Margaret O’Brien started her successful acting career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at 4. She quickly rose to fame as one of the most beloved child stars in the history of cinema and was awarded a Juvenile Academy Award in 1944 for her exceptional performances.
Childhood
Angela Maxine O’Brien, famously known as Margaret O’Brien, was born on January 15, 1937. Her mother, Gladys Flores, was a flamenco dancer and often shared the stage with her sister Marissa, who was also a dancer. O’Brien’s heritage is a mix of Irish and Spanish, and she was brought up in the Catholic faith.
Margaret O’Brien’s Career
At the young age of four, O’Brien landed her first movie role in Babes on Broadway (1941) by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, it was not until the next year that her first significant role gained her extensive recognition.
At the age of five, O’Brien received a lot of praise for her impressive acting skills in the 1942 film Journey for Margaret. This was quite unusual for someone her age. By 1943, she had become popular enough to make a brief appearance in the star-studded finale of Thousands Cheer, a military show.
Furthermore, Margaret appeared in the “War Bond/Effort” short film “You, John Jones” in 1943, when she was just seven years old. She shared the screen with James Cagney and Ann Sothern, portraying their daughter.
Margaret’s role was that of Adèle, a French girl, and she delivered all of her lines and songs in a French accent in the film adaptation of “Jane Eyre.”
She also achieved triumphs in The Canterville Ghost (1944), Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), Bad Bascomb (1946) alongside Wallace Beery, and the initial sound adaptation of The Secret Garden (1949).
In the 1949 production of Little Women by MGM, she portrayed the character of Beth but was unable to shift into more mature roles.
Afterward, Margaret O’Brien left behind her persona as a child star and was featured on the cover of Life magazine in 1958 with the title “How the Girl’s Grown”. She also made a surprise appearance as a guest on the television game show What’s My Line?
In 1950, O’Brien appeared alongside Cecil Parker in the TV show “Robert Montgomery Presents” in an episode titled “The Canterville Ghost”. She also made a guest appearance on “What’s My Line” on November 24, 1957, and starred in “The Young Years” on General Electric Theater on December 22, 1957.
Additionally, she played the character of Betsy Stauffer, a nurse from a small town, in an episode titled “The Incident of the Town in Terror” on the TV series Rawhide.
Margaret O’Brien received recognition in February 1960 when he was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One was located at 6606 Hollywood Boulevard for his achievements in motion pictures, while the other was placed at 1634 Vine St for his contributions to television.
Family
From 1959 to 1968, Margaret O’Brien was married to Harold Allen Jr. After their divorce, she married Roy Thorvald Thorsen, a steel industry executive, on June 6, 1974. Thorsen passed away on June 4, 2018, and they had a daughter named Mara Tolene Thorsen in 1977.
Net Worth
Margaret O’Brien is an American actress with a net worth of $10 million. In 1990, O’Brien received the Former Child Star “Lifetime Achievement” Award from the Young Artist Foundation, in recognition of her remarkable accomplishments as a child actress in the film industry. In 2006, she was bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the SunDeis Film Festival at Brandeis University.
