (Buffalo Bill) Nicholas Ray (A Woman’s Secret) and the only recently being discovered George Sherman (a.o. War Arrow, Big Jake). She’s mostly known however for her collaborations with fellow irish countryman John Ford (5 times) and Hollywood legend John Wayne.

One of those collaborations was ‘The Quiet Man’ (1952). To give a proper send off ‘Back to the Cinema-style’ I’ve used a little clip from Spielberg’s ‘E.T.: the Extra- Terrestrial’ (1982) in which E.T. is watching ‘The Quiet Man’ on television and even shortly interrupts his ‘phone home’ project he has just started. As Elliott is ‘feeling his feelings’ he’s acting out the scene between O’ Hara and Wayne in his
classroom. Please note that the girl Elliott kisses is the young Erika Eleniak of future Baywatch fame.

Jan Bollen