MARGARET O'BRIEN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Margaret O’Brien is an American film actress, who, in the 1940s, secured a spot as one of cinema’s most popular child actors. She was born Angela Maxine O’Brien on January 15, 1937 in San Diego, California. Her mother was a flamenco dancer and her father, who unfortunately died before she was born, was a circus performer. Her sister was also a dancer, implying that the whole family was big on entertainment. By age three, O’Brien had been featured in a magazine and was expressing an interest in acting. Her first role came with a one minute scene in MGM’s 1941 musical “Babes on Broadway”. Studio executives were so impressed with her acting capabilities that they signed her up for a contract. They then cast the young girl in the drama “Journey for Margaret” (1942), the movie that prompted her name change.
The five year old was instantly praised for her part as a little orphaned girl during the war, becoming an overnight sensation. However, the studio didn’t quite know what to do with the star, as she was not the sweet “Shirley Temple type” and had a partiality for more dramatic roles. Such serious parts were hard to come by for children, though, so O’Brien mostly played typical kid roles.
Throughout the 1940's she remained the top child star, and was hailed as a “sensation”, “child genius”, and “America’s favorite sweetheart”. She had childlike parts in MGM’s “Dr. Gillespie’s Criminal Case” (1943), “Lost Angel” (1943), and “Madame Curie” (1943), and was loaned to 20th Century-Fox for 1943’s “Jane Eyre”. In 1944 she received a slightly more substantial part for the movie “The Canterville Ghost”, but truly hit the jackpot directly following, with “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944). Although her musical talents were not as remarkable as Shirley Temple’s had been in the 1930's, her contributions to the film were unforgettable. Playing Judy Garland’s audacious and eccentric little singing and dancing sister, O’Brien managed to win herself a juvenile Academy Award as the “outstanding child actress of 1944”.
Following “Meet Me in St. Louis”, the quality of the child’s scripts varied. Her next two features were remarkable, “Music for Millions” (1944) and “Our Vines Have Tender Grapes” (1945), but they were succeeded by such forgetful films as the western “Bad Bascomb” (1946), comedy “Three Wise Fools” (1946), and melodrama “Big City” (1948). In 1949 she struck some success, as tragic Beth March in the Technicolor adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel “Little Women”, as well as Mary Lennox in the first sound version of “The Secret Garden”.
At the end of 1949 O’Brien’s contract with MGM had expired and it was not renewed. Now a teenager, her appeal to audiences was not apparent. She had her first love interest in the drama “Her First Romance” (1951), but it failed to establish a teenage following. In the next fifteen years she appeared in only three additional movies, “Girls Hand in Hand” (1952), “Glory” (1956), and “Heller in Pink Tights” (1960). However, after the expiration of the actress’ contract with MGM, she took advantage of the new Golden Age of television and continued to act on TV. She could be seen in forty different series, including “Lux Video Theatre” (1951-55), “Studio One in Hollywood” (1953-58), and “Climax!” (1955-57).
In 1968 she returned to the big screen with the horror film “Annabelle Lee”, but waited another thirteen years before appearing in Disney’s family drama “Amy” (1981). After ending her long career in television in 1991 with “The New Lassie”, O’Brien took time off from acting and revisited the movies with “Sunset After Dark” (1996). More recently, she has acted in the independent comedy “Dead in Love” (2009), made for TV films “Elf Sparkle Meets the Christmas Horse” (2009) and “Elf Sparkle and the Special Red Dress” (2010), horror flick “Frankenstein Rising” (2010), and fantasy feature “Morella” (2013).
The actress currently resides in California and spends much time doing charity work. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, each for both television and the motion pictures.
Filmography
2013 Morella
2010 Elf Sparkle and the Special Red Dress
2010 Frankenstein Rising
2009 Elf Sparkle Meets Christmas the Horse
2009 Dead in Love
2002 Dead Season
1996 Sunset After Dark
1991 The New Lassie
1991 Murder, She Wrote
1986 Tales from the Darkside
1983 Hotel
1981 Amy
1977 Testimony of Two Men
1974 Death in Space
1972 Marcus Welby, M.D.
1970 Adam-12
1969 Love, American Style
1968 Ironside
1968 Annabelle Lee
1967 Combat!
1964 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963 Perry Mason
1962 The DuPont Show of the Week
1962 Dr. Kildare
1961 Adventures in Paradise
1961 The Aquanauts
1960 Checkmate
1960 Maggie
1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1960 Heller in Pink Tights
1959 The United States Steel Hour
1959 Rawhide
1958 Pursuit
1958 Little Women
1958 Wagon Train
1957 G.E. True Theater
1957 Kraft Theatre
1957 Playhouse 90
1957 Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre
1957 Suspicion
1957 The Christophers
1956 Front Row Center
1956 Glory
1955 Climax!
1955 Matinee Theatre
1954 The Ford Television Theatre
1953 Studio One in Hollywood
1952 Girls Hand in Hand
1951 Her First Romance
1951 Lux Video Theatre
1950 Robert Montgomery Presents
1949 The Secret Garden
1949 Little Women
1948 Big City
1948 Tenth Avenue Angel
1947 The Unfinished Dance
1946 Three Wise Fools
1946 Bad Bascomb
1945 Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
1944 Music for Millions
1944 Meet Me in St. Louis
1944 The Canterville Ghost
1943 Jane Eyre
1943 Lost Angel
1943 Madame Curie
1943 Thousands Cheer
1943 Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case
1943 You, John Jones!
1942 Journey for Margaret
1941 Babes on Broadway
