Margaret O'Brien

Acting

Margaret O'Brien

Born 1937-01-15 · San Diego, California, USA

Margaret O'Brien (born January 15, 1937) is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history. In her later career, she appeared on stage and in supporting film roles. She was born Angela Maxine O'Brien; (she later changed her name to Margaret following the success of the film Journey for Margaret, in which she played the title role). Her father Lawrence O'Brien, a circus performer, died before she was born.[1]; Margaret's mother, Gladys Flores, was a well-known flamenco dancer who often performed with her sister Marissa, also a dancer. Margaret is of half-Irish and half-Spanish ancestry. She made her first film appearance in Babes on Broadway (1941) at the age of four, but it was the following year that her first major role brought her widespread attention. As a five-year-old in Journey for Margaret (1942), O'Brien won wide praise for her convincing acting style. By 1943, she was considered a big enough star to have a cameo appearance in the all-star military show finale of Thousands Cheer. She played a young French girl, and spoke and sang all her dialogue with a French accent, in Jane Eyre (1944). Arguably her most memorable role was as "Tootie" in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), opposite Judy Garland. O'Brien had by this time added singing and dancing to her achievements and was rewarded with an Academy Juvenile Award the following year as the "outstanding child actress of 1944." Her other successes included The Canterville Ghost (1944), Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), and the first sound version of The Secret Garden (1949), but she was unable to make the transition to adult roles. A 1946 Looney Tunes short, Book Revue, placed a caricature of O'Brien in the role of Little Red Riding Hood. Margaret later shed her child star image in 1958 by appearing on the cover of Life Magazine with the caption "The Girl's Grown", and was a mystery guest on the TV panel show What's My Line?. O'Brien's acting roles as an adult have been few and far between, mostly in small independent films. However, she does do occasional interviews, mostly for the Turner Classic Movies cable network. She played the role of Betsy Stauffer, a small town nurse, in "The Incident of the Town in Terror" on television's Rawhide. Another rare television outing was as a guest star on the popular Marcus Welby, M.D. in the early 1970s, reuniting Margaret with her Journey For Margaret and The Canterville Ghost co-star Robert Young. Description above from the Wikipedia article Margaret O'Brien, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Jane Eyre poster
6.9

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Jane Eyre

1943

Little Women poster
7.4

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Little Women

1949

That's Entertainment! poster
7.4

Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.

That's Entertainment!

1974

Meet Me in St. Louis poster
7.0

A year in the life of a turn-of-the-century middle class family, leading up to the opening of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Meet Me in St. Louis

1944

Three Wise Fools poster
5.7

An orphan girl melts the hearts of three crusty old men.

Three Wise Fools

1946

The Secret Garden poster
7.1

When Cholera takes the parents of Mary Lennox, she is shipped from India to England to live with her Uncle Craven. Mary changes the lives of those she encounters at her Uncle's remote estate.

The Secret Garden

1949

Meet Me in St. Louis: The Making of an American Classic poster
7.0

Documentary about the making of "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944).

Meet Me in St. Louis: The Making of an American Classic

1994

Babes on Broadway poster
6.6

Penny Morris and Tommy Williams are both starstruck young teens but nobody seems to give them any chance to perform. Instead, they decide to put up their own show to collect money for a summer camp for the kids.

Babes on Broadway

1941

This Is Our Christmas poster
2.0

A sequel to the popular movie, Beverly Hills Christmas that was shown on UP TV during Christmas 2015 to more than 70 million viewers.

This Is Our Christmas

2018

Diabolic Wedding poster
9.0

In an English village in the early 20th century, Elizabeth, a tavern singer, lies about her engagement to a man named James. The villagers identify the imaginary fiancé with the powerful James Ryan, lord of the shire. One day, the singer receives an invitation from Ryan, who asks her to marry him. The wedding takes place and the singer moves into her mysterious new mansion

Diabolic Wedding

1971

The Canterville Ghost poster
6.9

The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.

The Canterville Ghost

1944

Madame Curie poster
7.2

Poor physics student Marie is studying at the Sorbonne in 1890s Paris. One of the few women studying in her field, Marie encounters skepticism concerning her abilities, but is eventually offered a research placement in Pierre Curie's lab. The scientists soon fall in love and embark on a shared quest to extract, from a particular type of rock, a new chemical element they have named radium. However, their research puts them on the brink of professional failure.

Madame Curie

1943

Twenty Years After poster
8.0

This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.

Twenty Years After

1944

Lost Angel poster
8.0

Alpha's been raised along scientific principles, and will make Mike Regan a great human interest story for his paper. But when his interview prompts Alpha to run away from the institute and ask him to show her some magic, Mike gets more responsibility than he bargained for. Especially since another story of his, one involving gangsters, has also come home to roost.

Lost Angel

1943

Her First Romance poster
4.0

A teenager experiences her first crush while attending a summer camp. Director Seymour Friedman's 1951 film stars Margaret O'Brien, Allen Martin Jr., Sharyn Moffett, Jimmy Hunt, Elinor Donahue, Ann Doran, Lloyd Corrigan, Atthur Space and Maudie Prickett.

Her First Romance

1951

Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity poster
NR

In 1935, 17-year-old aspiring actress Marsha Hunt was discovered in Hollywood. She signed with Paramount Pictures and went on to a flourishing career at MGM. She made 54 films in 17 years before a series of unfortunate events led to her being unfairly blacklisted. After the blacklist, she championed humanitarian causes, forging a career as one of Hollywood's first celebrity activists. She was the FIRST Angelina Jolie. As far back as 1955, Eleanor Roosevelt was a mentor of hers as they both worked tirelessly to support the work that the United Nations Association was accomplishing in this country. At age 96, Marsha continues to fight for causes she believes in. This film is a call to action for activists of all ages.

Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity

2015

Amy poster
7.2

A woman leaves her husband after the death of her child to teach deaf children how to speak. Her own child was deaf and although she has no formal training she successfully teaches one boy.

Amy

1981

Thousands Cheer poster
6.4

Acrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the colonel's pretty daughter. Their romance hits a few snags, including disapproval from her father. Eddie's also plagued by fear of having an accident during his family's trapeze act in the army variety show, which also features a gallery of MGM stars.

Thousands Cheer

1943

Halloween Pussy Trap Kill! Kill! poster
4.8

On Halloween, an all girl rock-n-roll band called “Kill Pussy Kill” ventures out to play their biggest show to date. However, before hitting the road they manage to unwittingly upset a man. Unfortunately, this man turns out to be an evil genius dead set on revenge. The evil genius manages to lure the girls into his Hell House and when they wake up from being gassed, they find themselves trapped inside an inescapable room filled with a vicious variety of devices that can kill them as well as a variety of weapons that can be used on each other. The rules are simple: advance through all three rooms and you are allowed to go free. The catch is, in order to make it to the next room, someone must die!

Halloween Pussy Trap Kill! Kill!

2017

Heller in Pink Tights poster
5.8

Nineteenth century Wyoming: the wild West. Mild-mannered Tom Healy has a two-wagon theater troupe hounded by creditors because Angela, his leading lady and the object of his affection, constantly buys clothes. In Cheyenne, they meet with applause, so they hope to stay awhile: the theater owner likes Angela, and she keeps him on a string. She's also the object of the attentions of Mabry, a gunslinger who's owed money by the richest man in Bonanza.

Heller in Pink Tights

1960

No artwork available
NR

The film focuses on the disappearance of a teenager, who over the years has become a cold case.

Prepper's Grove

2018

Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star poster
6.9

In this documentary on the life of Joan Crawford, we learn why she should be remembered as the great actress she was, and not only as "mommie dearest." caricature she has become. Friends, fellow actors, directors, and others reminisce about their association with her, and numerous film clips show off her talent from her start in silents to bad science fiction/horror movies at the end of her career.

Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star

2002

Frankenstein Rising poster
9.5

A modern day descendent of Frankenstein becomes obsessed with his ancestor's work and seeks to replicate them and create a living man from lifeless tissue.

Frankenstein Rising

2010

The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli

1973