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175 11 a Streetcar Named retire O’Hara’s father died in 1972. He and her mother were now together in heaven, which was a consolation to her.1 But she felt as if her past was being eroded; the last links to her childhood were disappearing one by one—a counterpoint to her waning film career. She decided to concentrate on television. Shortly after her father died, she made a TV movie to get her mind off herself.2 it was called The Red Pony, based on John Steinbeck’s novella of the same name. it was a gentle film that wasn’t seen by too many people but was true to itself. She was proud of her work in it and gratified to share scenes with Henry Fonda again. Shirley Booth went into ecstasies about her performance.3 it would be her last movie for twenty years, but after finishing it, she seemed to be energized with a new vigor. “When i have a project i attack it like a tiger,” she declared with that fighting irish spirit. asked if she was worried about the passage of time, she replied, “if you’re just a glamour girl it could be very hard on you but i’m an actress who enjoys her work so there’s no problem. i can’t wait to grow old. i’m going to be the nastiest old lady you ever saw.” pressed as to whether she had any regrets about her life thus far, she revealed, “My one real tragedy isn’t the parts i missed but the children i didn’t have.”4 Nonetheless, time was gaining on her. This was illustrated one day when someone called Twentieth Century–Fox with an inquiry about O’Hara. The young girl who answered the phone asked, “Who’s that? Did she ever work at Fox?” (O’Hara had been employed by the studio from 1941 to 1962.) “you have to look at the funny side,” she said when she heard the story. But it was still a “Norma Desmond” moment for her. Her decision to quit acting, though in the cards for some time, came without warning. One day when Wayne was visiting her in St. Croix, he and Blair said almost in unison, “Don’t you think it’s about time you stayed 176 Maureen O’Hara home?” They were expecting a fight, but she just muttered, “Okay, i quit,” and that was that.5 afterward she claimed they “ganged up” on her to force her hand.6 Whether they did or not, she was ready to retire; otherwise, she wouldn’t have done so. Scripts continued to pour in, but she ignored them. Having just appeared with Fonda and Wayne—“the two top men in Hollywood,” as she saw it—meant she was going out on a high.7 She also felt that the new male leads lacked charisma, especially in period pieces. “They don’t know how to take off plumed hats any more,” she anguished, “or make their eyes twinkle. it’s the twinkle i miss most.”8 Some stars looked on retirement as an end, others as a beginning. Joan Crawford became a virtual recluse when she stopped making films. “i don’t want to meet the press anymore,” was her valediction, “because the interesting part of me is over.”9 O’Hara was different. She didn’t want to sit at home reliving past glories. instead, she chose to fly around the world with Blair: “i went to australia with Charlie when he was buying big old four engine seaplanes. i was on the planes when they flew back to the United States and then into Washington D.C. on the potomac and into the Battery in New york and down to Miami and the Virgin islands. So it was very exciting.”10 She also spent time fishing and hiking with him.11 She disparaged many of the new movies being made. “i will not do dirty pictures,” she protested in 1972, “and Hollywood is making so many of them now.”12 (Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris had just been released, to some fanfare.) She considered the idea of directing films herself, to stem the tide of angst-ridden liberalism. “i seem to have a facility for telling other people what to do,” she speculated, “even things i can’t do myself. it’s one of my three ambitions. The other two are to have...

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