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| Margaret O'Brien
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| Forecourt Ceremony held on Thursday, August 15, 1946 |
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Born: Angela Maxine O'Brien, January 15, 1937, in San Diego, California
Age at the time of the ceremony: 9 |
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Margaret O'Brien rose to prominece as a child star at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, where she became one of the top money-makers at the US box-office during the World War II years. She has continued her career into adulthood.
O'Brien's father was an Irishman and a circus performer, who died before Angela was born to Spanish flamenco dancer Gladys Flores. Teaching her daughters Angela and Marissa the theatrical arts, Gladys got the group an audition at M-G-M, who took Anglea (at age four), and gave her a small part in Babes on Broadway (which played the Chinese in January 1942).
She was given a sizable role in the wartime weepie Journey for Margaret with Robert Young (which played the Chinese in March 1943), and walked off with the picture. After that, she was known as Margaret. She was given a role as James Cagney's daughter in a Bond fundraising short film called You, John Jones! (released in January 1943), then played the title role at age five in Madame Curie (which played the Chinese in December 1943), and did a cameo at the finale to the musical Thousands Cheer (played the Chinese in December 1943).
O'Brien got major screen time in Jane Eyre with Joan Fontaine (which played the Chinese in February 1944), and co-starred with Charles Laughton in The Canterville Ghost (played the Chinese in October 1944). She headlined in Music for Millions with Jimmy Durante (released in December 1944).
With all of this under her belt, O'Brien made the film she will always be remembered for, playing Judy Garland's younger sister in the classic musical Meet Me in St. Louis (released in January 1945). Although the film didn't play the Chinese, O'Brien was awarded an Oscar for her performance in the picture, which she received from Bob Hope at the 17th Annual Awards, held at the theatre in March 1945.
Her other films made for M-G-M include Our Vines Have Tender Grapes with Edward G. Robinson (released in September 1945), Bad Bascomb with Wallace Beery (released in May 1946); she played sister Beth to June Allyson's Jo in Little Women (released in April 1949, and played Mary in The Secret Garden with Herbert Marshall (released in April 1949).
After M-G-M, O'Brien, now 12, began to freelance: she starred with her sister Marissa in Her First Romance for Columbia (released in May 1951) and starred in the horse opera Glory with Walter Brennan for R-K-O (released in January 1956), but mostly concentrated on television, spending her adolescence on shows like The Ford Television Theatre on NBC in 1954, the Lux Video Theatre on CBS and NBC in 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955, and lots of other anthology shows. She played Beth again (with Florence Henderson) in a television musical version of Little Women, on CBS in October 1958.
Since then,
O'Brien has appeared as a guest on many episodic television shows, including, Wagon Train in 1958, Rawhide in 1959, The Aquanauts in 1961, Dr. Kildare in 1962, Perry Mason in 1963, Ironside in 1968, Love, American Style in 1969, Adam-12 in 1970, Marcus Welby, M.D. in 1972, and Murder, She Wrote in 1991.
Ms. O'Brien enjoys good health, and appears on Turner Classic Movies now and again. She has a starring role in This is Our Christmas airing on Up TV in November 2018) with Ronn Moss. She has a role in the Italian sci-fi flick Impact Event with Michael Berryman (released in December 2018). |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Margaret O'Brien Forecourt block. Executed by Jean Klossner, Thursday, August 15, 1946. 50 x 27 inches. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Margaret O'Brien Forecourt ceremony, Thursday, August 15, 1946. Margaret O'Brien has her hand impressed into the cement by her mother, Gladys Flores. Cement artist Jean Klossner (looking especially dapper) oversees at right. |
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